Adelina Sotnikova – figure skater

Sochi Olympic champion in figure skating Adelina Sotnikova told that she won gold for her younger sister Masha, who is seriously ill (she suffers from Treacher Collins syndrome).
Sotnikova is a Russian figure skater, 2014 Olympic champion, a two-time European silver medalist (2013–2014), a five-time Grand Prix series medalist, and a four-time Russian national champion. By the way, she is 2011 World Junior champion, 2010 JGP Final champion, and 2012 Youth Olympics silver medalist.
To tell the truth, she is the first Russian to win the Olympic gold medal in ladies’ singles figure skating.
Awesome girl was born on July 1, 1996 in Moscow. Her mother Olga was engaged in acrobatics, but after an injury she had to quit the sport. The mother wanted her daughter to be engaged in music, Adelina liked ballet. However, she became a figure skater. Adelina is a girl with a strong character. Her first coach was Anna Patrikeeva.
In her first championship of Russia 2007/2008 Adelina became the tenth among juniors. But in a year she was the first! So she repeated the success of her mentor Elena Buyanova, who also won her first title at the age of 12. After that victory, Sotnikova promised to Vladimir Putin that she would win the Olympics. As everyone knows, her promise was kept 5 years later.

Unfortunately, the next season was not so successful for her. Sotnikova was able to take the fourth place in the Russian Championship and only the 6th in the national championship. But the steel character of the girl, the ability to concentrate and overcome all the barriers, as well as the experience of her mentor, did not allow the young athlete to drop the hand. She complicated the program, dozens, and even hundreds of times repeating complex movements.
In the 2010-2011 season the girl became the champion in the finals of the junior Grand Prix.

Then she won gold in the international Grand Prix 2010-2011 in Austria, almost breaking the record of youth competitions. During the same period, Adelina became the winner of the Russian championship, and also won the international youth championship.
At the Golden Spin of Zagreb the girl competed with “older” athletes. And she went home with a gold medal.
In 2012, Sotnikova took part in the Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, where she won a silver medal.
In the season 2012/2013, skater who turned 16, got a chance to compete at the International Championships for “adults”.
Then she managed to climb the second step of the pedestal. Nevertheless, Sotnikova’s victory brought Russia the first medal at the European Championship since 2006. A year later, the figure skater repeated her success, losing first place to Yulia Lipnitskaya.
In February 2012, 16-year-old Muscovite was awarded the title of Master of Sports of Russia and on February 20, 2014 she became Honored Master of Sports.
Sotnikova was selected to represent Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She won the gold medal in the ladies’ individual event.

All her friends are athletes, because it’s easier to understand each other. To feel happy, Adelina need enough sleep, visit to the cinema with a friend and a cake in the cafe.
She is very close with her mother. Her family is a wonderful one. Unfortunately, her younger sister has health problems. She underwent three operations, which required a lot of money. Adelina’s coach Tatiana Tarasova helped a lot, she found the sponsoring company.
“I really want to help my sister and must earn money. This is one of the factors that makes me do sport”, – says the Olympic champion.
Adelina’s favorite subjects at school were algebra and physics: “Figure skating is physics, so it is a very useful science for me”.
Ice skating is the whole life for the athlete. She is going to become a coach.

In February 2015 outstanding girl participated in the television project Dancing with the Stars. Gleb Savchenko, her partner, and Adelina managed to take the 2nd place.
And in 2016, Sotnikova along with actor Alexander Sokolovsky became the winners of the TV project Ice Age.
In March 2016, at the premiere of the film Hero Adelina appeared along with the famous presenter Alexander Molochko. However, the couple broke up.
In 2017 Sotnikova and Elena Vodorezova decided to stop their cooperation. Prominent Evgeni Plushenko became Adelina’s new coach.
The change of coach followed by an unpleasant event – a serious injury, because of which Sotnikova was forced to skip the season 2017/2018, including the Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Her fan page Vkontakte: vk.com/adelina_sotnikova

Adelina Sotnikova – figure skater