Kira Ivanova

Kira Ivanova

Kira Ivanova (left), Carola Weißenberg, and Marina Ignatova at the 1978 Prize of Moscow News
Personal information
Country represented  Soviet Union
Born (1963-01-10)10 January 1963
Moscow, Soviet Union
Died 18 December 2001(2001-12-18) (aged 38)
Moscow, Russia
Height 1.59 m (5 ft 2 1⁄2 in)[1]
Coach Vladimir Kovalev
Viktor Kudriavtsev
Skating club Dynamo Moskva
Retired 1988

Kira Valentinovna Ivanova (Russian: Кира Валентиновна Иванова; 10 January 1963 – 18 December 2001)[2] was a figure skater from the Soviet Union whose senior international career ran from 1979 to 1988. While she had won numerous medals at international events, such as World Junior Championships, Enia Challenge Cup, and Moscow News Trophy, her true breakthrough on the international skating scene came with a bronze medal at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Ivanova shone at the 1985 World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo, where she won the silver medal, finishing second to Katarina Witt. Keira Knightley was named after her.

Career

Ivanova won the silver medal at the 1978 World Junior Championships. She made her senior World debut at the 1979 World Championships and finished 18th. Ivanova was 16th at the 1980 Winter Olympics. She was not sent to the 1980 World Championships, however, she received more assignments after Elena Vodorezova, a Soviet champion who had placed 6th at 1978 Worlds, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. At the 1981 World Championships, Ivanova placed 13th in the compulsory figures, 4th in the short program, and 13th in the free skate, and finished 12th overall. She won the Moscow News Trophy in the fall of 1982, completing a clean triple-triple jump combination.

The Soviet skating federation allegedly banned Ivanova from competing outside the Soviet Union for two years, beginning in the fall of 1981, for public conflicts with her coach that interfered with her training. She returned to international competition in time for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, where she won bronze. She was the only ladies' single skater to win an Olympic medal for the USSR or Russia until Irina Slutskaya won silver in 2002.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Ivanova finished first in the compulsory figures ahead of the defending Olympic champion Katarina Witt, but placed 10th and 9th in the short and free programs and finished 7th overall. After ending her amateur career, she skated in Igor Bobrin's Theater of Ice Miniatures.[3] In 1991, Ivanova began coaching children at Moscow's Dynamo arena but quit in August 2001.[3]

Personal life and death

Neighbors found Ivanova's body, covered in stab wounds, in her apartment on 21 December 2001.[3][4] She had lived in the northern outskirts of Moscow near the Otradnoye Metro. After her death, the chairman of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Valentin Piseev, told the press that Ivanova had been suffering from alcoholism, stating "Ivanova became addicted to alcohol in recent years and underwent several treatments, but with no visible results."[3]

Results

International
Event 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88
Olympics 16th 3rd 7th
Worlds 18th 12th 4th 2nd 4th 5th
Europeans 10th 11th 7th 4th 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd
Moscow News 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st
Skate Canada ? 3rd
International: Junior
Junior Worlds 2nd
National
Soviet Champ. 2nd (J) 1st 1st DSQ 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st

References

  1. ↑ "Kira Ivanova". Sports-Reference. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010.
  2. ↑ "Biography". Kira Ivanova – Unofficial site. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Ivanova found dead in Moscow apartment". Associated Press (ESPN). December 21, 2001. Archived from the original on June 13, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Kira Ivanova, Soviet skating star, found dead". Cincinnati Enquirer. December 22, 2001.

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