Kira Ivanova is an international master of sports, a Soviet figure skater. Bronze medalist of the 1984 Olympic Games in singles skating, silver medalist at the World Championship, 4-time silver medalist at the European Championships, champion of the USSR in 1979 and 1981.
Kira Valentinovna Ivanova was the first Russian figure skater to win a medal in women's single skating at the Sarajevo Olympic Games. The famous Russian figure skater was awarded the title of vice-champion in her sport.
Carier start
The biography of the future athlete began in 1963. The girl was born in a metropolitan family on January 10. The grandmother was engaged in raising the granddaughter and her younger sister. Together with five-year-old Kira, she went to the Spartak sports club. Irina Anikanova became her coach.
The mentor appreciated both the child's perseverance and diligence. The girl entered the special group for figure skaters. In 1978 Ivanova passed to the famous coach Viktor Nikolaevich Kudryavtsev. The first serious performance for the future champion was the competition of the Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in the same year.
Among juniors, the girl took second place. At the same time, at the world championship in Megeve in the junior category, the program performed by Ivanova received high marks from the judges. The athlete won silver, losing to Jill Sawyer. At the world tournament, such a success of Soviet figure skaters was the first.
The girl began to take part in various competitions. In the free program at Skate Canada, she brilliantly performed two triple jumps, attempting to perform a double axel. The now famous mentor Elena Tchaikovskaya took an active part in the preparation of the skater.
At the adult level, the first successes began in 1979. Kira won gold at the national championship. The triumph became the reason for enrollment in the USSR national team. In her first adult European championship, the athlete got tenth place. I was amazed by the novice athlete with a pair of triple jumps in an arbitrary performance at the world tournament. Above 18 places did not allow the girl to climb mistakes in other elements.
Success
In 1980, Kira took part in her first Olympic Games. The start of a career in Lake Placid was unsuccessful. Excited after the brilliant performance of three triple jumps, the skater made mistakes in simpler techniques. As a result, Kira was unable to climb the podium.
But the athlete was the only one to represent the SSR in women's single skating, out of 22 participants becoming 16. After the USSR championship won in Odessa, Ivanova again became the best in the country. Then the girl would have performed brilliantly at the international championship. In the short program, both the axel and the double rittberger were impeccably performed.
The athlete won silver in the already familiar Skate Canada tournament. In the free program, the skater amazed the audience with the purity of her triple rittberger performance and four triple jumps. In intensive training, the girl was helped by both the choreographers of the Bolshoi Theater and the famous Alexander Zaitsev, two-time Olympic champion.
Significant changes began in 1982. Kira moved from Spartak to Dynamo. She began training with Vladimir Kovalev. The girl confidently won in Krasnoyarsk at the Fifth Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. The scandal began after the failure to pass the doping control.
The winner was stripped of the award and expelled from the national team. Returning to professional sports took place in 1983. Kira won the USSR Cup a year before the Olympics, triumphantly performed at the qualifying competitions.
New achievements
In 1984 Ivanova went to the second Olympic Games. Kovalev was replaced by the honored coach of the RSFSR Eduard Pliner. The girl received high marks from the judges after the compulsory program. In the free program, she performed a cascade of triple sheepskin coats.
Failed to flawlessly perform in the final performance a technically difficult set of five triple jumps in a row. However, the panel of judges appreciated the efforts of the athlete, giving her third place. The medal became the first Olympic medal in the history of women's single skating in the country.
After the triumph, Ivanova participated as one of the favorites in new tournaments. One of the most successful in his career was the 1984-1985 season. It began with failure. Kira failed to win the national championship. She lost the gold medal to Anna Kondrashova.
However, the skater was intensively preparing for the international championship. The place in the national team was secured by the "silver" in the allied championship. The athlete went to the European Championship in Gothenburg. The judges were captivated by Kira's performance. Only Katharina Witt managed to get ahead of her. It was not possible to defeat The Princess on Ice in Tokyo either.
The result of the struggle was again the "silver". However, this was the undoubted success of the skater. She became one of the strongest on the planet. Ivanova was able to maintain the title for several years. Kira became the winner of many competitions from 1985 to 1988. In Copenhagen 1986 she again took the second step of the podium, losing to Witt. The same situation was repeated in Sarajevo in 1987, in Prague in 1988.
For her third Olympics, the girl went in 1988 to the Canadian city of Calgary. She performed confidently, ahead of competitors. The skater failed to perform a single triple jump in the final program.
Completion of a career
The result was only seventh place. But even this did not stop Kira from winning the title of the best in single skating in Calgary. After the performance, it was decided to end his sports career. Ivanova began acting in films, performing at Igor Bobrin's "Theater of Ice Miniatures".
The athlete took part in two documentaries. She starred with Igor Grigoriev in the 1974 film "Two on Ice" and in Lyudmila Tuseeva's project "Where the Champions Go" in 1982. She began working as a coach at Dynamo.
There were many difficulties in the athlete's personal life. Her first choice was a dancer of the Bolshoi Theater. The marriage turned out, although bright, but short-lived.
The husband and wife managed to maintain friendly relations after parting. The second spouse was the deputy director of the ice ballet of the capital. After many troubles, this union also fell apart.
After parting with the ice ballet, the champion also left the post of coach at Dynamo. Kira Ivanova passed away in 2001, on December 18.
