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Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Silver	1998 Nagano	Pairs
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Pairs

Yelena Berezhnaya (Russian: Елена Бережная) (born October 11, 1977 in Nevinnomirsk, Russia) is a Russian figure skater. She and skating partner Anton Sikharulidze were awarded an Olympic gold medal in pair skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics, which the pair shared with another pair from Canada after a notable judging controversy.

Yelena Berezhnaya first began skating at the age of six. She immediately displayed extraordinary talent, but her hometown of Nevinnomirsk offered little opportunity for advanced level skating. In 1990, Yelena's mother, Tatiana, sent her to Moscow so that she may have an opportunity to capitalize on her talent. Although a Russian, coaches paired her first with Latvian Oleg Shliakov. Soon after, the two moved and began training in Riga to avoid being overshadowed by the ultra-competitive Moscow school.

The two made a splash at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where they finished eighth. Skating fans worldwide believed the pair to have great promise for the future. However, Shliakov was known as an aggressive skater who bullied and controlled his female counterparts, and Yelena in particular fell victim due to her diminutive size and docile nature. Yelena would later tell CBS that her ill-tempered partner frequently abused her, both physically and emotionally, and that she was too terrified to speak up about it, even to her own mother. She also later admitted that she desperately wanted to quit skating altogether, but persevered because of her mother's aspirations for her only daughter.

The Latvian federation sent the pair to train with legendary coach Tamara Moskvina in St. Petersburg at the end of 1995. The change did little to tame Shliakov's temper, and the uninhibited abuse continued. It was at this time that Yelena met Anton Sikharulidze, who was then skating with Maria Petrova, and the two quickly developed a close friendship. Shliakov did not react well to this, and quickly took Yelena back to Riga to train.

The volatile situation erupted in January 1996. Yelena was seriously injured when Shliakov's blade sliced into her skull while the pair were practicing a side-by-side camel spin. Following the accident, which required two surgical operations to remove bone fragments from her brain, she lost the ability to speak. During her hospitalization, Sikharulidze heard of the news, and quickly traveled to Riga to be with Yelena. After several days, Anton took Yelena back to St. Petersburg where she could begin her rehabilitation surrounded by her friends, and live her life free of Oleg Shliakov once and for all.

Yelena made a rapid recovery, first regaining her ability to speak, then to skate. Within a year, with the aid of Tamara Moskvina, Yelena began to skate competitively again--this time with Anton Sikharulidze, who had ended his partnership with Petrova. They immediately made an impact on the world scene with their speed, artistry, and elegance. Yet, they experienced a disheartening meltdown at the 1997 World Figure Skating Championships. They were in third after the short program, but fell to ninth after the most disastrous free skate performance of their career.

The pair went into the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan as the favorites for the gold, after having won that year's European Championship. The pair once again felt the twinge of frustration after two flawed performances with uncharacteristic mistakes. Yet, their error did not place them in poor favor with the judges, and they won a controversial silver medal ahead of the reigning World Champions Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer of Germany.

Over the next four years, Yelena and Anton established themselves as one of the top teams in the world. Though often their performances were marred by unusual mistakes, they continued to be favorites to both the crowd and the judges. Yet, there were considerable negatives as well as positives in these years. In the 1999-2000 season, Yelena tested positive for doping. It was one of the first publicly known doping cases in figure skating. Although it was reported that the result was caused by a simple cold medication, Yelena and Anton were disqualified from the 2000 European Figure Skating Championships and were not allowed to compete for three months. Coincidentally, Anton's former partner, Maria Petrova, won that year's World Championships with her new partner Alexei Tikhonov.

In the 2001-2002 season, Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier established themselves as the main rivals to Yelena and Anton. Throughout the season, both pairs had traded first and second place at most of the major competitions, and they figured to be the main contenders for the Olympic gold medal. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, both pairs skated flawless short programs, with Yelena and Anton in 1st and the Canadians 2nd. The drama continued to build when in the warm up for the free skate, Anton and Jamie Salé crashed into each other at full speed, spending both skaters sprawling across the ice. Neither suffered any injury, and competed as scheduled.

Four judges awarded the Canadians a first place vote, whereas five had voted for Yelena and Anton. Yelena and Anton won the gold, and the Canadians, silver. Yet skating commentators and judges defended the outcome by pointing out that Yelena and Anton's free skate was more technically difficult in comparison to Salé and Pelletier's, which was most likely the reason for the Russian team's high technical merit marks despite the minor flaws. In addition, fans and coaches claim that judges prefer seeing new programs as opposed to programs used during the previous season(s), and therefore, are willing to reward newer programs with more artistry points for creativity and originality. This may have been the reason Yelena and Anton placed ahead of the Canadians in the presentation scores as well, thus taking the lead to win the gold medal. The Russians skated to a new long program, "Meditation from Thais," whereas the Canadians chose to perform their free skate from two seasons earlier, "Love Story" (soundtrack).

Nevertheless, the result sparked perhaps the most famous controversy in Olympic history. The president of the International Skating Union, Ottavio Cinquanta, under extreme pressure from the International Olympic Committee, immediately launched an investigation into the judging scandal. It was soon exposed that French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne admitted that she was intimidated into voting for the Russian pair in exchange for an advantage for the French couple in the ice dancing competition which followed a few days later. (Le Gougne later recanted her confession.) The scandal resulted in a second gold medal being awarded to the Canadian pair, and the IOC and ISU decided to declare both pairs as Olympic co-champions. The scandal also led to a complete overhaul of the ISU judging system.

Yelena and Anton eventually turned pro after the Olympics, continuing to capture the hearts of audiences all over the world. They had initially planned to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy^{[citation needed]}, although this did not materialize.

With Oleg Shliakov
Event	Year	Placement
European Figure Skating Championships	1993	8th
World Figure Skating Championships	1993	14th
European Figure Skating Championships	1994	8th
Winter Olympics	1994	8th
World Figure Skating Championships	1994	7th
European Figure Skating Championships	1995	5th
World Figure Skating Championships	1995	7th

With Anton Sikharulidze
Event	Year	Placement
European Figure Skating Championships	1997	3rd
World Figure Skating Championships	1997	9th
European Figure Skating Championships	1998	1st
Winter Olympics	1998	2nd
World Figure Skating Championships	1998	1st
European Figure Skating Championships	1998	WD
World Figure Skating Championships	1999	1st
European Figure Skating Championships	2000	DQ[1]
European Figure Skating Championships	2001	1st
World Figure Skating Championships	2001	2nd
Winter Olympics	2002	1st[2]

1. ^ due to positive doping test
2. ^ co-champions with Jamie Salé and David Pelletier

• Yelena Berezhnaya at the International Skating Union biography page

• A Pair of Hearts