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NAVKA NUPTIALS?

Tatiana Navka is getting married to Marat Basharov.

Translation of an article by Achmed Boziev and Tatiana Pustinnikova, printed in the Russian language publication “Zhisn” on February 3, 2009.

Tatiana Navka and Marat Basharov announced that they were getting married during the tour of the show “The Ice Period.”

Strong feelings took over Marat two years ago and till now he is still head over heels in love with Navka.

The decision to get married did not come to Marat easily. He had to weight a lot of pros and cons. One of the conditions was introduced by his mother, that his next wife should be a Muslim. For the Christian Navka it will be a hard choice to make – love or religion.

Romance with Basharov became an integral part of her life. She got used that he was always near her – at shows, during their trips to the suburbs and in their rented apartment.

During their last tour the couple decided to formalize their relations.

Marat and Tatiana announced their intention to get married in the hotel after the show. They are not hiding their relations any more and want to become a family.

Asking Tatiana to marry him, Marat made a big decision in his life. He stepped on his love of freedom and hopes that he will be able to tame his 35 years old blonde bride, who is known for her unpredictability and love for variety in everything. At the time of this printing, she was considering his proposal. Maybe that is why men love her so much – she was always having the last word and made the men wait for her decision.

Navka was always popular with men. When she was 18, she was not only able to charm her coach Alexander Zhulin, but was able to break him away from two women – his wife and his mistress. The 30 years old skater lost himself in her bottomless eyes and for her he did the unthinkable – he divorced his wife, Maya Usova. The passionate love of Navka and Zhulin was a hot subject in the skating world. For Usova the situation was not new. She knew that Zhulin was in a relationship with 20 years old skater Oxana Grischuk. He did not divorce Usova, but lived with Grischuk without advertising this situation. Oxana trusted him until the last moment of their relationship. One day Maya, Usova called her at 3 am and told her that Zhulin was cheating on both of them with Navka. Usova described to Oxana all of the details of the relationship of Zhulin and Navka.

Grishcuk left Zhulin, who was now free to continue with Navka, who was assuring everyone that she did not want to break up Zhulin’s family and did not want to build her happiness on the misery of others. Nevertheless, Navka married Zhulin and they had a daughter, Sasha. It seemed that the couple was happy.

In August of 2006, the family came back to Moscow and the fatal meeting that broke two families took place.

Navka and Marat felt sympathetic toward each other from the very beginning. Soon Navka befriended Marat’s wife, Lisa. Madly in love with her actor husband, Lisa converted to the Muslim faith for him. She was sure that their marriage was solid. Zhulin was similarly sure of his family.

Unfortunately they both were wrong. Soon Tatiana and Marat stopped hiding their relationship from others.

It seems that for the second time in her life, Tatiana is going to build her happiness on the ruins of other families.

MARIA BUTIRSKAYA

The most beautiful figure skater: Life on Ice.

Translation of an interview by Diana Khachaturjan (DK) with Marina Butirskaya printed in the Russian Language publication “Novie Izvestia” on February 3, 2009.

Maria Butirskaya (MB) is one of the most beautiful and talented bright stars of figure skating. Recently she started a new career, as a coach of future Olympic champions. In her family, she plays the role of wife to hockey player Vadim Khomitsky and mother to an 18 months old son, Vladislav.

DK – Maria, you just came back from practice. Do you have any time for your home chores?

MB – Practices take place every day from the very morning. At night I come home and start doing my housework. Even if I have a helper, I am still getting very tired, and not just physically, but psychologically as well. I give my all to my pupils at practice – I want them to get results. But I also want to be a good wife and mother.

DK – Did you ever think of dropping all of that and doing something different, not related to figure skating?

MB – I like to be a coach and I love what I do. I know figure skating very well and that was the reason why I opened my own school of figure skating. I do not think that I would be that professional in another line of work. I put my knowledge and experience into my students. Sometimes I raise my voice, but it is for their own good. The girls are becoming more responsive to my requests. In general, I am happy with the results of my work.

DK – Is it possible to learn in advance if the child will be successful at figure skating? When a child is brought to you what do you look for?

MB – Character. Even at 5 years of age, it is possible to figure out if the child will be successful at figure skating or not. After working with a child for some time it becomes clear if the child is trainable, how he reacts to explanations or if she is ready to fight for her success. I went through a lot of that myself in figure skating and know how important it is.

DK – What about the physical conditions?

MB- Of course I am considering flexibility, stretch and jumping abilities. But it is very important that physical conditions would go together with a fighting spirit. I am working as a couch now for 3 years. During this time I saw a lot of children. Sometimes I see a child who is physically very adept, talented and trying very hard, but does not have the right character. Those are dropping out very soon.

DK – What qualities you are trying to cultivate in your girls?

MB – The ability to focus, to concentrate, to get ready for a performance. Young athletes sometimes are lose their nerve at the most important moment and then they forget everything that they learned in the months of practices. I had an episode like that at the beginning of my career. Sportspeople should learn to control their nerves since competition involves not only a physical, but also a nervous struggle.

DK – Sometimes the other competitors may try to get you out of your equilibrium. Did you have situations like that?

MB – Yes I did. Once, a day before competition, I came to the practice, opened my locker and found out that my skates were missing – someone hid them. It was terrible to lose the skates before the start. In sports, one has to be ready for all eventualities.

DK – Is your son interested in figure skating?

MB – Not really. Sometimes he comes with me to the rink, but he does not pay attention to the ice. I would not want him to be a figure skater. If he would go on the ice, he would follow in the footsteps of my husband – he will play hockey. We are not going to force him, but he already has a uniform and a stick, so we will see.

PISEEV PROMOTES PLUSHENKO

Piseev – Pluschenko has good chances to participate in Olympiad – 2010

Translation of an article printed in the Russian Language publication “Novosti” on February 24, 2009.

Mr. Valentin Piseev, the President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, stated that Evgeny Pluschenko, who decided to return to big sports, has A perfect chance to become a member of the Russian National Team and to participate in the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Says Mr. Piseev: “It IS very well that Mr. Pluschenko announced his decision to come back to big sports. I welcome and support his desire to return. I think that if he would start full time practicing, there will be no trouble for him to make the team. I was at his practice a couple of weeks ago and I saw that he was jumping triple jumps and was trying to jump quads. To get on to the National Team he has to train not from time to time, but all the time.”

In the opinion of the head of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, participation in ice shows by Mr. Pluschenko can not replace full time practice.

Says Piseev: “Exhibition shows are nice, but one has to be smart in how he would use them. They are fine up to a point. It would be better if instead of skating in shows he would practice twice a day. If he would be as enthusiastic in his practices as he is in the shows, he could come back to the highest level. At present, Evgeny is at least 10 pounds overweight. He knows about that problem and is planning to do something about it. The number of participants in the National Team will depend on our performance at the World Championship.”