V&M article from last month | Golden Skate

V&M article from last month

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thanks, Antilles.

An interesting article, with information about the rest of the Canadian team as well.

Seeing V/M's ages now really points up how young they were when they won the OGM in 2010. Man, that must be unheard of in ice dancing, where in all those years before the new judging system, couples waited their turn and advanced slowly up the ladder.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Not entirely unknown. Klimova & Ponomarenko won bronze at the 1984 Olympics. Marina was born on 28 July 1966, so she would have been still 17. Sergei was born on October 6, 1960, so he was older, 23. Still, very, very young.

Oksana Grishuk was born March 17, 1972. At her first Olympics in 1992, where she finished fourth (and won the bronze at Worlds, the same season), she was 19. Platov was born on August 7, 1967, so he would have been 24. Two years later they won the Olympics, aged 21 & 26.

It's worth noting and Grishuk & Platov were both born in Odessa, and competed for the Odessa Army Sports club, in what is the Ukraine today
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thanks, Doris!

I considered Klimova, who I knew was only about 17 for the bronze, though then K/P took the next two Olympics to creep up to gold. (Well, no one was going to vault ahead of Bestemianova/Bukin.) I love that they have a complete set of medals; they're one of my top favorite couples and probably my favorite of all Russian/Soviet couples.

I didn't know Oksana G. was that young. That's pretty impressive.

It makes sense that they were born in Odessa, something I also didn't know. Oksana is actually a Ukrainian name. A college friend named Oksana told me that it was the name of an ancient goddess. Oksana Baiul is of course also Ukrainian and actually got to skate for Ukraine. (In the Soviet era, of course, even the Ukrainian first name doesn't mean that everyone born there was ethnic Ukrainian, any more than being born in Riga meant that Baryshikov was Latvian, so I shouldn't assume.)

I was thinking as I made the point about V/M's age that it was kind of an artificial point to make, because the OGM goes back only to 1976, but lo and behold, you've found exceptions even in that short range of possibilities.
 
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