That was 1997, when Ioudenitch watched the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with bandaged fingers. He vowed to return.
On Sunday, Ioudenitch, who is from Uzbekistan, and Russia's Olga Kern made history by sharing the gold medal of the 11th Cliburn contest.
"It was like unfinished business," said Ioudenitch, 29, who this year performed some of the same music he would have four years ago: Prokofiev, Liszt, Schubert and Stravinsky.
Kern, 26, didn't advance past the preliminaries in 1997. But this year, her powerful performances of Rakhmaninov, Liszt, Scriabin and Schumann made her a crowd favorite.
She became the second woman ever to win the competition; Cristina Ortiz of Brazil won first prize in 1969.
For the first time since 1981, two pianists shared the silver medal: Maxim Filippov, 29, of Russia, who teaches at Moscow's Conservatory; and Antonio Pompa-Baldi, 26, of Italy, who teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory. No bronze medal was awarded.
Wang Xiaohan, 20, of China and Oleksiy Koltakov, 22, of Ukraine were the remaining finalists.
Cliburn hugged all finalists when they accepted their awards Sunday. He said the jurors used "utmost discretion" in awarding more than one gold and silver medal.
The gold and silver medallists each receive $20,000 and a commercial recording. The remaining finalists each get $10,000. All six get two years of concert management by the Van Cliburn Foundation.
The Cliburn contest started in 1962 and was held in 1966, 1969 and then every four years. Fort Worth music teachers created the contest to honor longtime resident Cliburn, who won the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958.
The competition was judged by an international panel of pianists, teachers, music company executives and administrators.
Ioudenitch has won top prizes at several prestigious contests over the past decade, including first prize at the 2000 New Orleans International Piano Competition. He is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Missouri.
Last year Kern won the City of Cantu International Competition for Piano and Orchestra and placed third in the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. She has toured Europe and Japan, South Africa, South Korea and the United States and is a postgraduate student at Moscow's Conservatory.
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