Ekaterina Gordeeva

In that same year, Gordeeva met Ilia Kulik, who had won a gold medal in men's figure skating at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. Eventually, they became romantically involved.

Gordeeva and Kulik had a daughter, Elizaveta, born in June of 2001, and Gordeeva cut back her skating in order to spend more time with Elizaveta and Daria. Of Gordeeva's relationship with Kulik, a People reporter noted that Gordeeva's manager, Deb Nast, said, "She's found love again."

On June 10, 2002, Gordeeva and Kulik were married in San Francisco. Gordeeva, who was considering moving from skating into coaching other skaters, said she wanted to stay close to home. "I'm trying to live more for the kids," she told Jason Lynch and Susan Horsburgh in People.