Maige Sayers won the gold medal at the first Olympic Games of 1908 to include women's ice skating. Back in 1901, this outstanding Englishwoman began to participate in men's competitions, since women's separate competitions were not allowed at that time. In addition, she became world champion for two years in a row, in 1906 and 1907.
After the First World War, Sonia Heni from Norway became the most famous figure skater in the world. She won all the Olympics and world championships in 1927-1936 and was the first woman to master the single axel.
During World War II, European countries stopped training, while the United States and Canada continued to train. As a result, the gold of the 1948 Olympics went to the Canadian Barbara Ann Scott. She also became famous for being the first woman to make a double lutz in 1942.
In 1952, the Englishwoman Genette Alwegg, the winner of the 1951 World Cup, won Olympic gold. Her performances were distinguished by the clarity and perfection of the obligatory figures.
For many years in women's single skating, all the prizes were taken by American women. Tenley Albright (Olympic gold in 1956) and Carol Heiss (gold in 1960, silver in 1954) established a clear uniform style - the main thing in it is flexibility, plasticity, spectacular choreography and very high-quality technical elements. This style was further approved by American women Peggy Fleming (1968 Olympic gold) and Dorothy Hamill (1976 Olympic gold).
The figure skater from Austria, Beatrice Schuba, also left her mark in women's single skating. Due to the execution of the required figures with the highest quality, she received the last mark for figures above 5 points and received the gold of the 1972 Olympics.
In the 80s, they entered the scene from the GDR, they brought single skating innovative sporty style, while also revealing artistic abilities. In 1980, Anette Petsch won Olympic gold, and the next two Olympics, 1984 and 1988, were won by Katharina Witt, with perfect technical elements and harmonious programs.
In 1992, the Olympic gold in women's single skating returned to the Americans - it was received by Christy Yamaguchi. She became famous for winning first place in the US Championships in both singles and pair skating.
At the 1994 Olympics, the Ukrainian Oksana Baiul distinguished herself, striking everyone with the quality of the elements and the exceptional emotionality of her performance.
The gold of the 1998 and 2002 Olympics returned to the American women. The winners in them were Tara Lipinski (the youngest winner of games in individual disciplines) and Sarah Hughes (won thanks to a large number of difficult elements - in the free program she performed 7 triple jumps, including 2 cascades 3 + 3).
The 2006 Olympics in Turin pushed the American school to second place (Sasha Cohen - silver). The gold was won by the Japanese woman Shizuka Arakawa, she became the first Japanese figure skater to win the Olympic Games.
At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the first place was taken by the representative of South Korea, Kim Yong A. She became the first figure skater to have all the highest titles possible: in her career at all competitions, she always found herself on the podium. Kim Young Ah won Olympic Games, four continents championship, world championship, Grand Prix final.
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- Olympic champion in women's singles skating
During the Soviet Union, the names of our skaters thundered all over the world. Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov, Irina Rodnina, Natalia Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin - everyone knew these athletes. Russian figure skating today is no longer considered the absolute best on the planet. But nevertheless, there are stars in it who adequately continue the glorious traditions of their predecessors.
Roman Kostomarov and Tatiana Navka
This pair is rightfully considered one of the most artistic and beautiful in pair skating. The first time they became world champions was in 2004 at a competition in Dortmund, Germany. Then they won gold at the 2006 Olympics, won the Russian figure skating championship three times, won the European championship three times, and eventually became three-time world champions. The couple broke up at one time, but after the birth of Tatiana's daughter in 2000, the duo reunited again.
Alexey Yagudin
Alexey Yagudin is the gold medalist of the 2002 Olympics, four times won the title of world champion in singles skating. First, the athlete trained with Alexei Mishin, then moved on to the famous Tatyana Tarasova. Over the entire period of his performances, Alexey only once lost the world title, giving it to his rival Evgeni Plushenko. This happened in 2006 at the Vancouver Championships.
Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya
In 2002, the pair became Olympic pair skating champions in Salt Lake City. Elena and Anton are silver medalists of the 1998 Winter Olympics, twice became world champions and twice - Europe. They also won four Russian championships.
In 1996, Berezhnaya, who was then performing with Oleg Shlyakhov, received a severe head injury. She was on the verge of death, underwent two difficult operations, but returned to the big sport. With Sikharulidze she learned to skate again, the new partner supported Elena in everything.
Ilya Overbukh and Irina Lobacheva
The duo won the 2002 Ice Dance World Championship in Nagano. Then in 2003 Ilya and Irina became European champions. They are also three-time Russian champions, silver medalists at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
The skaters were married and have a son. But later they broke up, and the sports couple broke up.
Figure skating has always been a sport for Russia that has brought a lot of Olympic gold.
In anticipation of the triumph of our national team in the team competition in Sochi, we recall the most important victories won by Russian and Soviet figure skaters at Olympic ice, - in the photo gallery Sport Mail.Ru.
Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, where they became champions.
Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov are champions of the 1972 Olympics.
Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev at the 1976 Olympics. In Austria, Irina became a two-time Olympic champion.
After Lake Placida 1980. Irina Rodnina is already a three-time Olympic champion in pair skating, Alexander Zaitsev is two-time champion.
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are world champions in ice dancing. At the Vancouver Olympics, they won bronze medals. According to one of the opinions, the couple could not compete for a different result, not only because of the partner's injury, but also because of the poorly chosen composition and costumes.
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin at the Vancouver Olympics performing the compulsory dance. After the Canadian Games, the couple retired due to knee problems with a partner.
Evgeni Plushenko won his second silver at the Games in Vancouver.
Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov - twice bronze medalists of the world championships in pair figure skating. The story of Yuko, who wanted to train only with Tatyana Moskvina and changed her citizenship for this, always aroused sympathy for the couple among the fans. The more offensive was their fourth place at the Vancouver Olympics. But even more offensive for the athletes was the fact that Sochi Games they miss due to Alexander's severe injury.
Evgeni Plushenko won the silver medal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. It was the first Olympics and the first Olympic medal for a figure skater.
This girl needs no introduction - her titles speak for her. Irina Slutskaya - silver medalist at the 2002 Olympic Games, bronze medalist at the 2006 Olympic Games, two-time world champion (2002, 2005), the first seven-time European champion in history (1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006).
During the Olympics in Nagano, Irina Slutskaya turned 19 years old. At those Games, she took fifth place.
At the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Irina Slutskaya took second place, losing by one judge's vote to American Sarah Hughes. In the same year, she became the world champion for the first time.
Maria Butyrskaya at the Olympics in Nagano stopped one step away from the podium, but a year later she became the world champion
Olympic champion in men's singles skating at the 1998 Games Ilya Kulik. He retired shortly after this victory.
And the heroes are sometimes inexperienced: at the Nagano Olympics, Alexei Yagudin was fifth.
In 2002, the whole world followed what this young man was doing on the ice. His "Winter" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" conquered everyone. After the victorious skate, he sincerely and very emotionally sobbed - the winners are allowed to do so. So Alexey Yagudin became the 2002 Olympic champion. In addition to the Olympics, Yagudin won the World Championship four times and the European Championship three times. It's funny that Yagudin never won the Russian championship: he has 4 silver and 1 bronze medals.
Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh won silver medals in ice dancing at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (USA) in February 2002, and soon won the World Championship.
The victory of Anton and Elena at the 2002 Games was overshadowed by a scandal that led to global changes in the rules of figure skating. After the awarding, it was decided to award the second set of gold medals - they were received by Canadian figure skaters Zhami Sale and David Pelletier.
Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are a couple in which their partner had to be taught to walk again a couple of years before the silver at the Olympics in Nagano. They will come from Japan in the rank of vice-champions, and four years later, in Salt Lake City, they will win the championship in pair skating.
Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov are the 1994 Lillehammer pair skating champions.
Alexei Urmanov is the 1994 Olympic champion in men's singles skating.
Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov - two-time Olympic champions in ice dancing (1994, 1998).
Olympic champions in ice dancing, figure skaters Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov. Lillehammer 1994.
According to the results of the tournament of dance pairs of the Olympics in Nagano, 5 Russians were on the podium: champions Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov (center), silver medalists - Angelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov (left) and bronze medalist Marina Anisina. Marina is a Muscovite, paired with Frenchman Gwendal Peizerat. At the 2002 Games, Anisina will take gold, which fell at the expense of France.
Olympic champions in pair skating Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev took their gold at the Games in Nagano. But in addition to this championship, Arthur also has the Albertville 1992 gold paired with Natalia Mishkutenok and the 1994 Lillehammer silver with the same partner.
Oleg Vasiliev and Elena Valova won gold in pair skating at the 1984 Olympics, and four years later they became silver medalists.
Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov - 1980 Olympic champions in ice dancing.
Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov are the first Olympic champions in ice dancing in history. Innsbruck 1976.
Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov are silver medalists of the 1976 Olympics, the first at which dances were included in the program of the Games, and bronze medalists for the next 1980 Olympics.
Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov - two-time Olympic champions in pair skating (1964, 1968)
Olympic champions in pair figure skating Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov. X Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble.
Tamara Moskvina and Alexey Mishin were only fifth at the 1968 Olympics. But Mishin later coached three Olympic champions (Urmanov, Yagudin, Plushenko), and Moskvina trained in pairs who also collected a whole scattering of gold Olympic awards (Berezhnaya / Sikharulidze, Kazakova / Dmitriev, Valova / Vasiliev)
Figure skating is one of the most beautiful and challenging sports. The Olympics are a particularly difficult and exciting test for an athlete. Many people like to watch the performances of figure skaters at But, few think that behind this beautiful and mesmerizing spectacle is the hard and everyday work of athletes. How much pain, sweat, failures and tears have to go through! And how hard it is to give the coveted gold. It is especially difficult for fragile girls performing in single skating.
A bit of history
How impressive women look - Olympic champions in this sport - known all over the world. But not everyone knows that women's single skating was born only in 1906. It was then that single competitions for men and women began to be held. And in 1908, women's single skating was included in the Olympics program.
The first Olympic figure skating champions
The first Olympic champion in women's single skating in 1908 was the Englishwoman Maige Sayers. She is a truly outstanding athlete. She began her performances back in 1901, when women's singles were not allowed at all, so she participated in men's. Moreover, she became twice world champion - in 1906 and 1907. Two years in a row, which not every athlete can do.
Further, in the period after the First World War, the most outstanding athlete was the Norwegian Sonja Heni, who won all competitions and Olympics from 1927 to 1936. It was she who was the first woman who managed to master the single axel. These outstanding women are the first Olympic figure skating champions.
Post-war period in figure skating
During the Second World War, athletes from European countries did not have the opportunity to train. Only figure skaters from the USA and Canada continued their studies. Not surprisingly, the next figure skating champion was a Canadian citizen. At the Games in 1948, Barbara Ann Scott won Olympic gold. One of her achievements was the first double lutz in women's single skating, performed by her in 1942.
1952 Olympic gold is earned by Genette Alwegg from Great Britain. She was also the world champion in 1951. At that time, artistry was less appreciated, and Genette's performances were always distinguished by clear, perfect execution of jumps and other required elements. This set it apart from its main competitors. It is noteworthy that the Olympic gold again fell into the hands of the Englishwoman.
American stage in women's figure skating
At this stage, the gold and American women do not let go of their hands. At the 1956 Olympics, Tenley Albright is the winner. The next Olympic figure skating champion in 1960 was her compatriot Carol Heiss, who had previously won the silver medal in the competition.
The American women established their own recognizable style of skating, which was distinguished by flexibility, plasticity, precision of movements, spectacular choreography, as well as high-quality and technical performance of the required elements. This style continued to be shown by the next generation of American skaters. In 1968, Peggy Fleming became the Olympic champion, and in 1976, Dorothy Hamill received gold.
An athlete from Austria also contributed to figure skating. She was the outstanding Beatrice Schuba, who performed the obligatory figures with the highest quality and was the only one who received a score above 5 points for her technique. This brought her the coveted Olympic gold in 1972.
Triumph of German figure skaters
Olympic champions from Germany have also made a significant contribution to the history of this sport. In the 80s, athletes from the GDR made themselves known. They were strong skaters who brought an innovative, powerful sporting style to skating. At the same time, the artistic abilities of these girls were at a fairly high level.
For 1980, the gold goes to Anette Petsch. And after her, her compatriot Katharina Witt leads two Olympics - in 1984 and 1988. This athlete was distinguished by the perfect execution of technical elements and harmoniously built programs.
A new stage in women's figure skating
Olympic gold returns to American women again in 1992. It was brought to the country by Christie Yamaguchi. She is known for winning the US Championship twice, in singles and in pairs figure skating.
A citizen of Ukraine becomes the 1994 Olympic champion. This figure skater impressed the audience and the judges with her excellent technique of performing elements and a very emotional performance.
And again, the American women are at their best. The 1998 Games bring gold to Tara Lipinski, who became the youngest individual Olympic champion. Sarah Hughes wins in 2002, thanks to a record number of difficult elements and jumps in the free program.
In Turin, the American figure skating school comes in an honorable second place. American Sasha Cohen gets silver. And the first place is awarded to the Japanese woman Shizuka Arakawa. She is the first Japanese female skater to become an Olympic champion.
The next outstanding figure skater is a girl from South Korea. Kim Young Ah received all the top titles that no other figure skater had ever done before. She won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, won the four continents championship, became the world champion and the leader of the Grand Prix finals.
Sochi Olympics
The Olympic Games in Sochi became an important stage in the history of figure skating. Figure skating is gaining a valuable innovation. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, a team competition is held. Skaters from Russia receive gold in it. Young figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya, who becomes the youngest Olympic champion, takes part in this standings. But in the individual standings, Yulia was not lucky, and she becomes only fifth.
Gold still goes to Russia. In the individual standings, the winner is Adelina Sotnikova, another young Russian woman who amazed everyone with her amazing performance in technique, artistry and emotions. Olympic figure skating champions like Adelina and Yulia receive the first gold medals for Russia in women's single skating. Adelina Sotnikova becomes the first individual winner of the Games from Russia.
The first champion in the performance of special figures in the history of the Winter Olympic Games was Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin in 1908 in London. With his victory in figure skating, the history of our Olympic victories began. Our skaters opened the next victory page only in 1964 in Innsbruck, showing the highest class of the Russian school.
Figure skating is the most beloved and spectacular sport. With what impatience they were waiting for the TV broadcasts of the performances of the best skaters in the world. The whole country froze at the TV screens, "rooting" for our athletes. There were meteoric ups and downs, but our figure skating school remains the strongest in the world. Let's remember the names of our Olympic champions in the most beautiful winter sport ...
IX Olympic winter Games 1964 in Innsbruck
The first gold medals in the history of figure skating were brought to the Soviet team by Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov.
At the games in Innsbruck, they were ahead of the strongest couples in the world. The most graceful, strongest, most romantic pair of all skating pairs on ice. They are still together and still go out on the ice. Last year, Oleg Protopopov celebrated his 80th birthday, together with Lyudmila on the ice.
X Olympic Winter Games 1968 in Grenoble
4 years later, Belousova and Protopopov again rose to the first step of the podium, confirming their success at the previous Olympic Games. Our duet Tatyana Zhuk and Alexander Gorelik, who became silver medalists of the Olympics in Grenoble, also fought for the championship with them.
XI Olympic Winter Games 1972 in Sapporo
Games in Sapporo became the beginning of the star path of our legend in sports pair skating Irina Rodnina. Together with her first partner Alexei Ulanov, she won her first Olympic gold medal.
Our athletes - Lyudmila Smirnova, Andrey Suraikin - also became silver medalists. The first silver appeared in men's single skating. It was won in the fight against the 1971 world champion Slovak Ondrej Nepele.
XII Olympic Winter Games 1976 in Innsbruck
For the first time, ice dancing was included in the competition program at the Olympics in Innsbruck. And the first gold in this kind of figure skating became ours! The brilliant couple Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov showed the highest skill and brought the "gold" to our team. "Silver" also went to our piggy bank of Olympic awards thanks to Andrei Minenkov and Irina Moiseeva.
In pair skating, the second "gold" was won by Irina Rodnina, paired with Alexander Zaitsev. It's even hard to imagine that after her first Olympics, Rodnina almost left the big sport.
Again, ours was the "silver" in men's single skating - Vladimir Kovalev became the winner.
In women's single skating, our team was left without awards, but it is impossible not to recall the name of the youngest participant in the Winter Olympics in their entire 90-year history! And not just the name. But also 5.9 marks for the execution of the free program and her famous three triple jumps during her.
XIII Olympic Winter Games 1980 in Lake Placid
Pair skating. Our couples again won gold and silver awards: Irina Rodnina - Alexander Zaitsev and Marina Cherkasova - Sergei Shakhrai. For Irina Rodnina, this is the third highest Olympic award. The whole world was surrounded by shots, where Rodnina's tears flowed on the first step of the pedestal to the sound of the national anthem of our country. Tears of pride, tears of happiness…. Just a year before the Olympics, Irina and Alexander missed the world championship, but the reason was the most joyful - the birth of a son, another, albeit not an Olympic victory. And here they are again - the best. And how the American fans were waiting for the "Gold", because it was their "home Olympics"! It was not even the performance of our brilliant pair that broke the American pair, but 15 minutes of Rodnina and Zaitsev's presence at the training session, who showed the opponents the undisputed superiority of our pair. As a result, the American couple withdrew from the competition, unable to withstand the psychological stress.
The "Silver Couple" became world champions the same year, and Marina was only 15 years old at the time of the Olympic Games!
In ice dancing, Gennady Karponosov and Natalya Linichuk (students of Elena Tchaikovskaya) won the Olympic "gold", brilliantly performed not only the obligatory dances, but also the incendiary "Lezginka". “Bronze” went to Andrei Minenkov and Irina Moiseeva.
XIV Olympic Winter Games 1984 in Sarajevo
The Sarajevo Winter Games brought the first Olympic medal in women's singles skating. Kira Ivanova, after a two-year disqualification, was able to win a bronze medal in a tough fight with titled rivals.
In pair skating, gold medals were won by Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, who made their debut at the World Championship a year before the Olympics and won a sensational victory. Their gold medals at the Sarajevo Olympics showed that this was no coincidence.
In ice dancing, Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin became silver medals, and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko added bronze medals to the Olympic treasury. Oh, how upset and bewilderment our fans felt when our couple got lower marks compared to Jane Torvel and Christopher Dean. And what a delight the third place caused, which became sensational for us.
XV Olympic Winter Games 1988 in Calgary
Among sports couples, the first were our Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov, who snatched the victory from our own pair, the Olympic champions of Sarajevo Elena Valovoy and Oleg Vasiliev. This is the seventh "gold" in sports pair skating in a row, since the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck. It is noteworthy that Gordeeva and Grinkov started out as singles, but they decided to pair them.
The pinnacle of their sports career was the Olympic gold medals of Natalia Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin. Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko became silver medalists.
An unexpected and all the more outstanding was the victory of Viktor Petrenko, an 18-year-old skater from Odessa, who originally planned to enter the top six.
XVI Olympic Winter Games 1992 in Albertville
For the first time at the Olympic Games, our team played as the United Team of the countries that were formerly part of the USSR. Three top Olympic awards - an amazing result of the games in Albertville for our skaters!
As you remember, the first Olympic champion among men was Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin back in 1908 in London, and the second was Igor Petrenko at the Albertville Olympics. Gold awards, one can say according to the established tradition, were won by our couple - students of Tamara Moskvina Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev, who performed an exceptionally technical and harmonious program to the magic music of Franz Liszt. "Silver" was won by Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, who also trained with Moskvina.
Before the 1992 Olympics, the "Silver Couple" in ice dancing of the last Olympiad Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko passed to Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova, who added original choreography to the excellent technique they had worked out with their first coach Natalia Dubova. Their spectacular new program earned them the long-awaited Olympic gold medal. Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin, students of Natalia Dubova, became bronze medalists.
XVII Olympic Winter Games 1994 in Lillehammer
At the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Russia played as an independent team for the first time and again became three times gold.
In men's single skating, the "golden" performance was the performance of Alexei Urmanov, who completed the maximum number of triple jumps. Ice dancing brought our team gold and silver medals. Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov became Olympic champions, and Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin became silver medalists.
The return to "amateurs" from professional ice ballet was triumphant for Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov - they became two-time Olympic champions!
XVIII Olympic Winter Games 1998 in Nagano
The first gold medal in figure skating in Nagano was the medal of Ilya Kulik, the only one of all the participants in the competition who not only perfectly completed all the elements of the program, but also took a big risk - a jump of 4 turns, which then no one could do.
Among sports couples, the main struggle was between our duets - the experienced Arthur Dmitriev with the new partner Oksana Kazakova and the young duet Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. A German couple competed with them. However, only Dmitriev and Kazakova skated their program flawlessly, having won 10 Olympic for their team gold medal in this kind of figure skating.
Ice dancing became a real sensation - Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov became Olympic champions for the second time in a row, showing real professionalism and endurance. Our couple Angelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov also became silver medalists.
XIX Olympic Winter Games 2002 in Salt Lake City
Games in Salt Lake City were full of scandals. Not without a misunderstanding in figure skating. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won gold medals in pair skating, but the judges decided to share their championship with the Canadian pair, the Canadian pair D. Sale and D. Peletier. For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics in pair skating, a second set of medals was awarded 5 days after the competition.
The fate of gold awards in women's singles and ice dancing was decided by just one judge's vote, which, alas, was not in our favor. Silver medalists were Ilya Averbukh and Irina Lobacheva and Irina Slutskaya.
In men's single skating, the first two steps of the podium were taken by our figure skaters: Alekse Yagudin (gold) and Evgeni Plushenko (silver).
XX Olympic Winter Games 2006 in Turin
And again triple gold! Two-time world champions, five-time European champions, three-time Russian champions, Tatyana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin became Olympic champions in pair skating. For the fourth Olympiad in a row, gold in men's singles skating was on the account of our team - the three-time world champion and six-time European champion Evgeni Plushenko became the Olympic champion. It was he who, for the first time in the history of figure skating, performed the combination of a quadruple toe loop - triple toe loop - triple rittberger.
The brilliant Russian couple Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov (two-time world champions, three-time European champions, three-time Russian champions) became champions in ice dancing.
In women's single skating, Irina Slutskaya became the bronze medalist due to an unfortunate fall.
XXI Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver
Games in Vancouver, alas, did not bring triumph to our skaters. Evgeni Plushenko became the silver medalist in men's singles skating, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin became bronze medalists in ice dancing.
XXII Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi
These Games were attended by 1215 athletes from 67 countries. Has been played out 61 a set of awards in six sports. No previous Games knew such a number of participants. The increase in the number of participating countries was largely due to the political reorganization in Europe: for the first time, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and a number of other countries participated as independent teams. For the first time, Russia participated in the Winter Olympics as a separate team.
The Games were first held in Norway in 1952. The host city of the VI Winter Olympic Games was the capital of the country, Oslo. After 42 years, Norway again met the Games. This was announced by the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch September 15, 1988, after Lillehammer won the title among four contenders. Among the candidates were Lausanne (Switzerland), Sofia (Bulgaria), Ostersund (Sweden). Athletes from Norway have always occupied the leading position at all Winter Olympic Games, both in terms of the number of multiple Olympic champions and in the unofficial team event.
In Lillehammer, an appeal was made by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, to end hostilities in all corners of the planet during the 17th Winter Olympic Games and, first of all, in besieged Sarajevo, where the XIV Winter Olympic Games were held in 1984.
1. The official emblem of the 1994 Olympics.
2. The mascots of the 1994 Olympics.
In the period from August 1990 to December 1993, the following facilities were built:
- arena for awarding ceremonies - "Stampesletta";
- Olympic indoor hall "Hamar";
- Olympic indoor hall "Gjovik";
- Olympic indoor amphitheater "Hamar";
- Hall "Hakon";
- Olympic Center "Hafjell";
- Olympic center "Kvitfjell";
- Hunderfossen bobsleigh and luge tracks;
- arena for freestyle "Kanthaugen";
- arena for ski jumping "Lysgardsbakkene";
- stadium and tracks for skiing and biathlon "Birkebeineren";
- Olympic village for athletes, representatives of the press, the IOC hotel.
As for the organization of the torch relay across the territory of Norway, its main idea was to create a festive atmosphere around this event and to attract as many people as possible to participate in the cultural program - the organization of ceremonies, concerts and festivals. The organizing committee recruited artists from the Norwegian Amateur Theater Association, the Norwegian Song and Music Council, athletes from the Sports Confederation and the military to address this issue.
Opening ceremony of the 1994 Olympics.
In figure skating competitions among women in singles the Ukrainian figure skater achieved great success Oksana Baiul, which could not boast of the complexity of the free program, but its artistry, amazing flexibility, femininity conquered both the audience and the judges.
Champions and prize-winners of the 1994 Olympics
Men's single skating
Gold - Alexey Urmanov (born 1973), Russia.
Silver- Elvis Stojko (born 1972), Canada.
Bronze- Philippe Candeloro (born 1972), France.
Women's single skating
Gold- Oksana Baiul (born 1977), Ukraine.
Silver- Nancy Kerrigan (Nancy A. Kerrigan, born 1969), USA.
Bronze- Chen Lu (born 1976), China.
Sports couples
Gold- Ekaterina Gordeeva (born 1971) - Sergei Grinkov (1967 - 1995), Russia.
Silver- Natalia Mishkutenok (born 1970) - Arthur Dmitriev (born 1968), Russia.
Bronze- Isabelle Brasseur, born 1970 - Lloyd Edgar Eisler, Jr., born 1963, Canada.
Dancing couples
Gold- Oksana Grischuk (born 1972) - Evgeny Platov (born 1967), Russia.
Silver- Maya Usova (born 1964) - Alexander Zhulin (born 1963), Russia.
Bronze- Jayne Torvill (born 1957) - Christopher Colin Dean (born 1958), Great Britain.
Oksana Baiul- 1994 Olympic champion in women's single skating, 1993 world champion. Study figure skating started in 1981, the first coach - Stanislav Korytek... Since 1991 she moved to Kiev, became coaches Galina Zmievskaya and Valentin Nikolaev.
Baiul's career is full of funny and dramatic situations. In one of the first performances at international competitions, at the Cup of Nations in November 1992, 14-year-old Oksana fell on a spin jump, but managed to unexpectedly beat the fall with dance moves, and then performed a triple salchow on the third attempt. In January 1993 she made her debut at the European Championship. In the original program, she made a mistake in a cascade of jumps, instead of a triple lutz, having performed a double, one and a half minutes after the start of the program she found that she was skating with an unlaced boot, stopped the performance and turned to the judges. After the meeting, the referees were allowed to re-execute the entire program. The second time I performed a triple lutz in a cascade. The amazed judges gave marks up to 5.8. In the free program, despite two falls, she completed the most difficult triple lutz and triple rittberger, eventually taking second place. She made a sensation at the 1993 World Cup - the debutante immediately became the world champion. She performed both programs emotionally and artistically, decorating the program with dance moves, delighting the audience.
At the 1994 Olympics she performed one of the best short programs in the history of figure skating (to music by P.I.Tchaikovsky). The first part, lyrical, is decorated with an elegant combination of spirals, in the second part emotions literally overflowed, at a pace, at high speed, an original sequence of steps was performed, interesting spins (coach Zmievskaya urged to calm down from behind the side). Despite the mistake in the cascade of triple lutz - double sheepskin coat (touching with the free foot upon landing), some judges practically did not reduce their marks (marks were given to 5.9). At a training session before the free program, a figure skater from Germany Shevchenko collided with Oksana, injuring her leg with a skate, her back was also bruised. Baiul had stitches. The doctor of the German national team gave her several injections of painkillers, in this state Oksana, overcoming the pain, performed a free program, completing five triple jumps, again with her inherent artistry and musicality. At the end of the program, Zmievskaya, realizing that the program lacks a cascade of jumps, shouted about it from behind the side and Oksana changed the program, in the last seconds adding a cascade of double axel - double sheepskin coat. After the end of the program, Oksana suffered a nervous breakdown. With the fiercest competition, the outcome of the competition was decided by one vote of the German judge, world champion Hoffman, who put Baiul second in the short program, and changed his mind in the free program and gave her first place. After the Games, the President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk invited Baiul, the only 1994 Olympic champion from Ukraine, to a delegation visiting the United States.
Then Baiul moved to live in the USA and performed professionally. She had an accident, suffered from alcoholism, and underwent rehabilitation. Now she continues to speak and is engaged in business, she has published two books in English. In 2005 she returned to sports. Remains a citizen of Ukraine, having a residence permit in the United States.
1. 1994 Olympic champion in women's singles Oksana Baiul.
2. Silver medalist at the 1994 Games in women's singles, Nancy Carrigan.
3. Bronze medalist of the 1994 Games in women's singles Chen Lu.
In pair skating won Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov... After winning in Calgary (1988), they went to professional ice ballet, but managed to return to amateur sports and win gold medals in Lillehammer. This return was triumphant. And in 1995, a tragedy occurred that distinguished this couple in a special way among all pairs in figure skating - Sergei Grinkov died. Figure skating fans will always remember this extraordinarily beautiful couple with a unique style. A couple who could express any emotion, while technically unmatched.
Olympic champions 1988 and 1994 Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov.
At the second Olympiad in a row ( Olympic champion-1992 - Viktor Petrenko) Russian figure skater won gold in men's single skating Alexey Urmanov.
Alexey began to go in for figure skating at the age of four. Since 1977, his coach has been Nina Monakhova, since 1979 - Natalia Golubeva... She trained Urmanov at the SKA club (Leningrad). From the 1989-1990 season, his coach became Alexey Mishin.
Urmanov is a bronze medalist of the 1993 World Championship and a multiple medalist of the European Figure Skating Championships (including the champion in 1997). At the 1994 Olympics, he won both the technical and the free program thanks to the clean execution of all elements (among all the participants, he completed the largest number of triple jumps - eight, including two triple axels).
In 1999 he won bronze at the European Championship, the rest of the places on the podium were also taken by the students of Alexei Mishin: Alexey Yagudin and Evgeny Plushenko... In August 1999, he completed his amateur career, won in December of the same year at the World Championship among professional singles in Washington (USA).
Since 2001, he has been working as a trainer at the sports school for children and youth of the Olympic reserve (SDYUSHOR) at the Yubileiny Sports Palace and the Figure Skating Academy. His most successful student is the two-time Russian champion Sergey Voronov... He is a technical specialist of the International Skating Union (ISU). Alexey Urmanov is the father of two twin sons.
1. Olympic champion-1994 Alexey Urmanov.
2. Silver medalist of the 1994 Olympics Elvis Stoyko.
Already traditional for Russia gold in ice dancing won Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov- a brilliant pair, the only ones in the history of figure skating - two-time Olympic champions (1994, 1998). In addition, Grischuk - Platov are four-time world champions, three-time European champions.
Trained at Natalia Dubova, then - at Tatiana Tarasova... After the second Olympic victory in 1998, the duo broke up. Oksana went to conquer Hollywood. Now he lives in California (USA).
Evgeny Platov, as a professional, paired with Maya Usova... But the greatest victories came to them, of course, when they performed together. What are, for example, SIX top marks at the 1997 European Championships or a triumphant return at the 1995 World Championships after a long break due to a chronic back injury from Evgeny Platov.
Platov helped Tatyana Tarasova as a coach, worked with Alexander Zhulin(helped in staging Olympic programs for Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarova), with the Israeli national figure skating team. Currently, the most famous of his students are the British dance duo Sinead and John Kerr... Works at the Princeton Sports Center skating rink in New Jersey (USA).
Interesting details
The sensation of the competition in speed skating at the shortest sprint distance of 500 m was the gold medal Alexandra Golubeva(Russia), which took only seventh place in Albertville. American speed skater Bonnie Blair confirmed her title of Olympic champion by winning two gold medals.
1-2. 1994 Olympic champions in ice dancing Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov.
3. Silver medalists of the 1994 Olympics in ice dancing Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin.
In cross-country skiing, the main struggle unfolded between athletes from Russia, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan, who shared gold medals in all types of competitions. The sensation of the skiers' competition was the absolutely unexpected, but deserved victory of the Italian team in the men's 4 x 10 km relay, which was 0.4 seconds ahead of the undoubted favorite - the Norwegian team. An outstanding Russian skier demonstrated her unfading skills Lyubov Egorova, who won three gold medals - in the 5 and 10 km races and in the 4 x 5 km relay.
It should also be noted a convincing victory in the marathon distance (50 km) of an athlete from Kazakhstan Vladimir Smirnov, which, long before the finish line, became out of reach for the main rivals, ahead of the nearest one by almost one and a half minutes.
Canadian athlete in biathlon M. Bedard managed to break the monopoly of athletes in Russia and Germany, winning the race at a distance of 15 km. However, in other types of biathlon competitions, Russian and German athletes excelled, demonstrating high skill both in cross-country skiing and in shooting. The most convincing victory was won by the Russian athletes in the 4 x 7.5 km relay, almost four minutes ahead of the German team.
The great popularity and intensive distribution in various countries of the world of the young Olympic look sports - freestyle - provided the highest skill of athletes and the most intense rivalry in the fight for Olympic medals... The development of this species in countries located on the territory of the former USSR was also important. In particular, L. Cheryazov (Uzbekistan) convincingly won the competition in ski acrobatics, athletes from Russia S. Shchupletsov and E. Kozhevnikova won silver and bronze medal in the mogul. At the same time, it should be said that V. Kozhevnikova passed the route faster and without errors and, as noted by the overwhelming majority of experts, should have been the first. However, the judges decided otherwise. Competition in the mogul brought victory to the Canadian D. Bressaru and Norwegian S. Hattestad, and the ski acrobatics competition was won by an athlete from Switzerland A. Schonbechler.
Performance of the Olympic champions - 1994 on the Lillehammer ice.
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In general, the first for Russia winter Olympics was recognized as successful.
