Word: baiul
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...What sets the Russians apart from most rivals in the sport--a combination of ballroom dancing and skating--is not only their innovative choreography but also their breathtaking speed. Grishuk, an aspiring actress who has changed her first name from Oksana to avoid confusion with singles skater Oksana Baiul, is particularly admired for her quick, clean-edge turns known as "twizzles." The high technical difficulty of the pair's programs has resulted in a few falls this season, but they accept the risk. "If we made our dance easier, we would never fall," says Platov. "But we have some footwork...
...Baiul says lots of people were there, telling her to cool it. She just wasn't ready to listen. She stopped training, and when she did hit the ice, she was a bear cub on skates. "I was really miserable because I don't understand what the hell is going on with my body," says Baiul, who can be so charmingly candid and emotional that her body contorts in punctuation marks. What happened was that she had grown 4 in. and 20 lbs., and if there was a new balance somewhere in her junk-food-fed frame, she hadn...
Drinking was easier. Asked what and where she drank, Baiul says everything and everywhere. Vodka and cranberry was her favorite. Well, she is told, it's certainly not uncommon for a teenager, any teenager, to go for a good time...
...really heavy drinking began five months before the crackup, she says. On Jan. 12, 1997, with a Russian-trained skater named Ari Zakarian in the passenger seat and her blood-alcohol level at 0.168 in a state with a 0.10 limit, Baiul swerved off the road and slammed into the trees. "I got 14 stitches and couldn't walk the next day. I said, 'Oh, my God, I'm still alive...
...Today Baiul says she's an alcoholic. "She calls Jan. 12 her birthday," says Michael Carlisle, her friend and agent. "That's when she woke up and started a new life. She's recognized she has a problem, and is in the process of resolving it." She is not in rehab now, he said, but she's seeing a psychologist. A small group of coaches, skaters and friends has adopted her, Carlisle says, and is overseeing the education of Oksana. "She has demons. But she's a wonderful person, and she's trying to work through...