Bright comebacks in figure skating: who returned after a break in their car

Athletes are people whose professional activities depend on daily training and competitions. As soon as you take a break, you are already caught up and overtaken by those who were running behind you. But time after time, there are examples of how athletes returned and won - after breaks, injuries, childbirth.

Evgeni Plushenko

The famous Russian figure skater and now coach at his own Academy, Evgeni Plushenko, has had to put his career on hold more than once. There have been injuries and disqualifications. One of the most difficult periods was the pre-Olympic season of 2013/2014. In January 2013, Plushenko withdrew from the World Championships in Croatia after skating his short program, and at the end of the month, the skater underwent spinal surgery. He returned to the big sport in the fall, but missed the Russian Grand Prix stage and the European Championships. And yet, Evgeni got the only ticket for men to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. At the Games, Plushenko withdrew from the individual competitions due to back pain: as it turned out later, one of the screws holding the artificial intervertebral disc broke. But this did not prevent the skater from becoming an Olympic champion - Russia took gold in the team event.

Tatyana Navka

In 2000, Tatyana Navka and Alexander Zhulin had a daughter, which is why the skater missed almost the entire 1999/2000 season. Before her pregnancy, she performed in a pair with Roman Kostomarov, but shortly before Tatyana's happy event, the pair broke up. But after Navka returned to the ice, Kostomarov wanted to pair up with her again: this is how one of the most successful ice dancing duets in Russian figure skating was formed. In 2004 and 2005, the athletes won the World Championships, and in 2006, Navka and Kostomarov became Olympic champions.

Elena Berezhnaya

The fact that Elena Berezhnaya returned to sports after a severe head injury can only be called a miracle. Before becoming part of the Russian national team, the figure skater competed for Latvia. On the eve of the 1996 European Championships, Berezhnaya's partner Oleg Shlyakhov hit her in the head with a skate during training. As a result, the temporal bone was broken and the lining of the brain was damaged. After the operation, Berezhnaya learned to walk and talk again, and then she got back on skates and returned to sports. Just two years later, the figure skater, together with Anton Sikharulidze, won silver medals at the Olympics, and four years later she became the champion of the Games.

Irina Rodnina

Another figure skater who put her career on hold due to pregnancy is Irina Rodnina. This was in the late 1970s. In February 1979, the figure skater gave birth to a son, and exactly one year later she won the Olympics in a pair with Alexander Zaitsev.

Alexandra Trusova

Trusova got on this list in advance: in recent days, there has been more and more news that the "Russian Rocket" is ready to resume her professional career. The last time Alexandra Trusova went on the big competitive ice was in 2022, at the Olympics. Two years is an eternity for figure skating, especially women's. Trusova changed Eteri Tutberidze's team to Svetlana Sokolovskaya: she left to be on the same team with her then lover Mark Kondratyuk. She performed in shows, but every now and then withdrew from professional competitions, and since last summer she took a full break. During it, she managed to try herself as a singer and released several tracks. Now there is a new stage in Trusova's life - she is preparing to marry Makar Ignatov and, possibly, return to sports. We are sure that if the comeback happens, Trusova will be on the podium.