Just hours after Uzbekistan's first Olympic champion, Lina Cheryazova, stepped down from the podium in Lillehammer, personal tragedy tarnished the glitter of her gold medal.
On her way to call her parents in Tashkent to tell them of her victory Feb. 24 in the women's freestyle aerial ski competition, officials from the Uzbek delegation handed Cheryazova a letter from her father.
Scribbled on the outside of the envelope was her mother's last wish: "Open after Lina wins the gold medal."
The letter explained something that had been hidden from Cheryazova but that many in the Uzbek Olympic delegation and even some of her teammates had known for weeks. On Feb. 2, while Lina was competing in pre-Olympic events in Europe, her mother had died from an injury sustained in a factory accident.
Shoddy care by doctors and a lack of medicine were at fault, the skier's father, Anatoly Cheryazov, said in a telephone interview.
Rarely in Olympic history has the razor's edge between joy and grief cut so quickly to the bone. That night Cheryazova's tears of joy turned to bitter sadness.
Reached in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, shortly after her return from Europe, Cheryazova said she had been told the proper medicine could not be found to help her mother.
"It's been very difficult to return home," she said. "This gold medal cost me a lot."
To make sure Cheryazova stayed focused on winning the gold in Lillehammer, Uzbek sports officials decided to keep their lone medal hopeful in the dark about her mother's death. Even teammates who attended Svetlana Cheryazova's funeral in Tashkent on Feb. 7 and later joined the Uzbek Olympic team in Lillehammer were told to keep quiet about the incident. It was what her mother wanted, they were told.
"And there wasn't time for Lina to go home anyway," said Sabirzhan Ruziyev, the President of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan. "She was on the verge of a gold medal."
Cheryazova's mother was injured Jan. 10 during her work shift at the Tashkent Tractor Factory. She was dragged feet first into a heavy-metal-cutting machine when her work clothes got caught in the machine's turning wheel.
Cheryazov, her husband, said he believes the ensuing medical complications could have been prevented had necessary precautions been taken. But necessary precautions in Uzbekistan, a country saddled with a depressed economy, are a luxury.
Doctors arriving on the scene ignored her diabetic condition, and she was sent home, where after a week gangrene set in and she was finally admitted to the local polyclinic, Cheryazov said. But the necessary antibiotic, expensive by Uzbek standards at $10-$25 a dose, was unavailable in Tashkent. Before long, amputation of her left leg was no longer an option. The infection had spread and she was doomed.
In Lillehammer, the victories of speedskater Dan Jansen of the United States and figure skater Oksana Baiul of Ukraine were poignant instances of athletes overcoming bad luck, injury and hardship. Cheryazova's tale at the 1994 Winter Olympics is all this and, tragically, more.
It is a story of her extraordinary perseverance through pain, framed by her mother's death in a country that can funnel money into its first medal hopeful yet whose doctors are unable to treat an infection properly.
That Uzbekistan, a country with little snow, won a gold medal in Lillehammer was one of the oddities of the 1994 Winter Olympics. That Cheryazova actually won the women's aerial skiing competition was just short of a miracle.
Even though she won the season-long World Cup title this month for the second year in a row and the Winter Olympics, Cheryazova competed with a damaged ligament in her right knee and torn cartilage in both knees. Those are crippling injuries in a sport where knees work as shock absorbers after skiers execute flips and twists in the air.
"Each practice could have been her last," said her coach, Dmitry Kobanov.
On Feb. 13, during a training jump in Lillehammer, her right knee buckled on landing, causing her to veer sharply right and collide with support poles for Olympic banners. She was knocked unconscious and bruised her thigh and ribs.
"For anyone else, a fall like that would have meant the end of the Olympics," said U.S. Freestyle Skiing Coach Jeff Chumas at the Games. "But Lina is an extraordinary young lady."
Cheryazova, 25, an ethnic Russian, is an unusual Olympic champion. Trained as gymnast, she took up acrobatics before switching to skiing at the relatively late age of 19. She is the only member of the Uzbek freestyle aerial ski team, and because there is little snow in Uzbekistan, she does most of her training on a trampoline in a sports hall in Tashkent.
In the aerial competition in Lillehammer, Cheryazova's knee would not hold steady. She was a distant 12th going into the final two jumps. But the former acrobat's triple somersaults in a competition where doubles were the norm made up for her unsteady landings and secured her the gold.
Back home, a grand fete is planned for Uzbekistan's new national hero. For the 1994 Olympic champion in aerial skiing, there will be a meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, a $10,000 cash reward and a new car.
Money that could have bought the needed antibiotic? Maybe.
On her way to call her parents in Tashkent to tell them of her victory Feb. 24 in the women's freestyle aerial ski competition, officials from the Uzbek delegation handed Cheryazova a letter from her father.
Scribbled on the outside of the envelope was her mother's last wish: "Open after Lina wins the gold medal."
The letter explained something that had been hidden from Cheryazova but that many in the Uzbek Olympic delegation and even some of her teammates had known for weeks. On Feb. 2, while Lina was competing in pre-Olympic events in Europe, her mother had died from an injury sustained in a factory accident.
Shoddy care by doctors and a lack of medicine were at fault, the skier's father, Anatoly Cheryazov, said in a telephone interview.
Rarely in Olympic history has the razor's edge between joy and grief cut so quickly to the bone. That night Cheryazova's tears of joy turned to bitter sadness.
Reached in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, shortly after her return from Europe, Cheryazova said she had been told the proper medicine could not be found to help her mother.
"It's been very difficult to return home," she said. "This gold medal cost me a lot."
To make sure Cheryazova stayed focused on winning the gold in Lillehammer, Uzbek sports officials decided to keep their lone medal hopeful in the dark about her mother's death. Even teammates who attended Svetlana Cheryazova's funeral in Tashkent on Feb. 7 and later joined the Uzbek Olympic team in Lillehammer were told to keep quiet about the incident. It was what her mother wanted, they were told.
"And there wasn't time for Lina to go home anyway," said Sabirzhan Ruziyev, the President of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan. "She was on the verge of a gold medal."
Cheryazova's mother was injured Jan. 10 during her work shift at the Tashkent Tractor Factory. She was dragged feet first into a heavy-metal-cutting machine when her work clothes got caught in the machine's turning wheel.
Cheryazov, her husband, said he believes the ensuing medical complications could have been prevented had necessary precautions been taken. But necessary precautions in Uzbekistan, a country saddled with a depressed economy, are a luxury.
Doctors arriving on the scene ignored her diabetic condition, and she was sent home, where after a week gangrene set in and she was finally admitted to the local polyclinic, Cheryazov said. But the necessary antibiotic, expensive by Uzbek standards at $10-$25 a dose, was unavailable in Tashkent. Before long, amputation of her left leg was no longer an option. The infection had spread and she was doomed.
In Lillehammer, the victories of speedskater Dan Jansen of the United States and figure skater Oksana Baiul of Ukraine were poignant instances of athletes overcoming bad luck, injury and hardship. Cheryazova's tale at the 1994 Winter Olympics is all this and, tragically, more.
It is a story of her extraordinary perseverance through pain, framed by her mother's death in a country that can funnel money into its first medal hopeful yet whose doctors are unable to treat an infection properly.
That Uzbekistan, a country with little snow, won a gold medal in Lillehammer was one of the oddities of the 1994 Winter Olympics. That Cheryazova actually won the women's aerial skiing competition was just short of a miracle.
Even though she won the season-long World Cup title this month for the second year in a row and the Winter Olympics, Cheryazova competed with a damaged ligament in her right knee and torn cartilage in both knees. Those are crippling injuries in a sport where knees work as shock absorbers after skiers execute flips and twists in the air.
"Each practice could have been her last," said her coach, Dmitry Kobanov.
On Feb. 13, during a training jump in Lillehammer, her right knee buckled on landing, causing her to veer sharply right and collide with support poles for Olympic banners. She was knocked unconscious and bruised her thigh and ribs.
"For anyone else, a fall like that would have meant the end of the Olympics," said U.S. Freestyle Skiing Coach Jeff Chumas at the Games. "But Lina is an extraordinary young lady."
Cheryazova, 25, an ethnic Russian, is an unusual Olympic champion. Trained as gymnast, she took up acrobatics before switching to skiing at the relatively late age of 19. She is the only member of the Uzbek freestyle aerial ski team, and because there is little snow in Uzbekistan, she does most of her training on a trampoline in a sports hall in Tashkent.
In the aerial competition in Lillehammer, Cheryazova's knee would not hold steady. She was a distant 12th going into the final two jumps. But the former acrobat's triple somersaults in a competition where doubles were the norm made up for her unsteady landings and secured her the gold.
Back home, a grand fete is planned for Uzbekistan's new national hero. For the 1994 Olympic champion in aerial skiing, there will be a meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, a $10,000 cash reward and a new car.
Money that could have bought the needed antibiotic? Maybe.
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