"Red Machine" - this is how the practically invincible USSR national ice hockey team was called in the 70-80s of the last century. But the figure skating team of the Soviet Union was also out of competition in those years. Moreover, unlike the hockey players of the now Russian national team, it did not give up its positions after 1992. Indeed, at six post-Soviet Olympic tournaments, including Sochi-2014, Russian figure skaters won 26 medals of various denominations - more than anyone else in the world.
From Rodnina to Lipnitskaya
After the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of Russian sports, the skaters did not roll back from their leading positions in the world, the best personnel did not lose. On the contrary, they continued to win one tournament after another, including the Olympic ones. This happened largely because the ministry of sports and the figure skating federation of the country managed to preserve most of the children's and youth schools that were still leading in the USSR, the enrollment in which obviously did not decrease in Russian times. The popularity of the sport has not declined either. And thanks to a variety of ice, including television shows, it even increased. And the departure of several leading trainers abroad had practically no effect on the quality of the work of those who remained and the appearance of new specialists.
As a result, the stellar veterans were quickly replaced by a new, already Russian generation of talented skaters, which continued their glorious history of victories. Instead of Lyudmila Belousova, Irina Rodnina and Marina Klimova, Elena Berezhnaya, Irina Lobacheva, Yulia Lipnitskaya and many others became idols of the fans. Therefore, there is nothing unexpected in the fact that Russia has not lost its leading position in world figure skating, no. After all, there was no recession and, accordingly, no return. She simply took over from the USSR and rolled on the ice further, hardly noticing competitors.
Russian pedestal
To illustrate all of the above, it is enough to look at the statistics of the performances of Russian figure skaters at all Games, starting with the first for the country in Lillehammer-94 and ending with the triumphant Sochi-2014. So, at six Olympic tournaments held over 20 years, they won 26 medals. Including 14 gold, nine silver and three bronze. And at four Olympics - 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2014 - they repeated the total result of the Games-92, winning five awards each, including three gold ones. The only failure, and even then relative, in comparison with previous achievements, can be considered only a performance at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where the Russians had only two medals and not a single gold one.
The subsequent triumph in Sochi, where eleven Russian figure skaters ascended to the Olympic podium at once, and most of them twice, can be considered a kind of satisfaction for the defeat in Vancouver and an indicator of the true strength of the Russian school. It is especially worth highlighting the performance in Sochi of young Adelina Sotnikova, who managed to do what neither her famous predecessors from the USSR national team Elena Vodorezova and Kira Ivanova, nor the former stars of the Russian figure skating world champion Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya could accomplish. Namely - to become the country's first Olympic champion in women's single skating.
Figures of Panin-Kolomenkin
Speaking about the achievements and leadership of modern Russian figure skating, one cannot but recall its origins. The debut of the Russians on the world ice, and quite successful, took place not at the time of the performances of Tatyana Navka and Evgeny Plushenko, but at the end of the nineteenth century. At the tournament in St. Petersburg, held in 1890 and dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the skating rink in the Yusupov Garden, the first place, having won all types of the program, was taken by an athlete from the local skating society Alexei Lebedev. Considering the skill of the participants, this tournament can be considered even an unofficial world championship. Indeed, among those whom Lebedev was ahead of were all the strongest skaters in Europe and America at that time.
A little later, Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin, who quickly became famous, began to represent Russia at major international competitions. In 1903, the Russian took second place at the already official world championship in drawing intricate figures on ice, which was already held in St. Petersburg. And five years later, the five-time Russian figure skating champion Panin-Kolomenkin won an Olympic gold medal at the London skating rink.
