The only skater of his kind who managed to climb twice on the podium of the Olympic Games with two different partners is Arthur Dmitriev.
Childhood and youth
Arthur Dmitriev was born in the city of "White Church" (Kiev region) in 1968 on a frosty night of January 21. Arthur’s childhood passed in the glorious city of Norilsk, where he began to reach out to sports from early childhood. The boy at that time did not engage in such a sport as figure skating. Rather, he was drawn to more rude male passions. He attended sports sections: hockey, judo and some types of wrestling. It was this kind of children's entertainment that led to the fact that Arthur had a pronounced athletic physique, absolutely unusual for those who were in figure skating from the very beginning of playing sports.
The first steps in big sport
Young Arthur Dmitriev began his career on ice as a figure skater as a solo performer in solo skating. At that time, the head coach Fanis Shakirzyanov became the mentor of a lonely skater in children's and youth sports school, under whose leadership Dmitriev honed his skills in performing each of five different triple jumps.
In 1986, Arthur Dmitriev, a lone skater, became a student of Tamara Moskvina already in the framework of the Leningrad school. Then the skater and put in a pair. His first partner was Natalia Mishkutenok.
Arthur Dmitriev. Personal life
Almost all the partners of the famous skater looked at him simply with eyes in love. But Arthur had previously decided for himself that he would seek his wife only outside the rink. Being with the same woman at home and at work was too much for him.
During the training camp for the skaters in Novogorsk, just next door to them were training the national rhythmic gymnastics team of the USSR. It was among the participants of this team that Arthur met his future wife - a graceful gymnast with a sonorous name - Tatyana Drushchinina. The girl at that time was already the world champion in 1987 in the nomination "exercises using tape" and was one of the main contenders for a trip to Seoul, but she was not taken at the very last moment.
A terrible accident forced Tatiana to abandon the career of a gymnast and dancer. Tatyana had an accident, which led to a rupture of the tibial ligament, which put an end to her career.
Tatyana gave birth to Dmitriyev’s son, who was also named Arthur in honor of his father. The son became the true heir to his father. He followed in his footsteps - performed in solo skating. Explaining why he chose this path, the younger Arthur says that he knew how his father was messing with partners and does not want to repeat his mistakes.
The family lived in America for a long time, and when he returned to his homeland, Arthur Dmitriev began coaching, and his wife became a choreographer. Soon, due to Tatiana's jealousy, the couple broke up.
Now the former skater is married for the second time to a woman who has nothing to do with sports. The second wife of Arthur, like the first, is Tatyana, her main activity is accounting. In the second marriage, the skater also had a son, who was named Artem.
Awards
The most distinctive and interesting fact from the career of Arthur Dmitriev can be recognized as the fact that he twice became the Olympic champion in pair skating, but with different partners. In 1992, Arthur Dmitriev and Natalya Mishkutenok with the program "Dream of Love" won all the annual competitions. This program brought athletes four scores of 6.0. The world had not seen anything like this before for 13 years. Well, in 1998, Oksana Kazakova and Arthur Dmitriev most purely skated the program in comparison with their competitors.
Among the skater's awards are two of the most important for him, these are:
- The Order of the Third Degree “For Merit to the Fatherland”, awarded to Arthur on February 27, 1998, which was awarded to the athlete for the highest achievements in sports at the 18th Winter Olympics held that same year.
- The Order of Friendship of Peoples, which was awarded to Arthur on April 22, 1994, also for the highest sports achievements at the 17th Winter Olympics, held the same year.
Sports achivments
In addition to the fact that Arthur, together with partners, managed to become a two-time Olympic champion, his career was marked by many other awards.
In 1994, a couple of Arthur and Natalia became the silver medalist of the winter games, which is also an important achievement for a sports career.
Dmitriev’s first sports achievements with a partner began back in 1987, when the couple won not the prize but the 4th place in the tournament of the region, which they won the next year. The next victory in pair skating was at the World Universiade, and the skaters took second place in the championship within the USSR.
Arthur's debut on the ice of the European Championship took place in 1988, but the world championship became achievable for the couple only in 1990 due to the fact that in those years a high degree of competition was observed in the Soviet figure skating school. In that year, the couple received silver (for a free program) and bronze (for a freestyle), although this program was filled with complex elements.
After that, the couple reached a professional level and in 1992 won the tournament under the name "US Ope". In the tournament among professionals “Challenge of Champions” they took only third place.
Skating Partners
We can say that almost a happy ticket for the young figure skater Natalya Mishkutenok was moving to the beautiful city, which was then called Leningrad, in a group to the wonderful coach Tamara Moskovina. It was this significant move that connected her career with Arthur Dmitriev, paired with whom a resident of Minsk managed to get the first gold for Belarus. Her homeland to this day marks this victory as the only one. According to Dmitriev himself, at that time the coach gave him the opportunity to choose a partner himself, of the two proposed options, he chose Natalya. He admits that he saw in her preparedness and desire for victory.
The skater himself, comparing his two brilliant partners, says that Natalia was very capable, somewhat soft in character and flexible in body. From it it was possible, as from clay, to create and sculpt something. But to all the pluses she had a minus in the form of low artistry, as Arthur Dmitriev says. The partner's figure skating was dull and inexpressive in performance, which had to be smoothed out, replacing this with choreography and special programs.
About his second partner Oksana Kozakova, the athlete responds in a completely different way, he talks about her brightness, pressure and aggression, but the minus was the lack of the same plasticity that Natalya had in excess. Oksana needed to soften, slow down her pace a little.
Interesting
An interesting fact is the almost unique event that occurred with the skater right at the competition in Europe. During the short program, Arthur made a mistake during the support of his partner, after which this rare, but unique incident happened. A judge from the Czech Republic made a mistake and instead of evaluations of 5.4 / 5.7 introduced 4.4 / 4.7 into the assessment system, which were displayed on the scoreboard. Even despite all the requests and pleas to correct the mistake, the ISU responded with a ban. This led to the fact that the couple took fifth place in the short program, but in the free program - the second position, which allowed to get the third place in the end.
Also, as an interesting fact from an athlete’s career, it is worth highlighting that he uniquely performs a descent of a partner with throwing her over her back. This complex support is called its proprietary.
The smoothie of many athletes is Arthur Dmitriev. The skater linked his whole life with the skating rink and his partners, but he never allowed himself to build relationships on skates.
Passion and hobbies
Of course,
figure skating is Arthur's main passion and
life credo . Even today, despite the fact that he has sunk a little, he has not parted with skates since the moment when he was married and returned to his homeland and became a consultant coach for Russian national teams. In addition, Dmitriev is engaged in healthy criticism of pair skating in the Figure Skating Federation. And, of course, still have not managed to part with his trainer T.N. Moskovina, who is now helping to train young talents. In addition, Arthur Dmitriev takes part in the choreographic staging of programs, and was even noticed in the creation of costumes for skaters.
In addition, Arthur Dmitriev appears on ice in the television projects "Dancing on Ice", "Dancing on Ice. Velvet Season ”and even in such a TV show as“ King of the Ring –2 ”in 2008. Thus, the famous athlete today does not see either life or free time far from the rink.