10th Gold Medal Anniversary

A Proclamation
for Ilia

(click on individual  photos to view larger image).
Reproduction of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of the titled photographer.

Photos © Laurie Asseo 
(except for Olympic photo)

                                                                    

   and time to tell Our Iliushka exactly how we feel about him and his skating.
   Krew members contributed words, ideas, feelings and all together we created

  A Proclamation for Ilia
 which reads 

     Congratulations on the 10 th Anniversary of your Olympic Gold Medal.  All of us
      in Kulik’s Krew, past and present, want to proclaim on this special day how much
      we appreciate the opportunity to be your fans.  We are amazed by your grace,
      feather-light jumps, footwork and immense creativity.  Your skating is beautiful, smart
      and powerful. You make us laugh and cry - sometimes in the same program.

      We are proud of your grace and dignity on and off the ice, and we feel privileged to
       hear your thoughts about skating and |your career. You’ve given us a tremendous education,
       as well as the inspiration and courage to try new challenges ourselves.   Because of you,
       we have made scores of close friends around the world and  visited places we otherwise
       would never see, including Tokyo, Davos, Antwerp and wonderful Findlay, Ohio.
       We will have these friends and these memories all our lives because we are your fans.
 

        But it always comes back to the skating. Each of us has a picture in our mind of some
         special moment when you did something on ice we didn’t think possible.  Ten years after
         Nagano you still define the title "Olympic Champion", and in our eyes you always will.

 
 We designed, printed, hand painted, picked out framing (that's a dark green silk matte that's
   hard to capture in a photo and a gold fillit between the matte and the parchment.

      and finally,

      in Denver on February 13, 2008 (the day before the actual 10th anniversary)  Nancy and Laurie

      presented this special proclamation to Ilia on behalf of all the Krew members who have supported

      him throughout the  ten exciting, surprise-filled years since that triumphant day in Nagano.

      First we read it together 

    Then Ilia posed for a photo 

    And throughout it all, we talked so that Ilia could share his thoughts with his whole Krew:

             Audio Part 1 (mp3 & wma formats):                             Audio Part 2 (mp3 & wma formats):

          ..\10th anniversary\2008_denver_pt1.mp3                    ..\10th anniversary\2008_denver_pt2.mp3

         ..\10th anniversary\2008_denver_pt1.wma                     ..\10th anniversary\2008_denver_pt2.wma 

                                                           Audio Part 3 (mp3 & wma formats):

                                                            Ilia on the subject of Kulik's Krew

                                                                   2008_denver_pt3.mp3

                                                                   2008_denver_pt3.wma