“A couple of logs under me, I was generally unstable” – Kostomarov about the first time on the ice after recovery

Olympic figure skating champion Roman Kostomarov said he was disappointed the first time on the ice after his recovery.

In early 2023, Kostomarov was hospitalized due to pneumonia and complications. The 47-year-old athlete began suffering from tissue necrosis and underwent several limb amputations. Kostomarov then underwent prosthetic surgery, and in December he returned to ice skating in Ilya Averbukh’s show.

— When you went out on the ice for the first time after what happened, how did you feel?

— The ice was very slippery. Not the same as before. I couldn’t go out alone. My friends Maxim Stavisky and Oksana helped me. I didn’t understand where this feeling was before. You are deprived of the main parts of your legs, your feet, with which you feel everything on the ice and on skates. And then there were a few two logs underneath, it was generally unstable. I felt like stars (not figure skaters) in an ice show. I told Oksana: that’s it, now I’m a star, and you are my figure skating partner. I realized I wasn’t going to get out on my own. At first the disappointment was complete, but little by little something began to work out. That it won’t be as pleasant as before. But it’s always a pleasure to return to the ice, ”reports a correspondent, reporting Kostomarov’s words.

Kostomarov, together with Tatyana Navka, won gold at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, also became world champion twice and won the European Championships three times.