Editing Elena Berezhnaya (section)

== Early life ==
Berezhnaya was born in the southern Russian town of [[Nevinnomyssk]], her mother having moved from [[Voronezh]] and her father from beyond the [[Ural Mountains|Urals]].<ref name=soi/> She has an elder brother, Alexei, and a younger one, Ivan.<ref name=soi/> Her parents divorced when she was five due to her father's alcoholism; her mother remarried but eventually divorced again.<ref name=lah/> The family also included a cousin, Nadezhda, whose parents had died.<ref name=back/>

Berezhnaya began skating at the age of four in Nevinnomyssk.<ref name=lah/> At the age of 8, she began to be coached by Nina Ruchkina, who had arrived from Moscow.<ref name=lah/> When Berezhnaya was 13, her coach asked her to switch from singles to [[pair skating|pairs]].<ref name=bmittan/> Ruchkina had decided that her son, Alexander Ruchkin, should be a pair skater despite not being physically suited for the discipline – and she wanted Berezhnaya, as the smallest girl, to be his partner.<ref name=lah/> Although Berezhnaya enjoyed watching pair skating,<ref name=bmittan/> she was skeptical of the proposed partnership but Ruchkina convinced her mother that the pair would get a chance at CSKA Moscow's skating school.<ref name=lah/> The coaches at CSKA also had doubts about Ruchkin's suitability but accepted the pair.<ref name=lah/> Berezhnaya moved to [[Moscow]], 791 miles to the north, and lived in a dormitory as her mother could not move with her.<ref name=lah/><ref name=oc/> They made little progress as Ruchkin continued to struggle to lift her.<ref name=lah/>