Daniela Leonidovna Lipnitskaya

Yulia's mother brought her from her home in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains when she was very young because of her talent.

A conversation with Julia and Daniela Lipnitskaya began with them telling how three years ago the two of them, mother and daughter, were making difficult decision: to continue Julia's figure skating lessons or quit it altogether and start living like normal people.

At the time, Julia was the best skater in the figure skating school [in Ekaterinburg] and could do double Axel when she was 10, but on the country level, in her age group, she "had nothing to catch". "We went to Russian Cup series, and we realized that our level was far below from that of Moscow and St. Petersburg athletes, - continues Julia's mother. - So the question was, what to do next? "

But first they had to figure out where to go and to whom, so Lipnitskayas began a search of "their" coach. "At competitions, we were surreptiously watching the coaches — Julia admits. - My mother told me: look who would you like to train with? I liked Eteri Tutberidze right away, I told my mama that I would like to train with her. We then talked about her like that: look, there is our coach coming".

Now the whole story sounds like an interesting episode from the newly crowned World Junior champion's life, but the day when Daniela Lipnitskaya was starting her car to get her daughter to Moscow, they were only sure of one thing: if Eteri Tutberidze didn't take them, they wouldn't continue their attempts, they'd simply quit figure skating. As they now both recall the two days they spent on the road, they didn't think about the future or the past, they were not afraid, they just were going to try the only chance they gave themselves.

When they had got to Moscow and found the rink, Julia went to the practice on the same day: "I remember that I was impressed with the level of skating of the group, I wanted to train there no matter what. Eteri Georgievna told me to do a double flip-double loop- double loop jump combination, I repeated it all practice and I was very tired, because I wasn't used to it." "I got her on the ice, and went to wait in the car - says Daniela Leonidovna. - On the first day, our practice, both on ice and off ice, lasted 9 hours. I was sitting in the car and thinking: what we got ourself into? "

After the conversation with the coach who said, "I take her", they had to go back home to finally pack their belongings and move to Moscow. It took a week to settle all issues with work, an apartment, a school and a cat, then two days' journey by car and after one night in Kazan, at eight p.m. they were in Moscow. "We called the apartment owner with whom we had an agreement about an apartment rent, but no one answered - wide-eyed, says Julia. - And here me and my mama sitting in a car near Auchan, it's almost midnight, and we have nowhere to go, and don't know what to do. " Lipnitskayas called several agencies and found a place to live by midnight, and the next day Julia went on the ice.

Source: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?85214-Article-about-...

It may not be coincidental that Yulia skated to music from Schindler's List. Her mother, Daniel Leonidovna is reportedly from a Jewish family and lost relatives in the Holocaust.