For Russia, figure skating has always been the kind that 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 on the Olympic ice - in the Sport Mail.Ru photo gallery.
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 a 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 who 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 they miss the Sochi Games 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 of the 2002 Olympic Games, bronze medalist of 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 awards - 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 with the rank of vice-champions, and four years later, in Salt Lake City, they will win the championship in pairs skating.

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov are the 1994 Lillehammer pair skating champions.

Alexey 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 sports ice dancing, figure skaters Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov. Lillehammer 1994.

According to the results of the dance pairs tournament of the Olympics in Nagano, 5 Russians were on the podium: champions Oksana Grischuk and Yevgeny 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 Andrey Minenkov are silver medalists of the 1976 Olympics, the first at which dances were included in the program of the Games, and bronze medalists of 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)

They have always loved to skate in Russia. In the 19th century, a skating lover appeared on the ice of St. Petersburg, who had no equal - Nikolay Panin-Kolomenkin... The loudest was his victory at the IV Olympic Games in London in 1908. At the beginning of the 20th century, only the Summer Olympics were held, but figure skating was included in the program of the London Olympics for the first time. The figures proposed by Panin - Kolomenkin amazed everyone with their complexity, and the judges watched with particular passion for the correctness of their implementation. But there was nothing to complain about - the Russian figure skater brilliantly completed the declared program. The judges unanimously awarded Panin-Kolomenkin the first place. This was the first Olympic gold medal in the history of Russian sports. It is noteworthy that the athlete himself at this time was already 36 years old.

The first Olympic champions in pair skating were those who won gold medals in 1964 and 1968. It was they who invented and were the first to perform many of the elements that were subsequently included in the compulsory program of competitions for figure skaters around the world. Their performances made such an impression that the figure skating world did not know then.

By the way, the "golden" couple played the "golden" wedding in 2007. Leaving the big sport, Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov did not part with figure skating, worked in the Leningrad Ballet on Ice. They obtained Swiss citizenship in 1995.

In 1972, they became Olympic champions in pair skating Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov... However, the day before the 1972 World Cup, in training, Irina fell from support, was admitted to the hospital with a concussion and intracranial hematoma. The couple skated the short program cleanly, having received marks up to 6.0, in the free program Irina felt bad, finished the program in a semi-faint state. After the World Cup, the couple broke up.

Soon Stanislav Zhuk picked up another partner by Rodnina - Alexandra Zaitseva... First Irina Rodnina performed with Alexander Zaitsev at the 1973 World Championships, where for several minutes they had to skate without musical accompaniment, but they did not interrupt their program and finished it to the applause of the audience.

Since 1974, the couple trained with Tatiana Tarasova... 1973 to 1978 Rodnina and Zaitsev constantly took first places at the European and World Championships. In 1976 and 1980, the Rodnina / Zaitsev pair won gold at the Olympic Games. In 1981, Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev switched to professional sports. We performed on tour, trained.

In 1976, a pair of figure skaters won gold at the Olympic Games Alexander Gorshkov / Lyudmila Pakhomova... Together they became six-time world champions. The coach of the "golden pair" was Elena Anatolyevna Tchaikovskaya and remained the coach of this couple until their departure from amateur sports. Pakhomova and Gorshkov changed the style of ice dancing. Before them, strict, academic dances predominated, mainly to classical melodies. They also brought into figure skating a lively, emotional folk dance: "Nightingale", "Along St. Petersburg", "Mischievous ditties", "Kumparsita".

Olympic champions Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov won gold in 1980. Linichuk and Karponosov trained with Elena Tchaikovskaya and played for the Dynamo-Moscow club. Already in 1981, they both retired from their sports careers and became successful coaches in ice dancing. In their coaching duet, Gennady is in charge of the compulsory dances, and Natalia is in charge of the original dance and the free program. In the 90s, they left to train in the USA.

At the 84 Winter Olympics, the pair won figure skating Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev... Valova and Vasiliev became the first sports couple to perform a triple parallel jump. The couple were married from 1984 to 1992.

Figure skater Sergey Grinkov with his partner Ekaterina Gordeeva managed to win two Olympic gold medals. Under the guidance of a coach Stanislav Zhuk the couple in 1986 won the title of world champions for the first time. At that time, young Katya was only 14 years old - then a record age in the entire history of world figure skating championships. For the 1988 Olympic Games, Grinkov and Gordeeva came up as the main favorites. In 1988, Sergei was 21 years old, Katya just turned 17. The free dance, which went down in the history of figure skating as a real masterpiece, was performed to the "March of Mendelssohn". As it turned out, it was not just that. On April 20, 1991, their wedding took place.

A year later, the couple had a daughter, Daria. At this time, they performed a lot at foreign tournaments, took part in a large number of commercial projects. In 1994 Gordeeva and Grinkov win gold again at the Olympics. Exactly one year after the victory, on November 20, 1995, Sergei Grinkov, while training in Lake Placid, suffered a massive heart attack and died right on the ice during training. In 1996, Ekaterina Gordeeva returned to the ice. Her first performance was dedicated to her late husband.

Figure skaters Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov won Olympic gold in 1994 and 1998. The Olympics in Nagano made Grischuk and Platov champions - they were the first in the world to become two-time Olympic champions in ice dancing (despite the fact that Grischuk had broken her wrist shortly before).

In the summer of 1998, a couple Oksana Grischuk / Evgeny Platov broke up. Grischuk received an invitation to work together from Alexandra Zhulina... The collaboration continued throughout the year. Left alone again, Oksana performed solo. Eugene paired up with Maya Usova.

In 1988, Olympic gold in pair figure skating was won by Natalia Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin... Charismatic and even eccentric for their time, the pair of figure skaters was remembered by the audience for their numbers to the music of the operas "Carmen" by Bizet and "Prince Igor" by Borodin, "Rhapsodies on a Theme of Paganini" by Rachmaninov. They were also very fond of their numbers to the music from the films of Charlie Chaplin and "Cabaret" by Bob Foss, their "Cumparsita" and the waltz "Blue Danube".

Russian single skater Alexey Urmanov- Champion of the 1994 Olympics. Alexey 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 - 8, including two triple axels). In August 1999, he retired from his amateur career, and won in December 1999 at the World Championship among professional singles in Washington (USA). Since 2001 he has been working as a coach, and his most successful student is a two-time champion of Russia Sergey Voronov.

Olympic champion Ilya Kulik in the short program of the 1998 Olympic Games in the avant-garde style to the music of J.-M. Jarre, he performed a purely cascade of triple axel - triple sheepskin coat, took the lead. In an exceptionally harmonious free program, with graceful choreography to the music of G. Gershwin, with well-written elements, Kulik, the only one of all the participants, performed all the jumps absolutely clean, including the only one of the leaders and for the first time in his career at international competitions, a quadruple jump - a sheepskin coat , two triple axels (one in a combination with a triple toe loop), as well as five triple jumps.

Arthur Dmitriev became the first male skater to win the Olympic Games with two different partners. In 1992 he won gold with Natalia Mishkutenok, in 1998 - from Oksana Kazakova(on the picture). Dmitriev was remembered for the most difficult supports - the only one performed the partner's signature descent, throwing her over his back. Dmitriev often assisted the trainer in staging programs, acted as a fashion designer, helping to create costumes.

Russian figure skater Alexey Yagudin- Olympic champion in 2002. Victory at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City is the peak of Yagudin's sports career, one of the brightest victories in the history of figure skating and Russian sports. The short program "Winter", brilliantly performed at the Games, was staged by Tatiana Tarasova, to this day it is considered a benchmark in terms of choreography and the creation of an artistic image on ice. The performance of the free program "The Man in the Iron Mask" brings Yagudin a kind of Olympic records - he is awarded the victory by all nine judges; he becomes the first Olympic champion to complete two jumps in four revolutions in the program, one of which is in a cascade, and the first Olympic winner in the category of men's singles to receive four 6.0 marks for artistry from the judges.

In 1996, in training while performing a rotation, partner Elena Berezhnaya I hit her on the head with a skate - the temporal bone was pierced, the fragments damaged the lining of the brain. Berezhnaya underwent two neurosurgical operations, after which she again learned not only to walk, but also to speak and read. I learned to ride again with a new partner - Anton Sikharulidze, which supported her throughout the postoperative period. The history of figure skating included the "Charlie Chaplin" program, which Sikharulidze skated together with Elena Berezhnaya in the 2000/2001 season as a free program, and then as an indicative number. In 2002 Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze became Olympic champions.

Evgeny Plushenko two-time Olympic champion: 2006 in singles, 2014 in team competition. Evgeni Plushenko became the first figure skater to perform a quadruple toe loop — triple toe loop — triple rittberger cascade at the competition (at the Russian Cup in 2002); he was the first among men to perform a Biellmann spin, a triple axel-oiler-triple flip cascade (2001). On February 13, 2014, he was supposed to participate in the main competition - single skating, but withdrew from the competition in the short program a minute before the start of the performance due to a back injury. On the same day, he officially announced the end of his sports career.

Winners of the XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin in pair skating Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin debuted at the Olympic Games back in 2002, but were only fourth. In the fall of 2004, at the stage of the Skate America Grand Prix series, Tatyana received a serious head injury: after unsuccessful support from her partner, she fell on the ice, hitting her head, and lost consciousness. The injury was serious, and I had to spend several months in the hospital under the supervision of doctors. At the beginning of 2006, she again took to the ice and won the same year. In 2006, after the Olympics, the couple broke up.

Since 1998 Tatiana Navka, who previously represented Belarus, began to play for Russia in tandem with Roman Kostomarov... They first trained in a group Natalia Linichuk... In the 1999-2000 season, Roman skated with Anna Semenovich, but later again paired up with Tatiana. Since 2000, they have trained under the guidance of Alexandra Zhulina... They were also consulted at various times Elena Chaikovskaya and Tatiana Tarasova... After winning the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov decided to end their sports careers.

February 20 Russian figure skater Adeline Sotnikova won the gold medal in women's singles skating at the Sochi Olympics. This Olympic victory was the first in history for Russian women in this type of figure skating. Sotnikova started figure skating at the age of five. At the end of 2008, Adelina, at the age of 12, became the winner of the adult championship of Russia, after which sports officials began to use the name of the prodigy girl as a response to the failures that befell domestic women's single skating at that time.

9 February figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya won gold in the team figure skating competition, becoming the youngest Russian champion in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. Had Julia been born 26 days later, she would not have been able to join the Olympic team. According to the regulations, in order to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics, a skater must be 15 years old by July 1, 2013. Julia started figure skating in Yekaterinburg when she was only 4 years old. The design of the costumes in which the skater performs, she develops herself together with her mother.

A sports couple became the triumphs of the Games Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov... Tatiana and Maxim won the title of Olympic champions in pair skating on February 12. This medal became the second gold of the duo at the Games in Sochi after the success of the Russians in the team competition. Volosozhar and Trankov went to this award for four years, teamed up in the spring after the Vancouver Olympics. Already in the first joint tournaments, the Russian couple began to demonstrate powerful, confident, and most importantly, creative skating.

(c) http://ria.ru/sochi2014_around_games/20140221/996204575_994577675.html

I will add critical notes from myself. For some reason, there is no mention of victories at the 1992 Games Victor Petrenko and a dance duet Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko... Apparently, RIA Novosti does not consider such a phenomenon as "United Team", as something related to domestic sports. Also, this photo selection did not take into account all the winners of the team tournament in Sochi.

Completed her career. According to the comment of the athlete's mother that appeared on the network, Julia informed the leadership of the federation about her departure back in April. The reason for this decision was the figure skater's illness. The athlete's mother noted that Lipnitskaya was undergoing three months of treatment for anorexia.

In an interview with Gazeta.Ru, the athlete's mentor Alexei did not refute the information about the athlete's decision to end her career.

"I am not yet answering questions about Yulia's departure," Urmanov said.

The leadership of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR), after the test skates in Sochi, will meet with the athlete and her coach Alexei Urmanov to discuss the further plans of the skater, said the general director of the FFKKR.

“Lipnitskaya, as you know, will not participate in test skates in Sochi. But after the skates we will meet and discuss with Yulia and Urmanov their future plans, "R-Sport quotes Kogan.

Earlier, the honorary president of the FFKKR hinted that it was time for Julia to hang her skates on a nail.

“The situation of Lipnitskaya, in my opinion, is similar to the story of Adelina Sotnikova. The sooner she finally draws conclusions, makes a decision, the better it will be for everyone, so as not to fool people, fans. No need to mislead figure skating enthusiasts. After all, everyone understands that when there is, it is difficult for Lipnitskaya to fight them, ”Piseev said.

Last season, Lipnitskaya missed the Russian figure skating championship due to a hip injury sustained as a result of falling on a slippery sidewalk while returning from training.

The main award of the athlete, who was won over her short career, is the gold medal at the 2014 Olympic Games. Julia became the winner of the team competition together with Evgeny, Maxim Trankov, and Nikita Katsalapov.

Lipnitskaya in Sochi showed the best result in short and free programs, gaining twenty points out of twenty possible.

Also on the account of the skater is the silver of the 2014 World Championship and the gold of the European championship of the same year.

Lipnitskaya's last start was the Moscow stage of the Grand Prix, held in November 2016, when she was forced to interrupt the free program due to problems with her leg and eventually finished in last place.

It is worth noting that Yulia is not the only triumphant at the Sochi Olympics, who is now experiencing difficulties in continuing her career. So, the winner of gold in women's singles skating will miss the 2017/18 season. This was announced by the coach of the athlete Evgeni Plushenko.

“Adelina Sotnikova will not compete this season due to injury. We all hoped that we would heal this injury, but unfortunately it didn't work out. The injury is still troubling, full-fledged training does not work, and it is wrong to enter the competition in such a situation. Now we need to heal the trauma that still takes place due to the fact that, unfortunately, the diagnosis was wrong, Adeline did not recover, and this damage worries her. She had a ruptured ankle ligament and a bone fracture in her foot. Initially, it was thought that Adeline would quickly recover from this injury. Initially, they did not put a plaster cast, and in general, a completely different diagnosis was made.

Skipping a season does not mean the end of a career, ”Plushenko said.

The President of the FFKKR said that in figure skating there are often cases when, after a long break, a returning athlete could again reach a high level.

“It so happened, no one is to blame. Zhenya (Plushenko) explained the situation in great detail - there was an injury, they began to treat it not quite correctly. Now she (Sotnikova) can skate, but she cannot train at full strength. Given the time left, it will be unrealistic for her to enter this season.

He also stressed that there were many examples in history of how skaters returned to a high level. “We have many examples of athletes returning and performing at a high level again. The same (Italian), ”said Gorshkov.

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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 it looks Women - Olympic champions in this sport - are 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 representatives of the fair sex 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 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 of more than 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, 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 is 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 stunning 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 awaited the television 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 Suraykin - 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 on the first step of the pedestal, Rodnina's tears flowed to the sound of the 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, the Olympic "gold" was won by Gennady Karponosov and Natalya Linichuk (students of Elena Tchaikovskaya), who 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, Natalia 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.

"Silver couple" in ice dancing of the last Olympiad Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko before the 1992 Olympics 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 gold three times.

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 the 10th Olympic gold medal for their team in this type 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

The Salt Lake City Games were rife with 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, the 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 won bronze medalists in ice dancing.

XXII Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi