In 2023, the world of figure skating in Russia rallied around the tragedy of Olympic champion Roman Kostomarov, who was hospitalized with severe pneumonia and did not recover for about a month. In February, rumors about the amputation of the skater’s feet intensified, as necrosis arose against the background of a weakening of the body. The champion really had to put up with losing stops, but this didn’t break him.
Already in June, Román published two videos in which he trained with prosthetics. Kostomarov’s colleagues admired his character and some, notably Ilya Averbukh and Maxim Trankov, even suggested that he might return to the ice.
And it really doesn’t sound like an impossible thing, there have already been precedents in the world. And in the world analogues of the “Ice Age”!
Watch Kostomarov’s video and read the words of support:
Kostomarov showed a new video about the restoration. He was sincerely supported in the comments!
British Paralympian dreams of jumping
Steph Ride is a Paralympian who has competed in track and field. In the 2008 Games she won bronze, in 2012 and 2016, silver, but for a long time she could not leave the sport because she did not know if she could find something equally exciting. As a result, the athlete chose figure skating, and she appeared on the TV show “Dancing on Ice” – the British “Ice Age”.
Figure skating is the most difficult sport Stephanie has tried since her right leg was amputated.
“Before the end of my career, I was nervous because I just couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than the long jump,” Reid said. “I thought, ‘What if I never find anything more interesting and spend the rest of my life looking back and thinking this was the best part?’
Paralympic track and field athlete Steph Ryde
Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
But then I went to Dancing on Ice, and the whole world opened up to me. It was so cool! And I thought, “Well, if I like it here, then there are probably other things in the world that I haven’t tried yet that are just as good.”
The transition from track star to figure skater was not easy. Ella Steph had been skating before the accident, after which she had her leg amputated, but she has never set foot on the ice since. After receiving an invitation from the creators of Dancing on Ice, Ride asked her prosthetist to make him a leg that would allow him to skate. Correctly fitting an unusual prosthesis and getting used to it turned out to be very difficult.
“Every time you get a new leg, whether it’s for walking or sports, you just hate it. Everyone is different! Steph explains. “Your brain needs time to form a relationship with this new leg, because it’s not part of you at all.”
Ride came to his first figure training session wearing a helmet, expecting to fall most of the time. But when the prosthesis received its final shape, everything began to improve.
As a result, Steph and her partner made it to the eighth round of the show, at first she considered it a failure, but later realized that it was not necessary to shine on national television in order to skate.
And she continued. In January 2023, the athlete passed the first of eight tests organized by the British Figure Skating Federation to assess the skills of figure skaters. There were steps and turns, seven-year-olds tested alongside the great Paralympic athlete.
Long term, Ride wants to learn more complex skills and elements of figure skating, and maybe even start competing. “I want to do a jump, whether it’s an Axel or a toe loop. It would be amazing,” she admits.
Paul McCartney’s ex-wife inspired children
Paul McCartney’s ex-wife Heather Mills also rode in the British Ice Age. She lost her left leg in 1993 when she was hit by a police motorcycle. Mills did not manage to win the television show, but she said very correct and inspiring words:
“I’m excited that all the kids who wrote me who lost limbs are now going to skate too.”
heather mills
Photo: Still from the show Dancing on Ice
Russia also has opportunities for people with disabilities
Five years ago, fans of figure skating were deeply shocked by the story of Ivan Samodelkin, an ice ballet dancer who, while working in the fields, injured his leg on a cultivator. Doctors resorted to amputation due to infection, and Ivan’s friends released a collection of special prostheses for figure skating. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Mikhail Kolyada, Alexandra Stepanova fit.
Three million rubles for a sports prosthesis were not collected at that time, but it was not necessary: Samodelkin said that it was first necessary to learn how to cope with a standard prosthesis, and only then try on a special one.
More on the story of Ivan Samodelkin:
The figure skater cut his leg. What will become of him now?
Ivan still did not return to figure skating, but he managed to try rowing and cheerleading for Paralympians, and also became the champion of Russia in wheelchair basketball. There is no doubt that if he wanted to get back on the ice, and not try something new, he would have succeeded.
But it will be more difficult for Roman Kostomarov, because he lost both legs.
Adapted from Paralympic.org, Express.co, The Voice.
