Legacy On Ice 2025- Ilia Kulik, skating to honor his student Olivia Eve Ter, who was lost on AA Flight 5342
This broke me this morning.
As 1998 Olympic men’s figure skating gold medalist Ilia Kulik and two-time Olympic coach Audrey Weisiger stepped outside Fairfax Ice Arena in Northern Virginia on a cold January morning a year ago, there was so much they feared, yet so much they still didn’t know.
They were well aware there had been a midair collision over the Potomac River at Washington Reagan National Airport less than 12 hours earlier. They knew a group of young figure skaters, coaches and families had been on the plane. But they weren’t certain who exactly was on that flight, or perhaps on a different flight coming back from the national development camp for up-and-coming skaters after the 2025 U.S. championships in Wichita, Kansas.
It was 8 a.m. Thursday, January 30, 2025. “Olivia has a lesson now,” said Kulik, who competed for his native Russia but now coaches in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Olivia Eve Ter, 12, was one of Kulik’s top young skaters.
Weisiger looked at him, steeling herself. “Did you text her mom to see if they were on the flight?”
“I can’t do it,” Kulik said. “I’m shaking.”
So Weisiger took his phone and texted Olivia’s mother as they stood outside in the parking lot in front of the rink.
They waited a couple of minutes, staring at the phone. There was no reply.
“Ilia, I don’t think they’re coming,” Weisiger said.
“No, she’ll be here,” he insisted.
They stood in excruciating silence for several more minutes.
“Ilia, they aren’t coming,” Weisiger finally said, softly, as Kulik, one of his sport’s great champions, collapsed to the pavement, sobbing uncontrollably.
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