28 IFSMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2019
I
t was an emotional week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as many
gathered to celebrate and remember Denis Ten this past
July. A year later, the wounds are still deep and the grief
was palpable for those who had a strong connection to
Ten during his lifetime.
Mao Asada, Jeremy Abbott, Sergei Voronov, Elena Radionova,
Takahito Mura, Dabin Choi and Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew
Poje all made the trek to Kazakhstan to pay their respects. Two
of Ten’s coaches — Elena Vodorezova, who coached him from
childhood until the end of the 2014 season, and Frank Carroll,
who became his new coach that summer — also came to Almaty.
Alexander Kogan, the general director of the Russian
Figure Skating Federation — who was instrumental in the
Vodorezova-Ten coaching arrangement so many years earlier
— and Natalia Bestemianova and her husband Igor Bobrin
were also in attendance.
Tatiana Tarasova, who choreographed Ten’s programs in
the early days of his career, was scheduled to attend but had to
cancel at the last minute for health reasons.
On July 19, many of the invited guests attended a memorial
luncheon at the Rixos Almaty Hotel where some spoke about
Ten, recalling his talents and achievements. Photos of Ten with
his family, friends and various skaters were displayed on several
big screens throughout the lunch.
Daisuke Takahashi, who did not perform in the show due to
other commitments, nonetheless travelled from Japan for half
a day. He attended the luncheon and later, along with other
skaters, laid flowers at the memorial garden in the center of
Almaty, which is nearby the intersection where the tragic events
unfolded one year earlier.
Unveiled on June 22, a 2.4 meter (8 foot) bronze statue
designed by Russian sculptor Matvey Makushin, which portrays
Ten in a typical skating pose, is a tribute to one of Kazakhstan’s
most beloved sons. A poem Ten wrote is engraved on the
wall along with a list of some of his notable achievements in
figure skating.
On this day, many others had come to pay their respects
and left a mountain of flowers piled up around the monument.
At the actual site of the attack, fans have created an unofficial
memorial with posters, candles, stuffed toys and flowers
adorning the site.
Everyone then visited Ten’s grave at a cemetery on the
outskirts of the city.
“I felt so grateful to be able to pay my respects at his
memorial,” Weaver said. “I was standing back a little bit, taking
in the location and the memorial, and his mother grabbed me
by the hand and said, ‘Come on, it’s OK.’ In the cemetery, it
was easier because I felt like his spirit was everywhere.”
For Voronov, the experience was surreal. “We went to the
place where all these horrible things happened and it somehow
doesn’t go into my head how the trees are growing, the birds
are singing and on July 19, 2018, it was probably the same kind
of day. Maybe there was rain or maybe not, maybe it was the
same sunny day. How can something like this happen in the
middle of the city? How? Explain that to me. It is all so sad.
“We can only hope that Denis is watching us from above.
As they say, God takes the best and he probably was one of the
best of us. I believe we’ll all meet in another life.”
It was not an easy day for Radionova, a two-time World
“Questions to answers are endless.
Answers to questions are swift.
The whole world is built on a mystery,
And only the end is an answer.
But the end is as transcendent
As is the beginning.”
Memorial wall poem by Denis Ten: