Russian Personalities

People well-known in art, sport, film, fashion

Category Archive: Sport

Oksana Grishuk – Russian ice dancer

Oksana Grishuk

Oksana Grishuk – Russian ice dancer. photo kinopoisk.ru

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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Most famous Russian Paralympics 2014 participants

Irek Zaripov Paralympics participant

Paralympics 2014 participant. Irek Zaripov


Paralympics participants are great persons!!! Each of them deserves medals for the personal achievements. Each of them is a hero.
These people will compete in Sochi 2014. Wish them good luck!

Irek Zaripov (30 years, biathlon, cross country skiing)
“I do not regret anything. Even if I could change something in my life, I would not do that. I am who I am, only because it happened to me”- says Irek.
Irek Zaripov is a four-time Paralympic champion.
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Tatyana McFadden – Paralympics Champion

Tatyana McFadden

Tatyana McFadden – Paralympics Champion

Tatyana McFadden is an American athlete of Russian origin, multiple Paralympic Games winner.
Tatyana is a very strong woman. Her teammate sprinter David Prince named her “the beast” for the physical and intellectual strength. And it isn’t an overstatement.
At the 2012 Paralympic Games in London she won three gold medals and a bronze medal. Tatyana won silver at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing and bronze at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.
Outstanding girl was born in 1989 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia.
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Adelina Sotnikova – figure skater

Adelina Sotnikova

Adelina Sotnikova – figure skater. RIA Novosti


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.
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Riana Kadyrova – youngest Russian figure skater

Riana Kadyrova

Riana Kadyrova. Photo Alia Sharafutdinova


The youngest Russian figure skater is only three years old. Riana Kadyrova calls herself an athlete and dreams of Olympic gold.
After the triumph in the free skate team competition 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya has become one of the most popular athletes in the world.
The performance of the Kazan ice skater became an Internet sensation, at that time she was only 2.5 years old.
By the way, for her brief yet athletic career Riana managed to win her first medal.

Little princess on ice
Riana began skating at the age of only 2 with her elder sister Yasmina.
Her mother Reseda Kadyrova is the director of Tatarstan Children’s, Youth Figure Skating School of Olympic Reserve, Candidate for Master of Sport. She had to take her baby to the skating rink.
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Elena Ilinykh – Nikita Katsalapov

Elena Ilinykh Nikita Katsalov

Elena Ilinykh – Nikita Katsalapov

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

Victoria Sinitsina Ruslan Zhiganshin

Victoria Sinitsina and Ruslan Zhiganshin


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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