NEWS ON NAVKA

Tatiana Navka: I arranged my personal life without Zhulin.

Translation of an article by Nadezhda Bushueva printed in the Russian language publication “Zhisn.ru” on May 27, 2008.

As it became known to the publication Zhisn, Navka found her peace in the embrace of Marat Basharov, while Zhulin in turn hooked up with his figure skating student Natalia.

In November of 2007, this publication was the first in announcing the divorce of the starry couple and that they had separated and moved to different apartments. At that time, all hell broke loose. Many papers, probably on someone’s orders, fiercely denied this information. Navka and Zhulin themselves were seen on the front pages of magazines, telling the world that they were in love and presented pictures of them hugging and spending time together, even in bed, as to contradict this publication.

Up until now they denied their divorce saying that everything was fine between them.

A few days ago, the press found out that the former spouses do not live together anymore and, moreover, that they have already found replacements for their former spouses.

Tatiana Navka and Alex Zhulin met 15 tears ago. In 1993, a wild romance started between the 30 year old coach and his 18 years old student. At that time, Zhulin was married to his figure skating partner Maya Usova. But it did not interfere with the mad passion of Tatiana and Alex, who practically lived on the ice, enjoying every minute of being together. In sports' circles it was a known fact that Navka was Alex’s mistress. The gossip reached Maya. Being a wise woman, she did not pay much attention to it and considered the infatuation to be a midlife crisis for her husband.

She remembered very well the story of Oxana Grischuk. Zhulin was telling Oxana that his marriage with Usova was just a formality, that there was no love there and that they only stayed together to avoid a public scandal in the press. Oxana fell in love with Zhulin, who even presented her with an engagement ring, but asked her not to wear it in public and not to publicize their relationship because he was concerned about gossip. Alex continued his relationship with her while being married to Usova. Oxana even considered stopping skating at Zhulin’s request.

One night around 3AM, Maya Usova called Oxana and told her that Zhulin had a new romance with Navka. She described to Oxana in great detail how Zhulin was courting Navka. When Zhulin called Oxana the next day, she broke up with him.

Up till now Zhulin considered his relationship with Oxana the main mistake of his life and called her an idiot. Oxana, in turn, did not watch her language when she was talking about their relationship. Maya Usova could not forgive him either. For seven years he was fooling around on her and after their divorce he said nasty things about her, calling her mean, vindictive and not a forgiving person. Alex did not understand that he was hurting these women and that he would be punished for that.

Tatiana Navka, before getting into the relationship with Alex, was saying that she was sure that one could not build one’s happiness on another person’s sorrow. Seeing how Maya was suffering, Tatiana was concerned that she would add more suffering to that family. But she did not worry too long about that and in 2000 she gave birth to Zhulin’s daughter. A few months before that they got married. Maya Usova would not forgive him and would not skate with him, so he had to skate with Oxana Grischuk.

This arrangement was not easy for Tatiana, but she decided that she would not be jealous. The new family lived well. The daughter was named Sasha – a female version of the name of her father Alex, as it was customary in families where parents were madly in love with each other. They lived in Montclair, New Jersey. Tatiana was skating with Roman Kostomarov while Zhulin turn professional and was coaching Navka.

In August of 2006, the family returned to Moscow to participate in an ice show. At that time they did not know that they would soon seperate.

At the show “Stars on Ice,” Navka was assigned to skate with actor Marat Basharov. There were no signs of trouble – both of them was happily married and had children. Initially Tatiana and Marat became good friends. Navka was often a guest of the Basharov family. Marat’s wife Lisa was not worried, observing his seemingly harmless friendship with Navka. Zhulin also trusted Navka. But in the sports' circles the gossip started floating.

Zhulin was telling everyone that the gossip was not true, that Tatiana was an adult and that she understood that what they were building for years could be destroyed in seconds. To start building something new would be very difficult. He hoped that she was smart enough and that even if she would consider anything inappropriate, she would think about the consequences, about what would happen with their child. He thought that it went to her head that she was circulating among bohemian people, but it would pass. She did not give him any reason to be jealous and he loved her very much. They were hoping to have a son. She would skate for another year and than they would try to get pregnant and she would finish her skating career. If she would get pregnant sooner, than she would stop skating sooner. Family was more important than her work.

At the same time, while her husband was talking about their family, Navka was fluttering about with newfound happiness.

Says Navka: “From the first day I saw Marat, I realized that we were soulmates, like brother and sister. We were so successful on the ice because we complemented each other. Marat told me that he was in love with me, but it did not mean that he would divorce his wife and come to be with me. To be a good pair the partners should feel good about each other. We had that empathy between us.”

Basharov from his side complemented Navka as well: “Tatiana combines in herself terrific qualities – she is understanding, kind, cheerful, smart and very strict. If I could not master a move, we had to practice even at night."

Basharov was jokingly telling his wife that if he was late, not to wait for him up, he would stay in practice overnight. And once, he did stay overnight.

Zhulin was in denial to the last moment, but the time came when the truth could not be hidden any more. Tatiana’s betrayal was a real shock for him. He hoped that everything would work itself out. He begged her to save the family for the sake of their daughter. But he could not tolerate the frivolity of his wife and suggested that they separate.

Navka went head over heals into her new relationship, while she and Alex and Lisa and Marat Basharov acted in public as if everything was all right and they were two happy families. It is worth to mention that Alex, even though he has a bed temperament, was able to keep friendly relationship with Navka. They periodically talk on the phone and arrange some celebrations for their daughter. The divorce of her parents was a tragedy for the girl. But that did not prevent the parents from loosing their vigilance and lately they started showing up in public with their new passions.

Recently Alex Zhulin went to a posh restaurant with a young girl. She was a student of the 44 years old coach by the name of Natalia. Zhulin was meeting with this pretty blond every day at the rink, and now she was helping him to cope with his loneness. They acted like a couple in love, drank a lot of wine and later rode off in a solver Volvo to a nearby hotel.

When told about that Navka replied: “My husband has a right to his private life and can have business meetings with women.”

It was clear that her husband had a different kind of meeting with that woman, definitely not of a business kind.

Navka herself was seen at a party in the company of Marat Basharov. The fact that their friendship had grown into something completely different could be seen even by a blind person. Initially they just hugged, but after several drinks, she climbed on his laps and was caressing his thighs. They left together in his car, leaving her car in the parking lot.

“My private live is great! My husband’s life is good as well! I repeat, I have already arranged my life.” - Tatiana told the press.