Daily Front Row

2010 February 12

When Christian Met Oksana

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Olympic flames Christian Cota and Oksana Baiul
Photos by Giorgio Niro View Gallery

Oksana Baiul: I like Christian because he’s not afraid to try new things. Anything I told him to do he was willing to do. I like people who are willing to take risks and are not afraid of looking imperfect. He actually told me that right now, because of Fashion Week, he sleeps, like, two hours a night. When we were skating he said to me, “Please, please, please—I feel dizzy!”

CC: I didn’t have breakfast, which might not have been the best idea.

OB: Me neither. I only had coffee.

CC: I only had Red Bull.

The Fashion Week diet!

OB: No! I don’t think all this starving stuff is good. I really like that figure skaters, or any athletes, have to take care of themselves. They really have to eat well if they want to skate well. They have to remember that they are not Terminator-like machines—they’re human beings! When you go to the Olympics, you get so much pressure. So much pressure!

You make a really cute pair. Christian, you’re just a little taller than Oksana, and you could make costumes for your team!

OB: Christian is actually very athletic, and he’s very clean. That’s what I love about him. You can really tell that from his dresses. It’s nothing crazy, but it’s very fashionable. Especially my dress. My gosh, it’s beautiful!

Christian, you actually nicknamed this number “the figure skater dress” months before today’s skate.

CC: When Oksana was twirling, it looked amazing because of the horsehair in the bottom. When she twirls it has this great shape. I always joked that it was a figure skating dress, but now that I’ve seen it, it has finally fulfilled its destiny. I was saving it for the right moment, and it’s perfect with her hair color, her skin tone—everything. When I grab on to her, everything feels firm.

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