Elena Berezhnaya - Post-1998 Olympics

Post-1998 Olympics

Following the Olympics, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze competed at the 1998 World Championships where they won the gold medal. Later in the year, they spent some time training at the Stamford Twin Rinks in Stamford, Connecticut. They won 1998 Skate America and 1998 NHK Trophy. In January 1999, they had to withdraw from the European Championships after the short program due to Berezhnaya having the flu. They won their second world title at the 1999 World Championships in March 1999.

The Yubileyny Sports Palace ice rink then closed for renovations, forcing the pair and Moskvina to relocate to Hackensack, New Jersey's Ice House. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze struggled at Skate America in October 1999, placing third, but regained their form to win Skate Canada in November. Moskvina would later admit Sikharulidze had become distracted by life in a new country and was not as focused on training. In February 2000, the pair won gold at the 2000 Europeans but were stripped of their medals after Berezhnaya tested positive for pseudoephedrine, a substance whose ban was lifted between 2004 and 2010. This resulted in a three-month disqualification from the date of the test, and the medal being stripped. She had taken cold medication approved by a doctor but had failed to inform the ISU as required. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze missed the World Championships that year as a result of the disqualification.

During the 2001–2002 season, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze developed a rivalry with Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. Throughout the season, both pairs had traded first and second place at most of the major competitions, and they were considered the main contenders for the Olympic gold medal. At the Grand Prix Final they debuted their new long program to Meditation de Thais and decided to persevere with it at the Olympics, while their rivals abandoned their new long program with which they had been struggling and decided to reuse their old Love Story program. The New York Times speculated that the judging might be influenced by the crowd response, with the familiar music of Love Story having more potential to draw louder applause in North America and the judges not being immune to human reactions.