Fairy tales aren't supposed to end this way.

The lives of Sergei Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva were the stuff of dreams that only seem to come true in books. They had dazzled the world of figure skating from the moment they burst onto the international scene in 1986 and won the first of four world championships.He was 19, she was 15, and their routine was spectacular. A well-muscled 5-foot-11 man throwing a ponytailed 5-1 girl through the air, while both glided on skates at dizzying speeds.

They won Olympic gold at Calgary in 1988 and, after a stint as professionals, returned six years later to take gold again, at Lillehammer. G&G fell in love, got married and had a daughter.

As the years passed, their skating matured with their relationship, evolving from an athletic show of muscle and speed to a husband-and-wife togetherness edged with tenderness.

On Monday, their love story came to an abrupt end. Grinkov, 28, collapsed and died while the pair was practicing for an ice show. Paramedics were on the ice within 90 seconds. They were unable to revive him.

The shock was immediate; it cast a pall over a village that has worshipped Olympic heroes since it first hosted the 1932 Winter Games.

"It's absolutely surreal," said Don Krone, spokesman for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates the rink. "It's shocked everyone."

Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Paul Wylie and the other skaters in the Stars on Ice show were there when Grinkov fell for the final time. They chose to hug, their tears saying more than any words could.

"They're unavailable now," Stars on Ice publicist Lynn Plage said. "They'll wait to talk. They need time."

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The apparent cause of death was cardiac arrest, but there was no official diagnosis, according to Grinkov's publicist, Linda Dozoretz. An autopsy was planned for this morning, Essex County coroner Robert Huestis Jr. said.

Squirt hockey practice went on as scheduled Monday night at USA Rink, where Grinkov was stricken, the tragedy too difficult for the young players to grasp. At the 1932 rink next door, the Skating Club of the Adirondacks met as usual, but the mood of the skaters was subdued.

"It's going to be really hard on his wife because she's so young," said Elizabeth Deon, a teenage skater with the club. "I think that she was really in love with him. I don't think she's ever going to be able to skate again."

Grinkov and Gordeeva, who met as pre-schoolers at a skating club in their native Moscow, had lived the last few years in Tampa, Fla., and Simsbury, Conn., in a small enclave of skaters from the former Soviet Union, including former Olympic champions Viktor Petrenko and Oksana Baiul.

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