“I’m so sorry, Kat,” Ellis said. “This is all my fault.”
Video footage of a news report: “Last night,” the anchorwoman says, “during a charity gala at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, controversial figure skating star Katarina Shaw was seen arguing with her estranged older brother, Lee Shaw.
“A few short hours later, Lee Shaw was dead.”
Ellis Dean:Lee was a troubled person.
The next morning, Katarina and Heath walk through the terminal at LaGuardia Airport, both wearing sunglasses. Reporters swarm them, shouting questions about Lee.
“Katarina, how are you holding up?”
“What happened between you and your brother, Katarina?”
“You don’t seem that broken up, are you happy he’s dead?”
At that last question, Katarina flinches, but she doesn’t break her stride.
Garrett Lin:Lee’s death was a tragedy, but it wasn’t her fault.
Ellis Dean:It wasn’t anyone’s fault. He was an addict. He overdosed.
Inez Acton:By all accounts, Kat’s brother was an abusive piece of shit. Why did people expect her to be grief-stricken by his death?
Francesca Gaskell:She did seem to move on awfully fast. But I guess we all grieve in our own ways, right? Besides, with the Olympics coming up, there was no time to waste.
Aerial stock footage of a snow-covered alpine mountain range.
Jane Currer:In the summer of 2009, Katarina and Heath relocated to Germany, to train with Lena Müller, a former ladies champion who’d coached several Olympians during the 1990s.
Photographs of Müller, first from her competition days, then covering her coaching career. She’s a stern woman with a strong jaw and a shock of white hair.
Kirk Lockwood:I knew they were serious when they started working with Lena. She wasn’t an ice dance specialist, but they didn’t need help with their dance skills. They needed someone who was going to kick their asses every day and refuse to put up with any bullshit. That was Frau Müller. People didn’t call her “The Valkyrie of Old Bavaria” for nothing!
Garrett Lin:Müller’s training center seemed like a good fit for them. Quiet, remote, no distractions. We didn’t see Kat and Heath again until the Grand Prix Final, but the difference in their skating was clear. They seemed more focused. Not that theytotallyavoided controversy…
Practice footage of Katarina and Heath working on their free dance: they’re both in striking red and black costumes, and Katarina wears a choker with beads that look like blood dripping from her throat. Their music is from the score of the 1992 filmBram Stoker’s Dracula.
Kirk Lockwood:The vampire program? It was memorable, I’ll give ’em that.
Jane Currer:For an exhibition, fine. But for the Olympic season?
Ellis Dean:I loved it, personally. What are the Olympic Games if not a giant theatrical production where the whole world pretends to get along for two weeks?
Garrett Lin:The fans loved it—and the technical level was so high, even if the more old-school judges docked a few presentation points, Kat and Heath were still tough to beat.
At a ceremony following the 2010 U.S. National Championships in Spokane, Washington, Shaw/Rocha and Lin/Lin are named to the Olympic team. The bronze medalists, Frannie Gaskell and Evan Kovalenko, are relegated to the alternate spot again, in favor of more experienced skaters Tanya Fischer and Danny Chan, who finished in fourth place.
Francesca Gaskell:I’m not gonna lie: we were disappointed. But those other teams—it was supposed to be their last-ever chance to go to the Games, you know?
Kirk Lockwood:It had been years since the U.S. had legitimate ice dance medal hopes at the Olympics. Now we had two teams in serious contention. We had to capitalize on that.
A television spot for the 2010 Winter Olympics: “Shaw and Rocha. Lin and Lin. Two teams, but only one gold medal. Don’t miss the ultimate showdown of America’s ice dance superstars!”
Garrett Lin:They made it look like we were about to go head-to-head in a boxing match.
Ellis Dean:Oh, the rivalry wasdelicious.I even made T-shirts:Team KatarinaorTeam Bella.The Bella ones sold the most, but I think someTwilightfans might’ve skewed the results.
Garrett Lin:It made me uncomfortable. We had enough pressure from the Russians.
