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'Pure human jealousy' Car bomb derailed Russian skater's preparations
Posted: Wednesday December 29, 1999 05:47 PM
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- World and European figure skating champion Maria Butyrskaya blamed her poor performance at last week's Russian national championship on shock after her car was mysteriously blown up. Butyrskaya's five-year reign as Russian figure skating queen ended on Saturday, two days after her BMW car was destroyed in an explosion outside her apartment building in central Moscow. The nervous-looking 27-year-old, who was forced to hire bodyguards during the competition, skated a shaky free program and had to settle for second place behind Irina Slutskaya. But in an interview with Reuters this week, Butyrskaya said the attack might have been aimed at derailing her preparations for this season's major championships. "I don't see any other reason for it than jealousy, pure human jealousy," she said. "I think some people just couldn't stand the fact that I became successful and got all the things that I deserve. "In top level sports the stakes are high, and, I guess, some people were willing to go to any lengths to get me out of their way," she said, without giving any further comment to back up her suspicions. Butyrskaya said she had been told by neighbors they had seen two men running away from the car, after which it exploded. In March in Helsinki, Butyrskaya became the first Russian skater to win the women's world title in addition to her earlier triumph at the European championship. Last year, she also became one of the few female athletes to be chosen to appear in the Russian edition of Playboy magazine. The world of figure skating has been marred by violence in the recent past, the most infamous incident being the clubbing of American champion Nancy Kerrigan before the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January of 1994 in Detroit. The ex-husband of rival skater Tonya Harding was given a two-year jail sentence for the attack. A teary-eyed Butyrskaya said the ordeal had affected her performance at the national championship. "It was very tough mentally," she said. "I had to spend hours at the police station, filling out car insurance papers and answering questions." The Russian nationals were qualifiers for next year's European and world championship and the competition among the women was the fiercest as four top skaters were fighting it out for just three spots on the team. "I'm not involved in any criminal activity and I don't owe anybody any money and it looks very strange that it happened just before the championship," said Butyrskaya. Her coach, Yelena Chaikovskaya, was furious, saying anyone who could plan such an attack deserved the stiffest punishment. "In my 40 years of coaching I have never seen anything like it," she said. "I guess it's this crime wave that has taken over our cities and lives lately."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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