No Soft Landing

SIMSBURY -- His heart is aching and his hip is hurting.

The end of Alexei Yagudin's competitive career may be near.

"I can imagine that," said Yagudin, a four-time world champion and reigning Olympic king. "I'm prepared for that. I've done everything I've wanted in skating. I've won everything there is in the first part of my life.

"Maybe it's time to start the second part and not compete anymore."

Yagudin, 22, has competed in five events, winning four, since taking time off under doctors' advice this fall to rest a hip injury.

"We tried rest. It didn't help," said Yagudin, who was forced to withdraw from Skate America in late October and Skate Canada a week later. He took a two-week Caribbean vacation to rest his hip and missed the next two Grand Prix events in Paris and Moscow.

"The pain didn't go away like we thought it would," said Yagudin, who has been bothered by the hip since December 2001 but still won the Olympic gold medal in February and his fourth world title in March.

"Last year, I couldn't imagine the pain would last this long," he said. "When I'm really working hard, the pain comes back. I'd love to stay eligible. I'd like to compete in worlds [in March], but I don't think so."

Yagudin can skill skate. He leaves for Switzerland today to appear in a one-night exhibition. Next Friday, he joins Stars on Ice for a four-month tour of 73 cities - 62 in the United States and 11 in Canada.

But Yagudin can't jump - at least not like he used to. His quadruple jumps require him to leap higher, spin faster and land harder, bringing even more pain to his tender hip. Specialists in New York, New Jersey and Boston have diagnosed the injury as a severe inflammation that resulted in a buildup of fluid in the joint. Surgery may still be an option.

Competing in the Hallmark Skaters Challenge last Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, Yagudin didn't attempt a quadruple jump but won anyway.

"That's a pretty good result," he said. "It wasn't like worlds. It wasn't like Europeans, but I skated clean, even without the quads. It's impossible for me to jump the quads. But I skated clean. I did everything in my program I planned to."

The hip injury has made Yagudin a realist.

"Most athletes have problems with their health at some point," he said. "You have to learn to deal with it. You can't avoid serious injury forever.

"We never know what it will be ... an ankle, a back, a toothache. This is a little bit more than a headache. It's unusual to have pain this long. I'd like to think I will be better. It's hard to tell."

On the return trip from Switzerland, Yagudin will visit a Toronto doctor before joining Stars on Ice. He still sees a physical therapist. This fall, Yagudin thought he might never skate again, either competitively or on tour.

"The injury was not as serious as I thought then," he said. "I panicked a little bit. Not training helped a little bit, but I'm really glad the competitive season is over. I will still try to get better and stay in shape, but I'm done with competitions [this season]."

And if Yagudin is done with competitions forever, he is prepared for a life on tour.

"I love Stars on Ice," he said. "I love the people there. I love what we do in the shows.

"The group numbers are great. I love to be involved in group numbers, not just single numbers like in other shows. It's the best thing that can happen to any skater."

Still, it is a lifestyle change, not just on the road but at home. Right now, he doesn't even have a home. Tatiana Tarasova, his coach, and Nikolai Morosov, her former assistant, ended their coaching partnership last month when Morosov decided to go his own way. He remained at the financially troubled Connecticut International Skating Center in Newington. Tarasova, with her entourage of skaters, moved to the International Skating Center in Simsbury.

Lost in the shuffle was Yagudin's Wethersfield apartment. He lives in the basement of a friend's house in Avon and his furniture is stored in the garage of Tarasova's Granby home.

"I have two beautiful cars but no place to live," said Yagudin, who owns a pair of Mercedes-Benz.

With the Stars on Ice tour running until May 4, Yagudin even shipped his cocker spaniel, Lawrence, to St. Petersburg, Russia, to live with his mom.