Figure skating families / lineages?

[Ares]

I started wondering about which figure skaters have siblings / sibling who are also figure skaters or used to train this sport. There are quite a many (some that spring to mind are Piper / Alexes Gilles, Gracie & Carly Gold, Max Aaron – sisters: Molly & Madeline – I am sure that she’s active athlete right now in pairs) but which of them had also parent / parents who were skating too? I know about Artur Dmitriev Jr. (his father was Olympic Champion in pairs) as well as Ivan Bukin son of Mr Bukin – Olympic Champion in Ice Dance.

Hypothetically let’s say Nancy Kerrigan & Oksana Baiul could both have daughters – figure skaters eligible for Olympic Games in Pyeong Chang who could compete against each other making from it intergenerational contest with some additional intriguing undertones. Supposedly Irina Slutskaya & Lu Chen have daughters who skate so maybe we will have it … or has that happened already on some higher international level? Do you see potential for similar repeat to happen in next 5 years or so?

 

[blackey]

Marin Honda. four out of five Honda kids are figure skater, all of them are still quite young tho.
Mao's sister used to be a figure skater as well.
Both of Scott Moir's brothers were figure skater, one is ice dancer, one is single I believe. And many of his cousins.. can't remember

If consider "used to train in the sports" as well, I think there are plenty. As far as I know, both yuzu and javier followed their sister to start skating.

 

[4everchan]

There are many. Firus brothers. Isabelle brasseur has both a daughter and a niece in junior pairs. Did michelle kwan have a sister as well ? The wirtz family in canada. Islam dad is a coach. Mitch was an ice dancer. Zoueva and son fedor andreev. Ponomarenko has an ice dancer son. Etc

 

[moonvine]

Rudy Galindo has a niece named Marina Black.

 

[Moxiejan]

Ashley Cain's father, Peter (who coaches Ashley and Tim LeDuc), skated pairs for Australia with his sister, Elizabeth; iirc, they were in the 1980 Olympics.

Haven Denney's sister, Caydee, won U.S. senior pairs with both Jeremy Barrett and John Coughlin.

Mariah Bell's sister, Morgan, competed in seniors at 2013 nationals (Omaha), the same year that Mariah placed 2nd in junior ladies behind Polina Edmunds.

 

[Sai Bon]

Takahiko Kozuka - parents and grandparents were competitive skaters. He was often referred to by the media as "the skating thoroughbred" and once quipped "don't call me a thoroughbred, I'm not a horse"!
Yuka Sato - parents Nobuo and Kumi Sato
Nobunari Oda - his mother was a skater and his coach
Takahito Mura and his dad/coach Takashi

Since they now all have kids except Yuka Sato (to the best of my knowledge), we'll have to wait and see if the dynasties continue!

 

[mrrice]

The Heiss Family were all skaters, right? I know that Carol had a Sister ( Nancy ) and a Brother (Bruce) who were also skaters. There was also the Owen Family who were tragically involved in the US Team Crash in 1961.

 

[mrrice]

Rudy Galindo has a niece named Marina Black.

Rudy's Sister Laura, was also a very good skater.

 

[concorde]

The Hughes sisters - Sarah and Emily.

Yes - Michelle Kwan has an older sister who also skates.

 

[mrrice]

The Hughes sisters - Sarah and Emily.

Yes - Michelle Kwan has an older sister who also skates.

Yes, Karen. She is also a high level coach who, along with her husband Peter, works with Carolina Zhang and Grant Hochstein.

 

[TGee]

I suspect that since figure skating is an early specialization sport, we may be seeing more of a family effect. That is there is a need for early learning of sport specific skills, and families with some experience with skating are likely to get them skating at younger ages.

In my observation, there are a lot of competitive skaters who are coaches' kids....After all they are the ones who are likely to get put in skates about the time they can walk, and to get a great deal of early ice and coaching time. Paul Islam, Camille Ruest and many others come quickly to mind.

Likewise, there are many kids who skate who had a parent who was a lower level competitive skater in their childhood. These are parents who are likely to take their kids to a club for basic skating at a young age, and encourage figure skating as a potential interest. Elladj Balde is one example.

In terms of siblings, it seems fairly typical for there to be families in every club with two or three children skating up to pre-novice or novice level. While the cost is even more prohibitive, if the kids have the interest it's easier than supporting them in very different sports with conflicting schedules. And part of the sibling effect is that the younger siblings tend to get put into skates earlier. Gabby and Zach Daleman, Liam and Shane Firus, Conrad and Amanda Orzel are some Canadian examples currently competing. And then there are the brother/sister dance and pairs teams....

But I'd like to put another theme out there: Figure skating as therapy....

I've read several bios of elite skaters [e.g. Plushenko] that began to skate as a kind of rehabilitation from some health issues in early childhood. Their parents were advised to find a regular physical activity, and for whatever reason, skating was explored and became a competitive interest.

 

[el henry]

The all American kid, Andrew Torgashev, had parents who competed for the Soviet Union, although I don't know the level or the discipline (dance for one, I think?).

 

[concorde]

Andrew has a younger sister who has skated at the Juv level for the past 2 years.

 

[concorde]

Tatiana Malinia (2x Olympian, GPF Champion and 4C champion) is married to Roman Skorniakov (2x Olympian). Thier son (Ilia) is the reigning US Intermediate champion.

 

[sheetz]

Also at US Nationals Elizaveta Kulik (daughter of Ilia Kulik and Ekaterina Gordeeva) competed in the Junior ladies division, while Maxim Naumov (son of 1994 World pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov) won the Novice men's division.

 

[princessalica]

Amber and Alissa Czisny.

 

[karne]

Well you can't have a thread like this without talking about Australia's famous Dodds brothers! Matthew, Andrew, Jordan and Ryan! Matthew skates pairs (but used to skate singles as well), Andrew is the reigning National bronze medallist (he was silver the year before), Jordan used to do pairs but now just does singles, and Ryan does both Junior Pairs and Senior singles!

And of course the Kerrys - Monica MacDonald, who ice danced for Australia at the Olympics in 1988, and her son Brendan Kerry and daughter Chantelle!

 

[lappo]

Morozov's daughter Annabelle is also a skater. So is (or was?) Marina's son, Fedor Andreev.
In ID there are the Kerr and the Duchesnay (and of course the Shibs and the Parsons nowadays). Interesting thread, though! :agree:

 

[casualfan]

I don't think ice dancer Chris Reed has been mentioned yet. He skated with his sister Cathy. Their sister Allison was also an ice dancer. One of my favorite brother/sister pairs were Johnny and Tiffany Stiegler. We also have singles Michal Brezina and his sister Eliska, and Jorik Hendricks has a sister Loena who had a great showing at the Europeans. I'm sure there's more I can't think of right now.

ETA: Peter and Kitty Carruther, 1984 Olympic silver medalists.

 

[janav]

Jorik Hendrickx's sister Loena skates in singles as well, she finished 7th at the Europeans!