FORT WORTH, Texas — Just before the semifinals of one of the world's most prestigious piano competitions, Stanislav Ioudenitch severely scalded his hand while brewing tea.
That was 1997, when Ioudenitch watched the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with bandaged fingers. He vowed to return.
On Sunday, Ioudenitch, who is from Uzbekistan, and Russia's Olga Kern made history by sharing the gold medal of the 11th Cliburn contest.
"It was like unfinished business," said Ioudenitch, 29, who this year performed some of the same music he would have four years ago: Prokofiev, Liszt, Schubert, Stravinsky.
Kern, 26, didn't advance past the preliminaries in 1997. But this year, her powerful performances of Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Scriabin and Schumann made her a crowd favorite.
She became the second woman ever to win the competition; Cristina Ortiz of Brazil won first prize in 1969.
For the first time since 1981, two pianists shared the silver medal: Maxim Philippov, 29, of Russia, who teaches at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory; and Antonio Pompa-Baldi, 26, of Italy, who teaches at Oberlin Conservatory. No bronze medal was awarded.
Wang Xiaohan, 20, of China and Oleksiy Koltakov, 22, of Ukraine were the remaining finalists.
Cliburn hugged all finalists when they accepted their awards Sunday. He said the jurors used "utmost discretion" in awarding more than one gold and silver medal.
The gold and silver medalists each receive $20,000 and a commercial recording. The remaining finalists each get $10,000. All six get two years of concert management by the Van Cliburn Foundation.
The Cliburn contest started in 1962 and was held in 1966, 1969 and then every four years. Fort Worth music teachers created the contest to honor longtime resident Cliburn, who won the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958.