Oksana Grischuk is a Soviet and Russian figure skater who performed in ice dancing together with Evgeni Platov. They are three-time champions of Europe, four-time world champions, the first two-time Olympic champions in ice dancing.
Pretty girl was born on March 17, 1972 in Odessa, USSR. Oksana was engaged in figure skating at the age of 4. Valentina Kasyanova was her first coach. In 1981 Oksana moved to Moscow and at first she was a single skater. Alexander Chichkov became her partner in 1985.
Having won the Junior World Championship in 1988, the pair was forced to split up in the summer of 1989 because of Alexander’s injury. Oksana was invited to the group of Natalia Dubova, where Evgeni Platov became her partner. Already in December 1989, after only 3 months of joint training, the pair Grishuk – Platov became bronze medalists at the USSR championship, and in 1991 they won the championship of the country.
At the 1992 Olympic Games Oksana and Evgeni took the 4th place. In the same year, they won bronze medals at the European and World Championships. In the autumn of 1992 Oksana returned to her former coaches – Linichuk and Karponosov – together with the partner. A year later, the pair won the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.
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Anastasia Volochkova, a renowned Russian ballet dancer, was born on January 20, 1976 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
She was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia, People’s Artist of Karachay-Cherkessia, and People’s Artist of North Ossetia-Alania. Anastasia was the winner of Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition. By the way, she was awarded Benois de la Danse prize in 2002 and Golden Lion award in 2009 as the most talented dancer in Europe.
Pretty girl was born into the family of Yuri Fyodorovich, USSR table tennis champion and coach, and Tamara Vladimirovna, a tour guide. Volochkova dreamed of becoming a ballerina since childhood. She was five years old when she first saw The Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theatre and fell in love with ballet.
The graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Russian Ballet, the student of the famous teacher Natalia Dudinskaya, began her career as prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre in 1994. She danced the leading roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker and many others.
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Yulia Volkova is a Russian singer, ex-soloist of the pop group t.A.T.u.
Pretty girl was born on February 20, 1985 in Moscow. At the age of 7 she entered the children’s music school. You know, Yulia performed as a part of children’s vocal-instrumental ensemble Neposedy. It was during her time in Neposedy that Yulia first met Lena Katina. By the way, Russian stars Vlad Topalov, Sergey Lazarev, Yulia Malinovskaya and Nastya Zadorozhnaya also were members of Neposedy.
When Yulia was a school girl she starred in the children’s newsreel Jumble.
In 1999, Volkova and Katina became two halves of the scandalous and often controversial duo t.A.T.u., created by Ivan Shapovalov and composer Alexander Voitinsky. The girls recorded English-language and Russian-language albums, performed in Russia and abroad.
Their debut international single All The Things She Said, released in 2002, was a worldwide hit. Single All About Us topped the charts in Europe and went platinum. t.A.T.u. became the first group ever to get the IFPI Europe platinum award for the same album in two different languages.
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Elena Ilinykh – Nikita Katsalapov are Russian figure skaters. You know, they are 2014 Olympic champions, 2013 European silver medalists, 2012 European bronze medalists. By the way, they are three-time Russian national silver medalists, 2010 World Junior Champions, 2009 JGP Final silver medalists, Honored Masters of Sports of Russia.

Elena was born on April 25, 1994 in Aktau, Kazakhstan. She began skating at the age of four. Elena always wanted to try her hand at ice dancing, which seemed to her something special and beautiful. In her group there was a boy, Nikita Katsalapov, whose mother wanted him to dance. So Lena and Nikita teamed up in 2005. But they often quarreled and as a result, their couple broke up. Ilinykh said they were too young at that time to understand the partnership and find a compromise.
In 2006, Elena went to the U.S. to train in Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva’s group. There she has gained invaluable experience in skating. In America Lena didn’t find a partner. In 2008 she came to Moscow. After a while it was decided that Lena and Nikita should skate together. In 2008 Volkov and Zhulin became their coaches.
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Victoria Sinitsina and Ruslan Zhiganshin are Russian ice dancers. They were champions at the 2012 World Junior Figure Skating Championships and 2012 Junior Grand Prix Final winners. By the way, they are 2013 Winter Universiade and 2014 Championship of Russia bronze medalists. Also Victoria and Ruslan are 2011 JGP Final champions, Masters of Sports of Russia.

Victoria was born on April 29, 1995 in Moscow, Russia. The girl began skating at the age of four to improve her health. Her father Alexander Sinitsin and aunt Tatiana Sinitsina are former gymnasts.
Victoria took up ice dancing at the age of 10 and had one partner before meeting Zhiganshin in a group coached by Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh. Not long after, they joined Elena Kustarova and Svetlana Alexeeva.

Ruslan Zhiganshin was born on September 25, 1992 in Moscow. His elder sister is Nelli Zhiganshina, who competes for Germany with Alexander Gazsi. She is a four-time German national champion and has won twelve international medals.
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Talented poet and musician Igor Talkov was born on November 4, 1956 in a poor family. His parents met in prison. The singer came from a noble family (his uncles served as officers of the tsarist army), and the father and the mother of the musician were repressed. They met in the village of Orlov-Rozovo, Kemerovo region. Their first son Vladimir (Igor’s elder brother) was born there. After rehabilitation, family was sent to Schekino (Tula region) and they weren’t allowed to move somewhere. So, Schekino became the birthplace of the singer, rock musician, poet and actor.
Talkov began to write poems studying in elementary school. He was a self-taught musician, played the guitar, the piano, the bass guitar, the violin and the drums. It is interesting that he didn’t play his most beloved musical instrument, saxophone, but adored listening to it.
He was a very open and sociable person, but he hadn’t real friends.
His life was short but very intense – as if anticipating an early death, he was always in a hurry, wanted to make as much as possible.
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Famous Russian Prima Ballerinas of the XX century

Maya Plisetskaya
Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, People’s Artist of the USSR, was born on November 20, 1925. The world-famous prima ballerina had a very difficult childhood. In May 1938, her father was killed and her mother was deported to Kazakhstan. Little Maya was adopted by a maternal aunt, a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater. In many ways it influenced her future career. And in 1943, Plisetskaya graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School and almost immediately the girl was admitted to the Bolshoi Theatre. Her talent and hard work helped her a lot and soon young Maya established herself as a prima ballerina. She is a great example for many dancers of the new generation.
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