Skating, Kostomarov dying: two strokes after the amputation of the limbs. He was gold at the Turin 2006 Olympics

He was used to ice dancing, getting applause and medals. The most beautiful gold in Turin 2006, in that oval that he had seen the blue couple dream and then cry Fusar Poli Margaglio. At 46 years old Roman Kostomarov, star of Russian skating, struggle between life and death: struck by bilateral pneumonia, hospitalized on January 10, his feet and some fingers were amputated. Then two strokes. “There was a cerebral hemorrhage, a large hematoma formed”, explain the doctors of the Kommunarka hospital where he was transferred, after spending a few weeks in intensive care to stem the pneumonia. Ten days after hospitalization Kostomarov was improving, but doctors were concerned about heart and circulatory problems.

Kostomarov, an unforgettable career

And the conditions worsened again, with the two strokes: “He had a second cerebral hemorrhage, his conditions are now serious” the doctors explained. Paired with Tatyana Navka, in addition to the Olympic title at the Turin Olympics, Kostomarov won two world gold medals (2004 and 2005) and three European gold medals (2004, 2005 and 2006). Closed the competitive activity, the athlete continued to perform on the ice in shows and events, often in very cold locations: last month, to participate in an organized outdoor show Ilya Averbukh (silver at SaltLake City 2022), worked at very low temperatures. Hence the hospitalization in Kommunarka, on the outskirts of Moscow, with a very high fever. Now the stroke and severe brain damage. The diagnosis, reported by the SportExpress newspaper, was terrible: “Infracerebral hematoma with acute phase in the frontal lobe, gray and white matter lesions”