Athlete profile: Irina Slutskaya

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

She is known as "Slute," but her grandmother calls her a typhoon because she can never stay still...and the anticipated match-play, one-on-one American affair between Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski in Nagano may be washed away by this teenage typhoon from Moscow...the 1996 and 1997 European champion, Slutskaya is the first Russian or former Soviet woman to have won a major figure skating title...third at the 1996 Worlds, Slute was hampered by a back injury at last year's Worlds where she placed fourth...during practice in Lausanne, she smacked into the boards and left the ice sobbing with a sore back...after a subpar short program, in which she fell on her opening triple Lutz, Slutskaya rebounded with a long program that served notice to her American counterparts...the Russian completed a triple Salchow-triple loop combination (a very difficult element) and six triple jumps in total...three European judges -- from Austria, Hungary and Slovakia -- ranked her long program the best of the field while the other six judges rated it third..."I don't know how I skated," said Slute afterwards. "The spins were terrible -- it hurt so much"...her spoils from Nagano may be a medal, but will definitely include a stuffed animal -- probably the owl mascot of the Nagano Olympic Organizing Committee...Slute has approximately 200 stuffed animals -- many of which she has brought home from competitions (in skating, spectators often throw stuffed animals or flowers onto the ice after exceptional performances)...she still lives with her parents much of the time -- in a one-bedroom apartment -- even after buying a "flat in the suburbs"...hanging from the ceiling of her bedroom is a mobile of a golden figure skater...Slutskaya has overcome a growth spurt -- she grew two inches last year -- but remains a technical skater on par with Kwan and Lipinski...her trademark is the Biellmann spin -- named after 1981 Swiss World Champion Denise Biellmann -- in which Slute spins with her skate blade clasped in her hand above her head...she also completes a double Axel with one arm overhead -- a move made famous by Brian Boitano...it was on the 1996 Tour of World Figure Skating Champions that Slutskaya learned the maneuver from the 1988 men's Olympic champion...Slutskaya often falls short of Kwan in artistic comparisons...says Canadian coach Louis Stong, "Slutskaya is more talented with regards to her jumps and spins. But the vehicle is not as good. The choreography, the dresses, the look"...for instance, naysayers believe Slutskaya's music for her short and long programs have been on occasion eerily similiar...her long program this year is typical Russian folk music...she started the skating season slowly, finishing second to Germany's Tanja Szewczenko in the Nations Cup competition in Gelsenkirchen, Germany...Irina started skating at age five because she suffered regular bouts of influenza and severe colds...her parents brought her to an outdoor rink to gain fresh air...Irina says her mother relates that she hated skating at first "and she would go into hysterics"...Irina has been with coach Jana Gromova (YAH-nah gro-MAH-vah) from the beginning...Slutskaya trains at the Stadium of Young Pioneers in Moscow -- an edifice lacking the amenities of her Western counterparts Kwan and Lipinski...Irina takes the subway to and from practice, twice a day...she skates in the early morning and in the late afternoon -- with either studying or home her between-practice destination...with her prize money, Irina has bought her parents a car...her father is an engineer and her mother a teacher...besides her stuffed animals, Irina has a real dog -- a mixed breed named Erna...and a small rubber dog which she has taken on the road with her for eight years..."It even used to sit on the ice, in the corner, when I skated," recalls Slute. "But now I leave it in the room"...