Emma Abraham
Albena Denkova
and Maxim Staviiski at the
European Ice Skating
Championship 2002.
Albena Denkova
and Maxim Staviiski at the
European Ice Skating
Championship 2002.
BULGARIAN figure skating pair Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviiski finally took their first gold medal at the Grand Prix tournament in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on November 9.
Only a week earlier, at the previous competition, Skate Canada in Quebec, Denkova-Staviiski were pushed to fourth place by the judges, behind pairs that had displayed arguably lower technical and artistic levels.
Denkova and Staviiski were brought to the verge of despair and their Russian trainer was even about to leave the profession. Immediately after the competition, the Canadian media said that the judges were retaliating against Denkova because, at the World Championship in Nagano, Japan this year, she wrote a protest letter against what she saw as the undeserved third place of Israeli pair Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski.
In Gelsenkirchen things fell into place. Canadian representatives Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrick Lauzon, who were second in Quebec, remained fourth. The Israeli pair Chait - Sakhnovski, bronze medal holders from Nagano 2002, were rated second this time. There have been unsubstantiated suggestions in the media that Galit's father, the millionaire Boris Chait, has been influencing the judges' decisions.
The victory of Denkova - Staviiski in Gelsenkirchen came after five years as part of the world figure skating elite. At the World Championship in 2001, they were 10th; while at the European championship of that year they were eighth. The 2002 Olympics brought their greatest success, a seventh position in Salt Lake City and sixth at the Old Continent championship.
Denkova and Staviiski are already leaders in the interim general rankings for the Grand Prix. Specialists argue that they are performing complex routines and predict a brilliant future for them.
Only a week earlier, at the previous competition, Skate Canada in Quebec, Denkova-Staviiski were pushed to fourth place by the judges, behind pairs that had displayed arguably lower technical and artistic levels.
Denkova and Staviiski were brought to the verge of despair and their Russian trainer was even about to leave the profession. Immediately after the competition, the Canadian media said that the judges were retaliating against Denkova because, at the World Championship in Nagano, Japan this year, she wrote a protest letter against what she saw as the undeserved third place of Israeli pair Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski.
In Gelsenkirchen things fell into place. Canadian representatives Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrick Lauzon, who were second in Quebec, remained fourth. The Israeli pair Chait - Sakhnovski, bronze medal holders from Nagano 2002, were rated second this time. There have been unsubstantiated suggestions in the media that Galit's father, the millionaire Boris Chait, has been influencing the judges' decisions.
The victory of Denkova - Staviiski in Gelsenkirchen came after five years as part of the world figure skating elite. At the World Championship in 2001, they were 10th; while at the European championship of that year they were eighth. The 2002 Olympics brought their greatest success, a seventh position in Salt Lake City and sixth at the Old Continent championship.
Denkova and Staviiski are already leaders in the interim general rankings for the Grand Prix. Specialists argue that they are performing complex routines and predict a brilliant future for them.
