Makarova's mother is Larisa Selezneva, who married her pairs partner Oleg Makarov, as far as I remember?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ksenia_Makarova
I don't think Larisa Selezneva is Canadian? Her bio says she was born in Leningrad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larisa_Selezneva
Are you thinking of the Gilleses?
Mrs. Gilles has Canadian parents.
No kidding? I remember them. How nice to see second-generation skater who's doing that well. There aren't a whole lot of those who make it out of juniors. A few years ago, for example, one of the TV skating shows featured Viktor Petrenko and Katia Gordeyeva and their respective daughters. I thought that Viktoria Petrenko was especially promising. Katia's daughter Daria Grinkova has decided not to pursue skating, and I can't find any word on Viktoria Petrenko, so I doubt she's made it into seniors. (If anyone knows, let us know!) There is Artur Dmitriev, Jr., of course, and from time to time Zoueva's son Fedor Andreev...who, alas, doesn't seem to be forging ahead.Originally Posted by dorispulaski
No kidding. There are some other children of skaters who are having some success, though.
Laurence Owen daughter of Maribel Owen (both died in the 1961 plane crash).
Takahiko Kozuka's father skated.
Both of Yuka Sato's parents competed for Japan in the Olympics.
The father of Ashley Cain, of the recently split Cain & Reagan, competed for Australia.
John & Don Baldwin-both their parents skated, and their dad finished as high as 2nd or 3rd at US Nationals.
Maxim Zavozin, who competed in ice dance for the US with partner Morgan Matthews, was junior world champion. He also competed with Nora Hoffman from Hungary and went to the Olympics with her, and won at least one bronze on the GP.
BTW, Jonathan Guerreiro, of Pushkash & Guerreiro and formerly of Riazanova & Guerreiro, is the son of ice dancer Svetlana Liapina who was Gorsha Sur's partner prior to Gorsha defecting to the US. He won numerous medals in juniors and was 4th in seniors at Russian nationals this year, which was his senior debut year.
Andrei Bukin's son Ivan is doing very well in ice dance. He just medalled in junior worlds with his partner Alexandra Stepanova.
And Katie Shpilband is in singles in the US. In 2009, she was the intermediate champion in US singles, and is still competing .And Klimova & Ponomarenko's son Anthony and his dance partner Sarah Feng finished 5th in novice dance in the US this year (their first year in novices). They were 3rd in the FD, but only 9th in the pattern dances.
I'm sure there are a lot I have missed.
^
* Carolina Kostner's mother was a nationally ranked figure skater.
* Sarah Meier comes from a skating family.
* Robin Szolkowy's partner in his junior days was Claudia Rauschenbach - she's the daughter of Anett Pötzsch and Axel Witt and the stepdaughter of Axel Rauschenbach.
* Maribel Vinson Owen's elder daughter, also named Maribel, was a US Champion in pairs.
* Andrée Brunet-Joly and Pierre Brunet (winners of the 1928 and 1932 OGM) had a son who won US Nationals in pairs, but he died young in a car crash.
* Stanislav Morozov's father was a pairs skating coach, but I don't know if he skated himself.
* Daria Grinkova quit skating, but I think her younger sister, Liza Kulik, does skate.
Olympia, Fedor Andreev had to retire (again) because of a serious injury.
Thanks for the information, Doris and Buttercup. The details about the other skaters were mostly unknown to me, but I can't believe I didn't think of one of my favorite skaters ever, Yuka Sato. And of course the Vinson Owen family.
Too bad to hear about Fedor Andreev.
Some more information on Japanese skaters:
-Takahito Mura, who finished 5th at 4CC last month: his father was a former single skater, and Takahito's current coach. Takahito's goal at the recent 4CC was to get on the podium, which his father did years ago, I heard. Unfortunately he missed the podium by 6 points.
-Nobunari Oda: his mother is a well-known skating coach based in Osaka. She was Nobu's coach since his childhood and still is. Do not know much about her competitive record, though.
-Yuka's father, Nobuo Sato is ten times National Champion, which still is the record in the figure skating history in Japan as of today, I think. No one is going to beat that record in the near future, maybe except someone like Mao who won the national title for multiple times already at younger age, or someone like future Yuzuru who is likely to start beating veterans soon.
-Takahiko Kozuka: Not only his father, but his mother and one of his aunts also were figure skaters.
But the most important thing is, his grand father Mitsuhiko Kozuka was the one who introduced figure skating into Japan, and established the first organization for figure skating in Aichi, and years later it was transformed to the current JSF.
That is why Taka's grand father is referred with great respect as 'the Father (=founder) of figure skating in Japan'. As of today Aichi holds an annual competition 'Kozuka Cup' which is named after and in honor of Mitsuhiko Kozuka. Thanks to Mr. M. Kozuka's huge contribution to the sport, Aichi has a tradition of producing top skaters year after year, sucha as Midori, Yoshie Onda, Yukari Nakano, Miki Ando, Mai & Mao Asada, Takahiko Kozuka, Kanako Murakami, Shoma Uno.
Sorry, correction's made. See the below, the post #69
Last edited by deedee1; 03-21-2012 at 07:21 PM.
deedee, Thanks for the info!!
Good to know, Deedee; thanks so much. I didn't realize that skating was such a family business for Kozuka as well as for Yuka Sato. Kozuka's surviving relatives must be so thrilled that skating has become so important in Japan, and that Japan has become one of the world's premier skating nations.
I wrote it wrong. Seems my memory did not serve me right.
It wasn't the first organization in Aichi, which was transformed to the current JSF later on.
It was 'Kozuka Cup', which was transformed to NHK Trophy later on.
In the early years of 'Kozuka Cup' when figure skating as a sport was less popular in Japan, Mr. M. Kozuka himself started and hosted this competition. He invited foreign skaters to this competition by sepnding his personal fortune, in order to show Japanese people what figure skating as a sport on the world level was like. Aichi still holds Kozuka Cup as a local competition every year in honor of Mr. M. Kozuka.
The reason Takahiko was taken notice of by skating officials when he was merely a kid, is not only his superior skating skills, but his family name. The Kozukas is a skating family, indeed.
And The Kozukas and the Satos are just miles above the rest in the skating world in Japan, owing to their devotion to the sport for generations.
JSF believes, and rightfully expects it will be Takahiko's turn to win the Olympic medal at Sochi, the second one by a Japanese male skater after Dai, in a better color of course.
But Taka seems less pressured, taking it too serious in a bad way. He normally appears, for some reason, not to be affected (a sort of less sensitive, sorry Taka...) by outer things, and I think it is a good side of his personality, for someone of such high lineage like Taka.
Last edited by deedee1; 03-21-2012 at 07:41 PM.
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