Alexander Vasilievich Svinin is a famous person in the history of Russian figure skating. The talented skater has high sporting achievements - he repeatedly climbed the podium at the championships of the Soviet Union. He was a winner of world championships and European championships, a participant in the Olympic Games. He achieved fast and significant results in the coaching field. For outstanding success in training Russian athletes in 2010 he was awarded the title "Honored Coach of Russia".
The beginning of a sports biography
Alexander was born in Leningrad on July 7, 1958, where he entered a sports school and trained in the figure skating section. At his first junior competitions, he played in tandem with Tatyana Evteeva. But significant victories in ice dancing came with a new partner Olga Volozhinsky. To prepare for the newly created dance pair, Alexander had to move to Moscow.
First success.
Elena Anatolyevna Tchaikovsky has long been eyeing young promising athletes. Alexander is a slender, fit, very athletic and Olga - emotional, incredibly elegant and expressive, made up a wonderful dance duet. The guys were extremely diligent students. They absorbed the instructions of an experienced trainer like a sponge and not only mastered the component technique of sports dance, but tried to uncover the meaning of the performed composition. Between daily and grueling workouts, time flew by unnoticed. Alexander entered the Institute of Physical Education, Olga - at the GITIS, at the faculty of choreographers. And now the time has come for the long-awaited debut. The dance duo, taking third place in the national championship, won a place in the USSR team to participate in the world championship. A trip to the main competitions of the season - the world championship in 1981 ended with a splash for a young couple and an experienced coach. Having no experience of participation even in European championships, a couple of Olga Volozhinsky and Alexander Svinin took 5th place. Dynamo from Moscow was warmly received by the American public and a very strict judging panel.
Brilliant victories
“Olga Volozhinskaya and Alexander Svinin are invited to the ice!” - These words began to sound more and more often in Russian and foreign ice stadiums. But not so much time passed when only a narrow circle of figure skating specialists knew about the dance pair of Moscow Dynamo. The duet has achieved serious victories in Russian and international competitions. Especially successful for the skaters ended the season of 1982-83. They climbed the second step of the podium at the championship of the Soviet Union, won silver medals in the European championship and fourth place in the world figure skating championship. In 1984, the couple participated in the Winter Olympics in the Yugoslav city of Sarajevo and took seventh place there. There were still victories at Skate Canada International tournaments, where the duo became the first in 1985, and in 1986 they were second.
Professional sport
Having finished performances among amateurs, Alexander and Olga switched to professional sports. At the world championship among professional dancers won silver medals. The minimum number of points lost to a couple from England, the famous ice dancers Jane Torville and Christopher Dean.
Creative work led by Tatyana Tarasova
After performances in the professional arena, they worked for a long time in the famous ice theater of the legendary coach Tatyana Tarasova “All Stars”, took part in various shows with demonstrations. After Tatyana Tarasova left for coaching in sports, Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk continued their performance on the ice rinks of Great Britain under the guidance of an English producer. Svinin worked in the theater with various partners, and Irina Zhuk rode in a pair in the production of Carmen. Alexander worked in the ice theater until 2001.
At that time in England there was an incredible rise in figure skating, associated with the enormous popularity of the dance duo of the 1984 Olympic champions D. Torville and C. Dean. How does figure skating coach Alexander Svinin evaluate work during this period?
Yes. And we participated in joint projects of the Tatyana Tarasova Ice Theater and the Torville and Dean shows. Working with such masters is a huge experience. By the way, having switched to coaching at the beginning of the 21st century, we used not only our sports experience, but also the knowledge and practice gained from our theatrical activities.
Confident steps in the coaching field
At the end of his work in the theater in 2001, Alexander Svinin and his wife Irina Zhuk returned to the capital and created a coaching duet. With the same success, as they performed, they began to train young skaters. Great difficulties with financing and the lack of ice for training did not stop novice trainers.
Since 2003, a promising couple came to the group - Yana Khokhlova and Sergey Novitsky. The duet became the leading dance couple in the country, and became the winner of the Russian championship. In 2009, Yana and Sergey confidently beat all rivals and became the first at the European Championships. On the track record are couples and the bronze medal of the World Cup.
After the Olympics in 2006, the group was replenished with talented skaters Yekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer. In a short period of preparation, the skaters won a prize in the national championship and became prize-winners of the Grand Prix. Currently, following the example of their mentors, they are successfully engaged in coaching.
Alexander Svinin has extensive experience working with dance duets of junior age. For example, their students Ekaterina Pushkash and Jonathan Gureyro became winners and winners of junior international and Russian competitions.
Now, under the guidance of a coaching duo, a promising couple is training - Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin - owners of gold medals of the Junior World Cup.
Coaching duet
Over the years, trained many talented athletes coach Alexander Svinin. The biography of a talented person as an athlete and coach is rich in significant and memorable events. A huge personal experience of both personal participation in competitions and the training of athletes, a great desire to create and hard work helped Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk to break into the figure skating coaching elite so quickly.
The work of talented teachers gives confidence that Russian ice dancing will occupy a leading position in the world.