November 20, 1995: The Death of Sergei Grinkov

"Kayta" & Sergei

November 20, 1995: Sergei Grinkov dies of a heart attack, while practicing with his wife and figure skating partner, Ekaterina Gordeeva, in Lake Placid, New York. He was 28 years old, and an autopsy showed that he had severely clogged coronary arteries.

Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov was born on February 4, 1967 in Moscow. Ekaterina Alexandrovna Gordeeva was born on May 28, 1971, also in Moscow. Sergei and "Katia" were paired up in 1981, at ages 14 and 10, respectively, by coach Vladimir Zaharov.

Together, competing for the Soviet Union, they won the Gold Medal in pairs skating at the European Championships in 1988 and 1990; at the World Championships in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990; and at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

They were married on April 20, 1991, and began touring in Stars On Ice, in America. They had to drop out when Katia was found to be pregnant. On September 11, 1992, their daughter, Daria, was born -- in America, in Morristown, New Jersey. Two months later, Katia began training again. By this point, the Soviet Union had fallen, and professionals were allowed to compete in formerly all-amateur events such as the Olympics. Competing for the Russian Federation, they won both the Olympics (in Lillehammer, Norway) and the European Championships in 1994.

On November 20, 1995, they were training for the next round of Stars On Ice, in Lake Placid, on the rink where Gold Medals were won at the 1980 Winter Olympics by Robin Cousins of Britain, Anett Pötzsch of East Germany, and 2 Soviet duos, Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev in paris and Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponossov in ice dancing -- and also won there by the U.S. hockey team, beating the Soviets and then Finland for the Gold Medal.

During a practice, Grinkov collapsed, having suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors found that he had severely clogged coronary arteries, to the point where his arterial opening was reportedly the size of a pinhole. Later testing revealed that he also had a genetic risk factor linked with premature heart attacks. The risk factor is called the PLA-2 variant, and is also known as the "Grinkov Risk Factor." He was 28 years old. His wife was 24, and their daughter was only 3.

Katia, along with an all-star cast, skated a tribute in his honor titled "Celebration of a Life" in February 1996, which was later televised. She also wrote a book about their life and partnership titled My Sergei: A Love Story, which was later turned into a television movie.

Katia later married and divorced another Russian skating champion, Ilia Kulik, had another daughter, Liza, and ran a skating rink in the suburbs of Los Angeles. In 2020, she married to another Gold Medal-winning skater, David Pelletier of Canada, and they run a rink in Edmonton.

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November 20, 1995 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. On ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins, 44-20 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Utah Jazz, 105-79 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Boston Celtics, 98-93 at the new FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Golden State Warriors, 101-95 at the Orlando Arena.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-94 at the new Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum. Turner Stevenson scored the winning goal, with 1:48 left in overtime. And the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Northlands Coliseum (then known as the Edmonton Coliseum).