Elena Tcherkasskaia was special. She was a Russian ballerina who touched hearts in North America, not only with her craft but with her care.
She died yesterday of complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 64.
Two-time U.S. skating bronze medalist Angela Nikodinov has been left without Tcherkasskaia's guidance, only three months before the Olympics.
Tcherkasskaia also worked on choreography and ballet with four-time world bronze medalists Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada, four-time world champion Michelle Kwan of the United States, Olympic ice dancing champions Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko of Russia, world pairs champions Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny of the Czech Republic, former world bronze medalist Nicole Bobek of the United States and U.S. pair Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler.
Tcherkasskaia danced with the Bolshoi ballet for 22 years, and, while there, befriended Irina Rodnina of Russia, who won three Olympic pairs titles with different partners.
When Rodnina came to work at Lake Arrowhead in California 10 years ago as a coach, Tcherkasskaia came with her.
She became the wind beneath the wings of Nikodinov, who had been a talented jumper, but robotic and prone to competition meltdowns before Tcherkasskaia took over. Tcherkasskaia became her coach and transformed her.
"Elena isn't just a coach," Nikodinov said once. "She is another mother to me. I have two sets of parents. We are so close off the ice, it makes us close on the ice. She's such a good friend and she understands me, helps me communicate on the ice.
"Sometimes there are tears and it's tough, but it's good. It's always for the best. Because she understands me so well, she just knows what to say. She just looks in my eyes and she knows what I need."
When Tcherkasskaia began to work with Nikodinov at the beginning of last season, Nikodinov emerged like a new person. You wouldn't have recognized her. She was fit and trim. She'd styled her hair differently. And on the ice, she had developed a mesmerizing quality. Tcherkasskaia had somehow awakened in her a love of skating.
"She had so much passion," said Cindy Lang, the spokesperson for the Lake Arrowhead operation. "She felt everything in every single part of her body. She would work for hours on a single hand position, to make it perfect. She could make the passion inside a person come out. This is probably why Angela came out of her shell. . . . She was a wonderful, sweet, loving person."
Tcherkasskaia and Nikodinov were inseparable.
When Rodnina left to coach at another rink in California, Tcherkasskaia stayed, attached to her students. Tcherkasskaia and Nikodinov last worked together at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, in September, but Nikodinov had to withdrew after the short program because of an eye infection.
Tcherkasskaia hadn't been feeling well after her return from Australia. She seemed exhausted and slept all the time. Finally, Nikodinov's father talked her into going to see a doctor. The doctor diagnosed her with cancer, but, true to Russian tradition, Tcherkasskaia was not told; it's a cultural belief that you can fight your illness better if you don't know the worst. Nikodinov did know, however.
Tcherkasskaia intended to stay at Lake Arrowhead and train her students, but her husband, Leon, the owner of a large theatre in Moscow, coaxed her to come home for treatment in a Moscow hospital in late September. She underwent surgery there, and doctors gave her six months to live.
Few realized how ill she was.
With Rodnina at her side at the Sparkassen Cup in Germany last week, Nikodinov finished third. Nikodinov was still in Germany when her father reached her by telephone to tell her of Tcherkasskaia's death. She is reportedly devastated.
Nikodinov will continue on to her next Grand Prix event, the Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg next week -- where Tcherkassaia would have been at home.
Rodnina will act as her coach.
A funeral service will be held in Moscow tomorrow, but Nikodinov may not attend. A memorial service will be held later at Lake Arrowhead.