Champion skaters Maxim and Tatiana chill out in Dubai

Dubai - The husband-wife combination holds a unique record in the Olympics

The good thing about covering sports in Dubai is the opportunity to talk to some of the top stars in the world on a regular basis, the latest being the meeting with two current Olympic champions and also the 2013 world champions.
Here on a short stay at the invitation of the coach who initiated one them into the world of figure skating, the couple Maxim Trankov and his wife Tatiana Volosozhar - were on hand for a short conversation with us during a felicitation at Al Nasr Leisureland, Thursday evening.
The husband-wife combination holds a unique record in the Olympics which they achieved in Sochi in 2014. The indomitable Russian teamed up with his superstar wife Tatiana for the paired and team golds. Trankov and Tatiana are the current world record holders for the combined total, short programme and free skate scores. They are the first figure skaters to win two gold medals at the same Olympics, having taken gold in pairs and in the inaugural team event. The couple has also bagged six events on the Grand Prix circuit.
"I have a great partner. The moment in Sochi was a testimony of the six hours per day, six days a week training schedules and routines that we go through even now," said Trankov the 2013 world champion, a four-time (2012, 2013, 2014 & 2016) European champion, the 2012 Grand Prix Final champion, and a three-time (2011, 2013, 2016) Russian national champion.
"We do a lot of choreography work for our own shows and for other major events, and also help children after they have gone through the initiation stages in the 15-16 years age category. Helping young talent in improving their skills to high performance levels keeps us fully engaged back home, most of the time," Tatiana who married Trankov late in 2010, told Khaleej Times.
"The combination of our competition preparations and choreography concept designing, is a very tough grind, with hardly any time left for us. Rarely do we get an opportunity for some kind of relaxation, which now of course the beautiful modern city of Dubai is affording us this week."
"We get to see the world so many times every year form our competition schedules and when we get invited to perform artistically," said Trankov, "The first impression of our first trip to the UAE give us the feeling that this a very international place with so many kinds of cultures existing side by side."
ANL figure skating instructor Antonina Pashkovskaya was Tatiana's starting coach in Ukraine, "It's such great pleasure to be introducing some of our young trainees in Dubai, to two legends of the sport," Antonina said.
moni@khaleejtimes.com