Viktor Petrenko: "You want to do something in your life to help other people" (04/08/01)

Viktor Petrenko: "You want to do something in your life to help other people"

by Natalie Korsheniuk Pollock
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

SIMSBURY, Conn. - Viktor Petrenko was a sickly child when he was growing up in Odesa on the Black Sea. At age 31, the Olympic champion was skating and leaping in Connecticut on March 2-3 to raise money for children suffering deadly and disfiguring diseases in his hometown.

"You want to do something in your life to help other people, and when it happens, you feel satisfied," he explained. "Even if only one child feels better, I feel I did what I needed to do."

Mr. Petrenko realized he needed to help the children in his part of Ukraine who were dealing with the effects of the nuclear disaster in Chornobyl after he met Nadia and Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky, founders of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF). They met by chance at the Ukrainian Consulate in New York City two years ago, and last spring they got together again to discuss the possibility of a benefit performance starring Mr. Petrenko and his world-class colleagues.

CCRF staff and volunteers organized the event at the International Skating Center of Conn. (ISCC) in Simsbury, home base for Mr. Petrenko and his family since 1994. Together with the strength of Mr. Petrenko's name and the commitment of the center's new partners and staff, the Viktory for Kids ice show raised close to $120,000 after expenses. The proceeds will be used to modernize and equip the new Viktor Petrenko Neonatal Intensive Care Clinic in the Odesa Hospital.

Mr. Petrenko plans to accompany the transport sometime this summer. The internationally acclaimed champion is known in the skating world for his many kindnesses and generosity. One of the most famous beneficiaries of his largess has been Oksana Baiul, also a 1994 Olympic gold medalist for Ukraine, who, at Mr. Petrenko's urging, was taken in by his coach and trained with him. She came to the ISCC in the same year, but the two skaters have gone their separate ways. "Oksana lives her own life, somewhere in New Jersey. I hope she's happy. I see her at events," he quickly added.

Mr. Petrenko was invited with his coach to the new skating center by Olympic training coach Bob Young and his partner, Steve Fish, two years after he won the Olympic gold medal in figure skating for newly independent Ukraine. He and Galina Zmievskaya, his coach and surrogate mother of many years, accepted their invitation, and moved into a nearby condominium.

That short two-year period between winning the gold medal and emigrating to the United States was replete with weighty decisions for Mr. Petrenko. He competed one more time, winning the European Championships in 1994. He decided to turn professional, and he married his childhood sweetheart and his coach's oldest daughter, Nina Melnik.

"I knew I would turn pro when I came here, and I thought if we lived here I would have a chance to see my family more often. It is hard to travel overseas and have a family in Odesa," he said.

The father of a daughter named Victoria, who turns 4 in July, Mr. Petrenko was just a year older when he first began to skate. His parents, Tamara and Vassily, both retired engineers, followed his doctor's suggestion and enrolled him in a newly built figure skating school in Odesa to strengthen his body and cure him of his ills.

"In 1974 it was the first ice rink, about the size of this room," he says gesturing, "with portable ice. I was not happy. I wanted to stay at home and play soccer with my friends. When I was 7 or 8, I decided to quit without telling my parents. I stopped taking lessons, but my parents found out."

"When I turned 10," he continued, "I started liking it. I had a group of skaters to go to school with, too, so we became friends. It was a good time. Then at 14 I took skating more seriously, when I won the World Junior Championship." Viktor was the Petrenkos' first-born son; his brother Vladimir followed him by one and one-half years. Vladimir followed in Viktor's skating tracks, attending skating school and competing. "My parents did not see us much when we were young, because we were practicing in other cities, sometimes in Moscow or Dnipropetrovsk," Mr. Petrenko explained. "I see my parents more often now than I used to. Now they can travel freely." His parents come to visit often, especially now that they are grandparents. They were on hand for the March event in Connecticut and stayed until the 25th.

The next day Mr. Petrenko left for the Champions on Ice show in Orlando. He had just returned from a performance a few days earlier. "I am only here about one week each month when I am on tour," he noted, "and then during the summer on break."

His brother, Vladimir, also a skater since his youth, came to perform in the Nutcracker on Ice show in 1995, and was offered a coaching position by Mr. Young. He lives nearby with his wife and 10 1/2-month-old son.

"We grew up not speaking Ukrainian," Mr. Petrenko said. "We had Ukrainian in school, but it was a Russian school, and I took English lessons instead. My father speaks perfect Ukrainian. He grew up near Odesa and studied in a Ukrainian school. I regret I did not learn more."

He continued: "Odesa is very international because it is a resort city. There are many different kinds of people, so they all communicate in Russian. There was no opportunity to go to church or follow the traditions when I was growing up, but after 1988-1989, repression slowed down so more people became involved. I would have had a problem going out of the country if I had been involved."

Mr. Petrenko met Ms. Zmievskaya when he was 10 years old. A native of Kharkiv, she was working as a figure skating coach. When the new skating school opened in Odesa, she was invited along with other coaches from around the Soviet Union to relocate.

"From that time in the Soviet Union to now, there was a different preparation of skaters - no private lessons, group lessons only. She picked me to work with, and she went with me to all the competitions," Mr. Petrenko recalled. "She has a good sense of figure skating: she is talented in both program and technique. That is unique." Mr. Petrenko took his school books with him when he traveled. He studied physical education in college in Odesa, and became qualified to teach or coach. "I learned to organize my practice: how to pace myself, when to work and when to rest. It helps me study," he said.

Although he was not interested in figure skating when he first started at the Odesa skating school, Mr. Petrenko said he recalls wanting to be an Olympic champion when he was young. "When it happened, then I thought about what's next. I started working to become a professional skater, to make people enjoy what I'm doing," he explained. "When a professional performs, people get into it."

"Now I want to use skating for special events, like the Viktory for Kids show," Mr. Petrenko commented. "This show seemed different because the audience knew what the show was all about: they saw the slides of the children of Chornobyl before the skating started, and they realized that they were helping kids."

According to Jon Zieky, one of four partners in the ISCC who had a daily involvement with this event, the skating center had never before experienced a standing ovation for a performance, and this show brought two nights of ovations.

Mr. Petrenko said he would like to repeat the Viktory for Kids ice show next year, although he is concerned that some of the best skaters might be involved with preparations for the Olympics. This year the response from the skaters was enthusiastic.

"I asked the skaters personally because I know almost everyone in the figure skating world - we meet at events," he related. "Some said it was a good idea, but they were busy. Brian Boitano was one of the first I asked, and he was the first to agree."

The star-studded cast of skaters who donated their time and talents included, among others, world silver medalist Philippe Candeloro, 1998 Olympic pairs champions Oksana Kazakova and Arthur Dmitriev, U.S. silver medalist Sasha Cohen, world bronze medalist and Ukrainian champion Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, Italian champion Silvia Fontana, Israeli champion Michael Shmerkin and Ukrainian skating acrobats Alexei and Vladimir.

In addition, there were student performances by the young skaters of Jagged Ice team, the chorus of the Roaring Brook Elementary School in nearby Avon, and dramatic readings of poems and stories written by children of Chornobyl and read by students of the Central Elementary School in Simsbury.

The world-class caliber of the performers also attracted corporate sponsorship by Cingular Wireless/SNET, Connecticut Natural Gas, Environmental Systems Products and Eurotech. Among them was Western Union, which donated $9,400 for an incubator. The local CBS affiliate, WFSB-TV 3, filmed the event in its entirety and will air it on April 15.

Mr. Petrenko expects to continue entertaining audiences and drawing them to his special events for many more years. "I feel strong and I have many more ideas," he underlined. "Scott Hamilton is in his 40s and still skating, and there are some in their 60 who still skate, but," he laughed, "I can't plan to do that."

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