Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev (Russian: Олег Кимович Васильев; born 22 November 1959) is a Russian former pair skater who competed internationally for the Soviet Union. With his then-wife Elena Valova, he is the 1984 Olympic champion, 1988 Olympic silver medalist, and three-time World Champion (1983, 1985, 1988). Their coach throughout their career was Tamara Moskvina. After retiring from competition, Vasiliev became a coach, leading the pair of Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin to the 2006 Olympic title.
| Oleg Vasiliev | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Valova and Vasiliev in 1987 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 22 November 1959 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] – 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Soviet Union Russia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal life
editVasiliev was born in Leningrad (modern-day Saint Petersburg), Russian SFSR, to parents Ludmila Konstantinovna Vasilieva, a nurse, and Kim Mikhailovich Vasiliev. He graduated from the Institute for Physical Culture in Saint Petersburg.[3]
Vasiliev moved to Chicago, Illinois in December 1997.[3][2] He was married to Valova from 1984 to 1992.[1] He later married a Saint Petersburg resident named Valentina (divorced in 2000), with whom he has a daughter, Katia.[4][2] His first daughter was born circa 1994.[5]
Around 2013, Vasiliev married his third wife, Natalia,[5] who is from Moscow.[6] As of August 2016, the couple lives in Moscow with their daughter Varvara (born circa 2014).[5]
Career
editCompetitive career
edit
Vasiliev's parents decided to introduce him to skating when he was five because he had had pneumonia several times as a child and his doctor recommended an outdoor activity.[3][2] As a single skater, Vasiliev won a Junior national title.
Coach Tamara Moskvina invited Vasiliev to switch to pair skating several times before he agreed, at age 18.[3][2] Initially, he was physically ill-suited for the discipline and had much work to develop his muscles.[2] He and his first partner, Larisa Selezneva, argued incessantly and split after three months.[2] Moskvina then paired him with Elena Valova, with whom he continued to train in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg).[3][2]
Valova/Vasiliev's breakthrough came in the 1982–83 season. They won bronze at the Prize of Moscow News, gold at the 1982 Skate America, and then silver at the 1983 European Championships. The pair concluded their season by winning their first World title. They missed the 1983 national championships due to Vasiliev's broken jaw.[2]
In 1984, Valova/Vasiliev won their first European title and then took gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The deaths of several Soviet government officials, including one during the Olympics, cast a pall over the Soviet team and the athletes were told not to show too much joy.[2] The pair took silver at their final event of the season, the 1984 World Championships.
In 1985, the pair won gold at both the European and World Championships but 1986 saw the emergence of the young Moscow pair Ekaterina Gordeeva / Sergei Grinkov. Although Valova/Vasiliev were awarded gold at the 1986 Europeans, they finished second to the Muscovites at both the 1986 and 1987 Worlds.
In their final amateur season, Valova/Vasiliev took silver at the 1988 Winter Olympics behind Gordeeva/Grinkov but then prevailed over the reigning Olympic champions at the 1988 World Championships. After winning their third World title, Valova/Vasiliev retired from ISU competition. After performing for a year in Igor Bobrin's ice theatre, they signed a U.S. contract – the first Soviets to do so without losing their citizenship.[2] The pair performed together in various shows and events until the end of 1997.[3][2]
Vasiliev was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.[7]
Coaching career
edit
Vasiliev initially had no interest in coaching but changed his mind.[2] He coached one season for the Latvian federation and then about two years for the French federation near Paris.[2] Since 1998, Vasiliev has coached in Chicago and Saint Petersburg.[2] During his time in the United States, he worked at the Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge, Illinois.[8] He has coached the following skaters:
- Vera Bazarova / Andrei Deputat: From April 2014[9] to 2016.
- Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin:[3] From January 2001 to March 2006. (2006 Olympic champions and two-time World champions)
- Maria Mukhortova / Maxim Trankov: From December 2006 to March 2010. (2008 European silver medalists)
- Viktoria Volchkova: From spring 2002 to mid-2003. (2002 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist)
- Fumie Suguri: From autumn 2004 to 2005.
- Katarina Gerboldt / Alexander Enbert: From May 2013 to April 2014.[2][10]
- Ivan Righini
- Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise
Television
editHe appeared in the sixth season of ice show contest Ice Age.
Programs
edit(with Valova)
1979–1988
edit| Season | Short program[11][12] | Free skating[11][12] | Exhibition[11][12] |
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| 1987–88 |
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| 1986–87 | Georgian folk: |
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| 1985–86 |
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| 1984–85 |
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| 1983–84 |
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| 1982–83 |
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| 1981–82 | |||
| 1980–81 |
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| 1979–80 |
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1989–1997
edit| Programs [11][12] |
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Results
editAmateur career with Valova
edit| International[1][13] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 79–80 | 80–81 | 81–82 | 82–83 | 83–84 | 84–85 | 85–86 | 86–87 | 87–88 |
| Winter Olympics | 1st | 2nd | |||||||
| World Champ. | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | |||
| European Champ. | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | ||||
| Skate America | 3rd | 1st | |||||||
| NHK Trophy | 1st | ||||||||
| Nebelhorn Trophy | 1st | ||||||||
| Moscow News | 6th | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | ||||
| St. Gervais | 2nd | ||||||||
| National[14][15] | |||||||||
| Soviet Champ. | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | ||||||
Professional career with Valova
edit| Event | 89–90 | 90–91 | 91–92 | 92–93 | 93–94 | 94–95 | 97–98 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Professional Champ. | 2nd | 4th | 4th | 4th | 3rd | ||
| World Challenge of Champions | 2nd | 5th | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | ||
| US Open | 5th | 2nd | 5th | ||||
| Masters Miko | 3rd | ||||||
| Canadian Professional Champ. | 4th | ||||||
| Legends | 2nd |
References
edit- ^ a b c "Oleg Vasilyev". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Simonenko, Andrei (5 July 2013). Олег Васильев: каждый мой шаг в жизни – против движения [Oleg Vasiliev: I was always going against the flow]. rsport.ru (in Russian).
- ^ a b c d e f g Mittan, Barry (22 February 2004). "Vasiliev Guides Top Russian Pairs". Golden Skate.
- ^ Yazeva, Elena (25 November 2009). Я тренировал психически больного человека! (in Russian). mk-piter.ru. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ^ a b c Elfman, Lois (11 August 2016). "Vasiliev happy to be living, coaching back in Russia". IceNetwork.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
- ^ Lisovsky, Artem (23 March 2014). Олег Васильев: Петербург может потерять парное фигурное катание [Oleg Vasiliev: Saint Petersburg may lose pair skating]. fontanka.ru (in Russian).
- ^ Panorama of the 1984 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1985. p. 37.
- ^ Geroulis, Dean (13 February 2002). "Skaters' success pumps up rink's Olympic pedigree". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Simonenko, Andrei (9 April 2014). Олег Васильев: Базарова хоть сейчас готова снова кататься на Олимпийских играх [Oleg Vasiliev: Bazarova even now is ready to compete at the Olympics]. R-Sport (in Russian).
- ^ Vaytsekhovskaya, Elena (30 April 2014). Энберт ушел от Гербольд и Васильева к Даванковой и Мозер [Enbert left Gerboldt and Vasiliev for Davankova and Mozer]. Sport Express (in Russian).
- ^ a b c d "Programs". valova-vasiliev.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b c d Программы (in Russian). valova-vasiliev.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Elena Valova & Oleg Vassiliev". Pairs On Ice. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Васильев Олег Кимович [Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev]. fskate.ru (in Russian).
- ^ Васильев Олег Кимович [Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev]. solovieff.ru (in Russian).
External links
edit
Media related to Oleg Vassiliev at Wikimedia Commons
- Valova-vasiliev.com at the Wayback Machine (archive index)