Yuko Kawaguchi/Alexander Smirnov

[whisper]

http://www.artonice.it/files/images/picture_0.jpg
Yuko Kawaguchi (Japanese: 川口悠子) (born November 20, 1981 in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese pair skater, who has represented Japan, the USA, and Russia in international competition. She currently competes with Alexander Smirnov, representing Russia. They are the 2008 Russian Champions and European bronze medalists.
More:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuko_Kawaguchi

Alexander Smirnov (Russian: Александр Смирнов) is a Russian pair skater. Smirnov teamed up with Yuko Kawaguchi in the spring of 2006. They are the 2008 Russian Champions and European bronze medalists.

He previously competed with Alexandra Danilova and Ekaterina Vasileva. Vasileva & Smirnov placed sixth at the 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
More:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Smirnov

[florik2000]

se vede ca sunt antrenati de Moskvina,mi-au placut mult...pacat de ratarea de la 3T ,ar fi avut sanse sigure la podium poate chiar la argint.sper ca anul viitor sa fie unul mult mai bun pt ei

[madalina18]

as fi vrut sa ii vad pe podium....pacat k au fost doar pe 4!
si imi place mult de ea.....e ca o papusica!

[Anisia]

Imi pare foarte rau ca n-au luat bronzul, mai ales ca a facut si cvadrupla

[rocs_a]

da, pacat de cvadrupla lor. erau hotarati bine sa ia un loc pe podium, s-a vazut pe fata lor supararea, cand au vazut notele. ea saraca park mai avea un pic si plangea, era ca un catelus dragalas. le tin pumnii pe viitor, la olimpiada cred k vor face o figura frumoasa

[madalina18]

si eu cred k vor face o figura frumoasa la olimpiada......Go Russia!

[florik2000]

din pacate nu cred ca vor putea spera la mai mult de locul 3

[rocs_a]

florik2000
din pacate nu cred ca vor putea spera la mai mult de locul 3

de ce? mai e si competitia din 2009. au timp sa devina mai buni.

[florik2000]

da..dar olimpiada e acasa la canadieni,iar la programe egale ca valoare

[madalina18]

inca o data m-am convins la gala ca ar fi meritat o medalie!

[rocs_a]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJRqo...eature=related
Plushy n-a ratat campionatele anului asta desi a luat pauza de a concura. si o incurajeaza pe yuko: "kawaguci maladetz"

[florik2000]

Yuko Kawaguchi's biography would actually be enough for three skaters. She first competed as a single skater for Japan at the international junior level before teaming up with Russian skater Alexander Markuntsov. Kawaguchi and Markuntsov represented Japan and won silver at the 2001 Junior World Figure Skating Championships. They were the first Japanese pair team to ever medal at an ISU championships.

After their partnership dissolved in 2003, coach Tamara Moskvina returned to her home in St. Petersburg, Russia to teach and Kawaguchi followed behind. She teamed up with two American skaters for a brief stint and was eventually paired up with Alexander Smirnov during the spring of last year. Full of determination and ambition, it is not surprising that the new team saw success quickly.

Kawaguchi and Smirnov were selected to compete at the 2006 Cup of Russia where they captured the bronze medal. They seemed poised for a medal at Russian Nationals, but suffered a setback when Kawaguchi broke her ankle on Christmas while practicing a throw triple loop. The team also missed Europeans due to the injury, but later earned a berth to Worlds and were healthy enough to compete.

"I wanted to compete at Worlds so much and travel home, to Japan!" Kawaguchi recalled. "Worlds were in Tokyo, close to my home, and I wanted to be there, no matter what."

Kawaguchi became the first foreigner to represent Russia for figure skating at a World Championship. The couple surprised everyone with a fourth place finish after the short program which included many level four elements.

"I was very pleased with our personal best score that night," recalled Kawaguchi, adding that she was proud to have been able to represent Russia. Smirnov agreed. "Our presentation was good that night and the audience was great."

Going into the free skate, the team suddenly found themselves in the last warm up group. Smirnov had never even competed at a European or World championship before. The biggest event he had gone to was Junior Worlds in 2006.

"I have very positive impressions from Worlds," said Smirnov, "and the strongest one was obviously to skate in the last warm up group and to perform right after Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao. It was hard to skate after them, but we tried our best. Actually we were not ready yet mentally for skating in the last warm up group."

The couple made a few mistakes and finished in 9th place overall, but was still the top ranked Russian pair team. Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, who were 11th after the short, withdrew due to injury. Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov were 11th overall.

"It was amazing," said Kawaguchi of their first Worlds experience. "We learned a lot there."

Kawaguchi, Smirnov, and Moskvina are hoping for better results this season and have worked hard for it all summer while training in St. Petersburg. "Our goals are to make the Grand Prix Final, to fight for first or second place at Europeans, and to fight for a spot on the podium at Worlds," Kawaguchi summarized.

They kicked their season off at a national competition in Samara at the end of September and won, but there was not much competition there. They are currently slated to compete at Coupe de Nice later this week, and then are scheduled for Skate Canada and Cup of Russia.

With the help Russian-born former U.S. Ice Dancing Champion Peter Tchernyshev, Moskvina and her skaters have put together a new free program to music from the Love Story soundtrack. Moskvina expects the Canadian press to 'jump' at them as the music was made famous by Canadian sweethearts Jamie Sale and David Pelletier - rivals of her students Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikhuralidze. Most will recall that both teams ended up with an Olympic gold medal at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City when a judging scandal erupted.

Kawaguchi and Smirnov also got a new short program to a Greek Sirtaki, but felt it wouldn't work and have decided to stay with last year's Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saens.

But how did a Japanese girl end up in St. Petersburg skating with a Russian partner for Russia? This story started almost ten years ago in Japan, when Kawaguchi watched the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. She was fascinated by pair skating.

"I wanted to skate like Elena Berezhnaya," Kawaguchi said later. Never being half-hearted about what she wants to do, the then 16-year-old decided she needed to train with the same coach as Berezhnaya in order to achieve her goals and sent a fax to Moskvina. The prominent coach wasn't too excited at first as her hands were already full, but Kawaguchi persisted. She participated in Moskvina's training camps and kept asking for a partner.

Finally, Moskvina suggested Russian Alexander Markuntsov. They teamed up in March 1999 and competed for Japan. Exactly two years later, the young couple took the silver medal at Junior Worlds in Bulgaria. They continued at the senior level, but their results weren't as good. In 2003, they split up and Markuntsov went on to perform at a skating show and Kawaguchi followed Moskvina to Russia.

There, they found found a new partner for her, American Josh Martin. In May of 2004, Martin was hit by a car while rollerblading to a training session in St. Petersburg, suffering cuts to the legs and a broken elbow. He later decided to return home to the U.S.

Kawaguchi's next partner, Devin Patrick, was an American as well.

"He taught me the quad throw (Salchow)," Kawaguchi explained. "He did really good throws, but some of the other elements didn't work as well."

The team competed at the 2006 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships where they finished 15th, and split up shortly afterwards.

"Life in Russia was hard for Devin," recalled Kawaguchi. "He wanted to live in the U.S., but I didn't want to leave Tamara Nikolaevna (Moskvina). I just couldn't give up my studies, leave my coach, and go to America."

So Kawaguchi stayed in St. Petersburg, and once again, began looking for a new partner. Thoughts that her skating career was over were constantly in her head.

"When it didn't work out with Devin, I thought that continuing didn't make sense," the 25-year-old explained. "However, I had to finish my studies at the university (in St. Petersburg), and I couldn't just go home. How could I have stopped skating and studying? I would have returned home (to Japan) with empty hands. If it doesn't work out with my skating career, I had to at least finish my studies."

The pair skating coaches in St. Petersburg then suggested that Kawaguchi should try out with Smirnov. He had just split up with partner Ekaterina Vassileva after finishing 6th at Junior Worlds in March 2006.

"The try-out didn't feel special," Kawaguchi admitted. "Until then, I always thought that I needed a partner with a certain height, a certain character, and certain abilities. Tamara Nikolaevna works at a very high level and has high demands. But then I didn't have much of a choice after Devin. So I told myself that I can skate with anybody and I didn't really judge Sasha (Smirnov) and his skating."

Smirnov was also skeptical at first. "I had mixed feelings," the 23-year-old confessed. "We were able to do some difficult elements right away, like triples, but we felt really uncomfortable with some of the other elements. My biggest concern was that the girl wasn't Russian."

Although Kawaguchi speaks fluent Russian by now and successfully finished her studies in "International Relationships" this summer in St. Petersburg, there is still a cultural barrier. "The mentality is different," Smirnov acknowledged. "She is very modest and secretive. She doesn't just come and give you the news. Even when she passed her exams successfully, she didn't come and tell me about it. Maybe it's just modesty, but maybe this is the mentality of Japanese girls."

Kawaguchi on the other hand, feels the language barrier. "I am not such a quiet person. Sasha thinks that I am, but that's not true. I just can't talk the way I'd like to!" Kawaguchi pointed out. "Sasha is joking a lot and I don't understand all of these jokes."

Nevertheless, they get along well and support each other, but they are not a couple off the ice.

The ambitious team wants to include the quad throw Salchow in their free program, and Kawaguchi is not afraid at all of this high risk element - despite taking a lot of falls in practice. Smirnov is impressed by her working ethics.

"I don't want to say anything bad about my previous partners, but in comparison to her, they were much weaker," stated Smirnov. "Usually you have to push our Russian girls in practice, but here it's the opposite. Sometimes I am tired and she is pushing me," he laughed.

For both, studying plays an important role. After finishing her studies with the university this June, Kawaguchi is now thinking of studying another language. Smirnov finished his studies of "municipality management" in November 2006 and started to study at a sports university this year.

"Actually I am not so fond of studying and I prefer physical work to intellectual work," admitted Smirnov. "But if I want to continue working in the sphere of figure skating and if I want to be able to work at a higher position, which is possible thanks to my first diploma, I'll need to have an education in sport theory as well."

Kawaguchi and Smirnov are one of the hopes of the Russian Skating Federation. Russian skating is far from previous success and glory since the stars of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games retired. For the first time in decades, Russia didn't win a single medal at the 2006 World Championships.

Pair skating, which was once the stronghold of Russians, is in disarray. Currently there are only two competitive senior pair teams left – Kawaguchi and Smirnov and Mukhortova and Trankov. The other teams have retired, split up, and/or are taking a break or are not eligible to represent Russia in international competition.

Currently, the Japanese-Russian duo is not eligible to compete at the Olympic Winter Games as Kawaguchi would first need to obtain Russian citizenship. It will be a tough decision to make for the athlete as she has to renounce her Japanese citizenship. Japan does not tolerate double citizenship.

"Before, I didn't think so much about Olympic Games. It was enough for me to be able to compete at Worlds," Kawaguchi said. "If Sasha and I are having good results maybe I'll do it. The Olympics is something you get to participate in once or twice in your life. The Japanese authorities told me that I can reapply for Japanese citizenship after giving it up, but only after ten years. The laws are very strict. If I have Russian citizenship, I'll need a visa in order to travel home. My parents will have to send me an invitation."

Understandably, Kawaguchi doesn't like this prospect. On the other hand however, she has already gone far to pursue her dream of becoming a great pair skater. Time will only tell.

[florik2000]

About one hundred years ago, Japan and Russia were at war. Now they are at peace and two of their athletes have joined hands to compete in pairs figure skating. They are 26-year-old Yuko Kawaguchi, who was born in Aichi, Japan and 23-year-old Alexander Smirnov, who is from Tver in Russia. This is not the first Japanese-Russian team to compete in pairs, but this is the first such team to compete for Russia.

The couple, who have been together since May 2006, won the Coupe de Nice in both 2006 and 2007 and took the bronze medal at the Cup of Russia in both of those years as well as a bronze at Skate Canada in 2007.

Their goals for the 2007-08 season were to make the Grand Prix Final, win first or second place at Europeans, and to fight for a spot on the podium at Worlds. They placed fifth at the ISU Grand Prix Final and won the bronze medal at Europeans. They were fourth at the World Championships in 2008, up from ninth in 2007.

But their careers almost ended on Christmas in 2006. That's when Kawaguchi fell on a throw triple loop and broke her ankle, requiring surgery to repair the damage. The couple missed Russian Nationals and Europeans, but Kawaguchi was healthy enough to compete at the World Championships in her native country. That made her the first foreigner to compete for Russia at Worlds. "I wanted to compete at Worlds no matter what," Kawaguchi said. "It was so close to my home."

But they may not compete at the 2010 Olympic Games in Canada. "I'm still deciding about my citizenship," Kawaguchi said, "but I want to go to the Olympics. You only have that chance once or twice. Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship. If I give up my Japanese citizenship, I can't get it back for ten years and I'll need a visa to go home and see my parents."

Smirnov began skating when he was three years old. "My parents wanted me to skate," he said. "I landed a triple toe loop when I was 15, but when I was 16, I was getting taller and taller and it became more and more difficult to jump, so I started doing pairs." Smirnov previously competed with Alexandra Danilova and Ekaterina Vasileva, reaching sixth at World Juniors in 2006.

Kawaguchi has now competed in pairs for three countries. With Russia's Alexander Markhuntsov, she placed second at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2001, 13th at the World Figure Skating Championships in 2002, and seventh at the Four Continents Championships in 2003, competing for Japan, where she won three national senior pairs titles.

After she split with Markhuntsov in 2003, American Josh Martin came to Russia to skate with her. But he was injured when he was hit by a car while rollerblading to practice and decided to return home to the U.S. in mid-2004. She then competed with Devin Patrick, who taught her the throw quadruple salchow, finishing 15th at U. S. Nationals in 2006. But then they split because he wanted to return to the U.S. and she wanted to stay in Russia.

Kawaguchi started to skate when she was five. "My mother loved ice dancing so she wanted me to learn to skate," she said. She competed for Japan in ladies through the 1998-99 season with her best finish a gold medal at the 1998 Mexico Cup. But after seeing Elena Berezhnaia and Anton Sikharulidze at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, she fell in love with pairs and wanted to skate like Berezhnaia.

So she contacted their coach, Tamara Moskvina, and asked her to teach her. She went to Moskvina's summer camps and kept asking to do pairs until Moskvina agreed to take her on as a student and paired her with Markhuntsov.

Moskvina coaches the couple in St. Petersburg, Russia. They train on the ice for three hours a day, six days a week and do two more hours a day off ice. But when they started skating together, they worked with Nikolai Velikov.

"We both split from our other partners at the same time and we had always practiced together, so we got together," Kawaguchi said. "First, I went to his group for three or four months, but then we went back to Tamara because I felt more comfortable after working with her for years."

"We didn't have any good boys in our group and I wanted the best for Yuka," Moskvina added. "I liked the way she worked with us for eight years. So I let her go with Velikov and I appreciate what he did for them."

Both of the skaters had doubts at the beginning because their first tryout was nothing special. Smirnov was concerned that Kawaguchi wasn't Russian and seemed too quiet and reserved, while she had doubts about his character and abilities, but they came to understand one another. Her work ethic especially pleased Smirnov, who said, "If I'm tired, she is always pushing me."

Druchinina and Peter Tchernyshev choreographed their programs for 2007-08. That included "Rondo Capriccioso" by Camille Saint Saens for their short program, which is the same as in 2006-07, and music from the "Love Story" soundtrack by Francis Lai for their new long. They skated their exhibition programs to "Sirtaki", the first short program that they tried for 2007-08.

"Tamara picks all the music," Kawaguchi said. "Peter comes to Russia and does the programs and then Tatiana edits them. "They had a short program from their old coach, but I went back to get an old program that suited them better," Moskvina said. "I've liked 'Love Story' for many years, but it was taken for the 2002 Olympics. It suits them very well."

Major elements in the couple's short program included side-by-side triple toe loops and a throw triple loop. Their long program includes a throw quadruple salchow and throw triple loop plus side-by-side double axels and a triple toe-triple toe sequence. They also include a lot of unusual elements that Moskvina devises herself. "Yuka used to do all of them with the other boys," Moskvina said.

"They land the quad salchow about half the time, but I decided to keep it in the program," Moskvina stated. "We're working on side by side triple salchows. It's going well but I decided to use the side-by-side double axels in the second part. With the quad and the triple-triple and the side by side triple salchows, it was too much."

Kawaguchi, who has lived in Russia for five years, will graduate from a university in St. Petersburg this year with a degree in international relations. "I like to learn languages and I want to do something in diplomacy," she said. "That's my big dream." She now speaks English and Russian as well as Japanese.

Smirnov finished his studies in municipality management in November 2006 and started to study at a sports university in 2007. "I don't like studying," he said, "but if I want to work in skating at a high level, I have to have an education in sports."

Off ice, Smirnov likes to read, go to movies, and play other sports. Kawaguchi stays inside. "I'm too tired to go out," Kawaguchi said. "I stay home and study English and Russian or read fantasy stories. On holidays, I like to go see my family."

[Tracoromana]

<< Yesterday, January 15th , president of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev has signed an Order to award Russian citizenship to the Japanese Yuka Kawaguchi, the 2008 and 2009 Russian champion, third medalist at 2008 Europeans, and a fourth place finisher at 2008 Worlds together with Alexander Smirnov. Yuko Kawaguchi has briefly shared her feelings on this with the sports information agency “All Sport”.

“I have not yet become Russian citizen”, reiterated Yuka Kawaguchi. “So far, I still only hold the Japanese passport, so I am still technically a Japanese subject. However, I am of course very glad that Russia’s president has signed this order to award me Russian citizenship. I am very grateful. Now, Sasha and I will be able to compete at the Vancouver 2010 Games. That, after all, is our goal.”>>

ptichkafs.livejournal.com

[mikeyy]

Ma bucur foarte mult!
Chiar ma intrebam daca vor reusi sa rezolve problema cu cetatenia pentru Vancouver 2010!

[Iulya]

Kawaguchi braves taunts to skate for Russia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...101303072.html

[Iulya]

Traducerea din rusa a unui interviu cu Yuko
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...73&postcount=1

[Tracoromana]

Imi tot propun sa scriu despre Yuko si Alexander la CE 2010, dar n-am prea avut timp. Pana atunci pun poza asta care ma amuza cand vad entuziasmul lui Yuko.

http://www.sports.ru/images/object_7...6641.32876.jpg

[iris_for_daria]

Imi tot propun sa scriu despre Yuko si Alexander la CE 2010, dar n-am prea avut timp.

Da bine ca ne-ai facut curiosi !!

[FriendlySea]

http://www.prosharp.net/webshop/kuvat/IMG_2004.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...OV_EC_2009.jpg
http://www.icetoice.it/wp-content/up...OV-468x388.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...aa21ecf3b1.jpg

[ice_girl]

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...rAb5qOm-gAn9yw