"The tears flowed themselves." Kostomarov - about going to the ice

 Olympic champion in ice dancing Roman Kostomarov shared his emotions after the first after a long illness to go on the ice.

Roman Kostomarov told Match TV that he could not hold back his tears when he took to the ice on December 17 in a show dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Ilya Averbukh.

"The tears flowed themselves. It was hard to stop, but I tried. That number is the atmosphere that was at the performance. There was such support from the audience... The whole hall stood up and applauded, indescribable feelings! Of course, I couldn't resist," said the Olympic champion.

The figure skater spoke about the dual feeling he experienced when participating in the ice show.

"I was happy to go out on the ice in a full hall. At the same time, I was sad and hurt that I couldn't ride like I used to. But I was able to at least slide, show the victorious Olympic dance "Carmen" with Tatiana Navka," Roman Kostomarov added.

In early January, Kostomarov was hospitalized with pneumonia. Against the background of complications, the 46-year-old figure skater had tissue necrosis, which caused him to undergo a partial amputation of his limbs, and then went through a prosthetic procedure. In December, Kostomarov returned to the ice, taking part in Ilya Averbukh's ice show.

Roman Kostomarov, the 2006 Olympic champion who performed in a duet with Tatiana Navka, was named the athlete of 2023 according to the results of the VTsIOM survey.