Family, friends and students of former Olympic gold-medal Nordic skier Nikolai Anikin will celebrate his life at a gathering Sunday at the Snowflake Nordic Ski Center on Rice Lake Road. The event is from noon to 3 p.m.
Anikin, who grew up in Ishim, Siberia, and competed for the Soviet Union, moved to Duluth in 1994 and taught Nordic skiing in the area with his wife, Antonina. He died Nov. 14 after a 2½-year battle with colon cancer. He was 77.
His son, Nikolai Jr. of Duluth, said his father was recognized as a master technician of his sport and regarded as a kind and gentle trainer of athletes.
Anikin Sr. won a combined three Olympic ski medals in 1956 and 1960 to help push the Soviet to the overall medal count in both Winter Games in Italy and Squaw Valley, Calif. A 40-kilometer relay championship, featuring Anikin, marked the Soviet Union's first Winter Olympic medal.
In Grenoble, France, during the 2006 World Cup Masters Nordic Ski Championships, the French Olympic Committee put together a video presentation as part of its bid for another Winter Games. The video included highlights from other Olympics, including footage of Nikolai Anikin, said his son.
ADVERTISEMENT
After spending 27 years as an instructor with Russia's national team, Nikolai and Antonina Anikin came to the United States in 1990 to work at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Marquette, Mich., and moved on to Duluth to help start the Gitchi Gummi Sport Association.
"Nikolai brought a different approach to cross-country skiing in the U.S. He comes from a country where training and racing are a long-term investment. The Russians know that the American penchant for instant success doesn't work in skiing," John Caldwell of Putney, Vt., credited with popularizing Nordic skiing in the United States, said in 2007.
Although the Anikins lived in Duluth, they also had a tract of land on McQuade Road, where Nikolai's ashes have been placed. He and Antonina have three children, two grandchildren and one great grandchild. A permanent memorial to Anikin is expected to be established at Snowflake Nordic.
