SportsLine wire reports
Jan. 15, 1999

BONN, Germany -- Fit at last after struggling with illness and injury for the best part of two years, Germany's Tanja Szewczenko is looking forward to a fresh start at the upcoming European figure skating championships.

Once Europe's hottest prospect, the 1994 world championships bronze medalist feared she might have to miss the entire season when she discovered last year that she was suffering from a rare bone disease.

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But she was able to resume training last December and made her comeback at the German championships last weekend in Oberstdorf.

Despite a disastrous free program in which she stumbled five times, the 21-year-old still managed to finish second behind teen-ager Eva-Maria Fitze, which was good enough for a place in the European championships starting on Jan. 26 in Prague.

"Just being able to take part in the German championships was like a victory," she said. "My physical condition is still not what it should be but there is some time left before the European championships."

SZEWCZENKO HIT THE HEADLINES the day before the free program of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics when she had a high-speed collision with Oksana Baiul of Ukraine in practice.

Both skated the following day despite minor injuries and Baiul won the gold, with Szewczenko sixth.

In 1996, she started to feel unwell. Not until the following year did she find out that she had a life-threatening blood virus.

She made a speedy recovery and soon staged a successful comeback on the ice. She was listed among the medal contenders for last year's Olympics in Nagano but was forced to withdraw because of flu shortly before the start of the event.

A few months later, she learned she had the bone disease.

"I could not do anything," she said. "Even jogging or cycling was out of the question."

WHEN THE CURRENT SEASON STARTED, she was not fit enough to enter the World Cup circuit and instead joined the "Art on Ice" show for a few galas throughout Germany.

Not only did she rediscover the joy of skating, she also fell in love with the man who had composed the music for the show, Swiss Andreas Tanner, a jazz violinist known under his stage name of Marco Polo. The two now live together.

The financial difficulties she was facing also eased with a new marketing deal.

Szewczenko, who has always put on a smiling face even in her darkest moments, said what she has been through had taught her a thing or two about life.