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Alexei Yagudin Turns Titanium:
Chronicles of a Hip Replacement
By Kathleen Bangs There was no entourage.
With considerably less fanfare than one would expect for a history-making Olympic and four-time World champion, Alexei Yagudin groggily checks into a New York City hospital during the early morning of July 5. Having already spent the bulk of his 27-year-lifetime accumulating medals of bronze, silver and an overwhelmingly enormous collection of gold, perhaps it only made sense for the young Russian to now add titanium to his collection of rare metals, in the form a full right hip replacement.
It’s dawn, and the summer sun is just rising through the shadowy urban pillars of the Manhattan landscape. Settled into the pre-operative room, mild anesthesia already runs through his veins; he’s first up on the unit’s surgical schedule for the day. When he competed on the world figure skating stage, the champion lamented often having to skate first after the draw.
But on this day, Yagudin is eager to have the procedure over and done. “The only thing that bothered me was all of these people that kept coming in with forms, and it seemed like they were asking me over and over the same questions: spell your name, date of birth," he says. "I was tired of looking at all the papers, and it was really cold.”
Relief from the waiting came in the arrival of his renowned orthopedic surgeon. This was not their first trip under the knife together. In May of 2003, the same physician performed a much less complicated laparoscopy on Yagudin’s then ailing hip, to clear out pieces of shattered bone debris. “The doctor started talking to me about the procedure, and what he was going to do," Yagudin says. "I asked him about Rudy Galindo, because it was interesting to me that it was the same surgery and type of hip replacement as Rudy’s. The anesthesiologist said something and made me sleepy. I was going to ask more questions, but then I fell asleep.”
For many patients undergoing major surgery, the first day and night is spent in the recovery room, and then once stabilized, moved to their assigned hospital room, where they often suffer the after-effects from the anesthesia, alternating between an uncomfortable semi-conscious twilight state and retching fits of nausea.
Now afternoon, Yagudin was coming out of surgery and is quickly responsive. “At first I thought, 'Yea! I’m alive!’ but at the same time I couldn’t feel my legs," the 2002 Olympic champion says. "I didn’t really worry because I remembered from my first surgery that the lower half of your body could go numb from the spinal block.” Another hour passes, and the buoyant mood sinks to “the worst headache of my life.”
For years an activity even as mundane as a stroll down the street could often bring the champion nagging pain. The dull ache would ebb and flow; never a constant companion, but still an unwelcome visitor that could unfortunately always be counted upon to return.
Yet, on the really good days, like at an afternoon on-ice practice session last March, Yagudin practiced jumps for 20 minutes and then landed an impressive triple Axel, one of the sport’s most difficult maneuvers, and a jump even the master hadn’t attempted in years. Off the ice one hour and a few back-slaps later, the jubilation of the moment retreated, and Yagudin was left with the same old dichotomy of frustration as an otherwise healthy athlete who could still perform at the top of his world class talent, if only his joint would cooperate. In the days that followed he began to plan for the future. First, a hip replacement, and beyond that, if he dared to dream, maybe more.
The next morning, the first day after surgery, Yagudin is woozy. "I was so dizzy," he says, "I couldn’t even get out of bed. I tried to swing my legs over the edge of the bed and down to the floor to stand up, but it felt like I was going to pass out, so I had to lie down again. They told me I’d be able to take some steps, but I don’t when if it’s going to happen.”
Later, with the aid of a walker, he takes a few tentative steps with the encouragement of the hospital staff. It’s not much, and although they reassure him everything is normal, Yagudin is disappointed to feel so ill at ease in his own body. As the day goes on, and the painkillers kick in, his mood lifts and he goofs around with the only thing within reach, the get-well flowers. He jokingly rearranges them, and styles a single, sad stem so that it lilts upright in a bedside plastic fluid collector.
By late afternoon, things improve dramatically and he’s feeling very comfortable, he says, “like in a sort of floating dream place.” In a nod to his new internal titanium hardware, Yagudin jokes that people can now call him, “The Terminator,” and on cue adds Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic movie line, “I’ll be back!”
As Saturday night progresses, things fall apart and even more extreme pain returns to torture Yagudin who is a prisoner now to both the discomfort and his bed. “It was the worst so far," he says. "I wanted to ask for more medication because I didn’t think the pills were working. I couldn’t take it anymore and they gave me a shot in the arm, but I don’t think it helped. Finally the time came to take my pills again; I couldn’t believe how strong the pain was. I wanted to bite on something to keep from yelling.”
When Sunday morning arrives, Yagudin is wide awake, and in a very good mood, having finally been able to sleep a few hours after the intense pain of the night before. Tennis is the of the day, Wimbledon the event, and he’s eager to follow the action on the grass. He will root for Roger Federer, the tennis legend Yagudin admires and identifies with for his ability to reign at the top for so long. The marathon game begins to turn in favor of the scrappy Spaniard Rafael Nadal, and it appears Federer might finally lose his crown to the young challenger.
Yagudin’s faith never wavers. Rather than identify with an underdog, the skater who closed out the 6.0 system with the most ever perfect scores by a man in Olympic skating, almost always supports those athletes who have demonstrated, above all, longevity — the Andre Agassis and Michael Schumachers of the world.
In the end Federer is victorious, and Yagudin is pleased and rested. He decides to try getting out of his hospital bed, and take a few steps unassisted around his room. He makes it as far as the bathroom, which for now is no small victory. Sporting a dark tan and sun-bleached hair, he looks out of place, more like a guest at a resort, but the pale blue generic gown brings back the reality that he is instead a patient in a hospital.
Yagudin decides it’s time to measure his incision. Now that the bandages have been peeled off he is excited to get a close look at the scar. The zipper-like incision resembles a steel track across the flesh of where the deteriorated hip bone once resided. “I thought it was about as long as a can of Coke, because that’s what I first had to measure it with," he says. "But then I put it against my cell phone, and they were the same length, not including the antenna.”
Yagudin’s nature is to always reach for something just beyond his grasp. One manifestation is the way his schedule gets even more demanding with each passing year. While interest in the sport is on a downswing in the United States, figure skating has experienced a renaissance in longtime powerhouse Russia and emerging dominator Japan. The uptick is due in part to a near Russian sweep of medals at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, with the lone missing Soviet gold going to Japan’s newly iconic ladies champion Shizuka Arakawa.
Yagudin headlines the new tours that traverse Russia and parts of Europe, while enjoying star status in Japan, and is always an in-demand performer with America’s leading tour Stars on Ice. TV star was added to his repertoire with the number one ratings explosion last year of the Ilia Auverbukh produced skating with celebrities program now called “Ice Age.”
If his hip is ready for the new load, Yagudin will shortly begin on-ice training with an as yet unnamed partner for the new season’s debut. If not, he could host. The release of his revised autobiography, written in Russian and updated to include the years as a pro skater since Salt Lake City, is also scheduled for launch in the coming months.
Of course, the big question of a return to competition ice is what occupies his mind. Both he and rival Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko are keenly aware of the bragging rights that would accompany a second gold medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Much as either would love to claim it, each would equally despair to see it go to the other. The business of figure skating would rejoice at a rematch of the two titans once again on Vancouver ice. Separately both wonder: “What if?”
Sunday evening Yagudin was given the okay to leave the hospital and spend the next 10 days in Connecticut, recuperating and working on specific rehabilitative exercises directed to him by the medical staff. “I remember walking with the cane in the hospital that day – by the reception desk — with my nurse. I was leaning on the cane, and then I took it with both hands and pretended to swing it like a golf club," he recalls. " He yelled, 'Nooo!' and I laughed, 'Don’t worry, I can do it — I’m Russian!'"
The two-hour ride home was not without challenge. “I was not able to actually sit properly in the car, so my friend put the seat back so I could lie down," Yagudin says. "It was really important that at no time my right leg, with the new hip, be allowed to cross over in front of me. It had to stay stabilized with pillows and sort of locked into place or I risked dislocating the joint. I was a little nervous, but ready to get out of the hospital.
“Besides,” he adds laughing, "my roommate really snored loudly, it was hard to get any sleep.”
The next day Yagudin is surprisingly down. “Last night was even worse. The pain was so bad, even with the medication, so many times I had no idea if I was awake or dreaming or where I was. I really wondered if I had made a mistake," he says. "What if this was how it was going to be, what if the surgery only made things worse? Forget skating, what if I couldn’t walk? I feel better now and have taken a few steps with the cane. It feels so funny, because I’m not sure what normal is supposed to feel like now.”
A day later the sun is shining, and with 12 hours of long overdue sleep under his belt, Yagudin is restored and ventures outdoors to enjoy nature from the soothing vantage of a backyard hammock. By the next afternoon, he is catching rays on the deck, relaxing to tunes on his iPod. The worst is behind him, and finally he’s able to take steps on his own. Now he uses the metal cane as a device to help extend his foot, stretch his leg, and work on his flexibility.
He jokes about a new fondness for the cane. “I can lie down and still pick things up with it. Turn off the light, move blankets, pick up a magazine. I might keep this thing around,” he says jokingly.
His mood is good, and he’s beginning to see a glimmer of light from the end of the recovery tunnel, while acknowledging that if his hip will ever allow him to get back to doing the big jumps remains, for now, an unknown. Nevertheless, Yagudin is prepared for this battle. Arguably in the best shape of his career, down to his 2002 Olympics fighting weight, he’s also religiously embraced a healthier lifestyle. Most importantly, the competitive torch within has again been lit. He is looking for a fight, mostly against the limitations that have been imposed upon him.
Ten days after the operation, he’s in New Jersey, staying with choreographer and coach Nikolai Morozov. It is late, but Yagudin is excited. Searching for new music to inspire a masterpiece program, he wonders if lightning may have struck twice with a piece Tatiana Tarasova had selected but never used years earlier.
It’s an intricate melody that in the past had proven impossible to cut into the brilliant free skate program she imagined it could be. With modern equipment, Morozov spent two months cutting and tweaking the music, and Yagudin is impressed by the results.
It was Morozov’s earlier collaboration with the legendary Tarasova that spawned one of the world’s most highly regarded men's short program, “Winter”, designed for Yagudin in 2001. After the trio’s triumph at the 2002 Olympics, Morozov catapulted to fame, and soon after split to go it alone. Relations chilled, and the friendship with Yagudin cooled, until an unplanned reunion at a televised Tarasova birthday tribute held in Moscow last February.
Now Morozov and Yagudin are not only again close friends, they have become allies in an effort to potentially rebuild Yagudin into a code-of-points-friendly skater. “The requirements for steps won’t bother me, but the new system is tough on spins," Yagudin says. "When I competed you didn’t have to work as hard on spins because even an ugly one or a missed rotation could be overlooked. I wouldn’t care, and neither would the judges.
“Now I would have to really think when I do the spins, to make sure they are good quality with change of edge and this and that. In the past if I got tired during a program, I might change the spins, but that is not going to work under this system. Now you have to skate with a plan, and then you have to follow it.”
Part of Yagudin’s eligible skating legacy was his jaw-dropping jumps. At ease in the upper atmosphere of demanding triple Axels and quadruple rotations, his consistency rarely failed him, and even when the jumps were off, he could usually muscle around a saved landing where less determined athletes might stumble and fall.
“I’m a little concerned, but I’m also sure I’m going to remember all the jumps I’ve done since I was a kid. The quad will be the toughest to get back because it’s also the jump learned last," he admits. "I think I can count on muscle memory to help me. I’m actually more worried about physical conditioning, that’s my number one concern, even more than the hip.
"If I decide to try and compete under the new judging system, I’ll have to train so that I’m not out of breath at the end of a free skate.”
Part of that free skate conditioning may begin as early as November, when Yagudin has tentatively penciled in a week-long session with Morozov to create a demanding free program that will include point-boosting jumps after the two-minute mark. Even though Yagudin might use the program this year as a show number, his strategy is to load it with enough difficulty that next season he could easily segue it into a truly competitive free skate.
Almost two weeks after the hip replacement, Yagudin is still in New Jersey, on the eve of his return to Russia. Now that the initial post-operation roller coaster has begun to slow down, he is contemplative about life, and skating. “Overall I’m happy to have the surgery done," he concludes. "I’ll be really happy when I can skate and move without pain. The pain was not the reason I did this, I want to come back and compete. Even if I never do, I want to be able to at least have a realistic chance of trying.”
Yagudin has often wrestled with motivation. Not that he ever lacks it, but rather trying to determine where it comes from. The past few years of a lucrative pro career has brought millions, both on the ice and in the real estate market. “Even during this rehabilitation I have been working on buying and selling properties," he says. "Problems develop, things happen and I’m on the phone with real estate agents. I like to read about what to do with money and how to invest it.”
The man who spent his childhood sharing a rented communal apartment, the only son of a single mom, turns slightly wistful when the topic turns to indulging himself. “It’s funny — no luxuries. I don’t even ship my Mercedes to Russia. I don’t care about clothes, and don’t wear an expensive watch," he says. "I know it’s a little strange, but somehow when you’re no longer trying to save every single penny, you wonder, maybe I’ll buy a Ferrari? Then you think, no, that would be stupid for right now, but the little voice says, ‘When is the right time? Does it ever come?’"
It’s Thursday, July 19. Yagudin is on full radio silence, and he hopes to maintain the blackout through the crucial next few weeks of recovery. So far, news of his surgery has managed to stay under the media radar. He arrives at JFK airport, to catch a flight for Moscow via Paris.
Hours earlier, the menacing looking metal staples were removed from the incision over his healing hip and he’s in high spirits, optimistic the surgery has been a success. “When I met with the doctor today, I signed the papers to get my old hip back," Yagudin says. "He said they usually keep them anyway, but it will be cut into sections so the bone can be analyzed, and then they will send it to me.”
As he takes a seat on the jet that will fly him home, and to a still yet-to-be completely defined figure skating future, Yagudin looks at his surgery keepsake — an X-ray of the new titanium implant. It is startlingly larger in size and buried deeper into the femur bone than one would imagine. “Terminator” indeed.
Yagudin’s career has always been a wild ride, and he’s never been a predictable person, except perhaps on competition ice. In that domain, he could usually be predicted to win. The only safe prediction for right now is that there are sure to be even more corkscrew turns up ahead.
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