Berezhnaya first competed with Oleg Shliakhov for Latvia and won gold at the 1995 Trophée de France.

During their competitive career, they were coached by Tamara Moskvina at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Berezhnaya was born in the southern Russian town of Nevinnomyssk, her mother having moved from Voronezh and her father from beyond the Urals.

[4] Ruchkina had decided that her son, Alexander Ruchkin, should be a pair skater despite not being physically suited for the discipline – and she wanted Berezhnaya, as the smallest girl, to be his partner.

[2] After unsuccessful partnerships with Ruchkin and another skater, the 14-year-old Berezhnaya teamed with Latvian-born Oleg Shliakhov, who had been dumped by his seventh partner.

[2] The partnership went well at first, however, over time he started to become physically and verbally abusive, hitting Berezhnaya and dropping her from lifts.

[7] The next season they won a pair of silver medals at the 1994 Skate Canada International and 1994 Trophée de France and finished 7th at the 1995 World Championships.

[2] The Latvian federation appealed to renowned coach Tamara Moskvina to take on the pair and she eventually invited them to train with her in May or June 1995.

[2] Moskvina had professional psychologists work with him regularly,[2] however, after brief periods of calm with apologies and professions of affection, he would start to slip back to his old behavior.

[12] Berezhnaya had begun to develop friendships with the other skaters at Yubileyny, becoming particularly close to Anton Sikharulidze, the 1994 and 1995 World Junior champion with Maria Petrova.

[2] On 9 January 1996, Berezhnaya was seriously injured when Shliakhov's blade sliced into her skull while the pair were practicing a side-by-side camel spin in Riga.

[17] In December, they placed fifth at Cup of Russia, and then captured the silver medal at the Russian Nationals, earning them a berth to the European Championships.

[14][18] At the 1997 World Championships in March, their short program placed them provisionally in third, with two judges giving them first-place votes.

[13][14][15][19][20] Ekaterina Gordeeva selected the pair as her and Sergei Grinkov's skating doubles in a documentary on the legendary team after her husband's death.

In the long, they put themselves back in contention for the gold medal with a strong performance, until five seconds from the end when they had a surprising fall as Sikharulidze set her down from a closing star lift.

[21] Although disappointed by suddenly giving away their chance at the gold so close to the end of the program, Sikharulidze recovered from his shock and joked, "It's a new finish.

Former Japanese singles skater Yuko Kawaguchi became inspired to switch to pair skating after seeing Elena Berezhnaya at the Nagano Olympics.

Although Salé fell on the triple toe loop in the short program and then singled her double Axel in the long, Salé/Pelletier were awarded gold ahead of Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze.

[29] In autumn 2001, Sikharulidze required stitches for a 12 cm (4.7 in) long gash along his arm when his partner's blade accidentally cut him in training just before the start of the Grand Prix season.

Although taking time off to have two children, Berezhnaya made occasional appearances in Russian ice productions.

[36] In late 2010 and early 2011, Berezhnaya played the White Queen in an Alice in Wonderland ice show in St. Petersburg and Moscow, alongside Alexei Yagudin and Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin.

[16][37] In autumn 2011, Berezhnaya participated in the third season of the Canadian reality program Battle of the Blades, partnered with former NHL player Curtis Leschyshyn.

In September 2021 Netflix premiered docuseries Bad Sport that includes an episode ("Gold War") detailing the events of the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal.

[42] In August 2010, the children were baptized in an Orthodox church in Saint Petersburg, with Sikharulidze becoming her son's godfather.