Klimova Marina Vladimirovna - athlete, figure skater, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. Three-time world champion and four-time European champion, children's coach. In addition, Klimova Marina is an actress who starred in films about herself, as well as in feature and documentary series, a participant in ice shows. Today, Klimova, together with her husband Sergey Ponomarenko and two sons, lives and works in America.
The first steps of the skater
Marina Klimova was born in Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg, on June 28, 1966. She came to figure skating at the age of 7, her first stadium was the Yunost stadium. Later, as a promising athlete, she was transferred to the Olympic Reserve School. When Marina learned to skate well, she began to dance in a duet. Her first partner was Oleg Volkov. At the Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1978, when Marina was 12 years old, their couple took third place among juniors.
Acquaintance of Marina and Sergey
In 1980, a young Moscow coach, Natalya Ilyinichna Dubova, noticed and took Marina under her wing. She puts Klimova in a pair with Sergei Ponomarenko, who is six years older than her. By this time, Sergey already has notable achievements in figure skating:
- Champion of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, 1978;
- World Cup Winner, 1978;
- World Cup Winner, 1979;
- bronze medalist of the international tournament Nebelhorn Trophy, 1980.
Dubova coaches children in an emphasized classical style, and this brings the duo success. The pair begins to take prizes one after another.
Beautiful duet
Sergey reverently and gently refers to a new young partner, their dances are distinguished by a refined and graceful manner of performance, polished movements, harmony and musicality. Many believe that Klimova and Ponomarenko are the best performers of the so-called Dubovskiy skate. Their feelings on ice go beyond the ice arena and determine the personal life of Marina Klimova. In 1984, as soon as the girl turns 18, Marina and Sergey Ponomarenko play a wedding.
Achievements on Ice
The first notable achievement for the children was a victory at the 1984 Olympics, where they won bronze with a program to the music of Kalman from the operetta Princess of the Circus. Then the spouses take silver in other competitions:
- European Championship, 1985-1987;
- World Cup 1985-1988;
- Olympic Games, 1988.
Then they win gold at the European Championships and the World Championships in 1989 and 1990, at the 1991 European Championships. However, in the same year they lose the World Cup to their main rivals - the French Duchenne.
In fairness, I must say that in the same 1991 at the Olympic Games Klimov and Ponomarenko became the only athletes in the history of figure skating who won bronze, silver and gold.
Hard decision
In 1988, Olympic champion Lyudmila Pakhomova published the book “Monologue after applause”, in which she criticized the pair of Klimov-Ponomarenko. She says that the skaters stomp on the spot, dancing exclusively in the classical style, denying other forms of dance. This allows them to consistently stay among the winners, but over time this becomes insufficient for obtaining gold.
Spouses are thinking about finding a new style for themselves, but their coach Natalya Dubova is categorically against innovations, insists on the classics. And after Duchenne bypass Marina and Sergey at the 1991 championship, the guys make a difficult decision for them - they go to coach Tarasova Tatyana Anatolyevna. She is very sympathetic to skaters, their sincere and strong feelings for each other, their hard work and dedication. Tarasova begins to train a couple in a completely new avant-garde style for them.
The success of the skaters in 1992
Choreography, costumes are changing, they are becoming bolder and fresher. These changes allow Klimova and Ponomarenko to take first place at the 1992 World Cup, beating their main competitors - the French duet Duchenne - in their homeland in the city of Albertville. The Russian couple so vividly performed an arbitrary program accompanied by Bach that the entire film “Albertville 1992: 16th Winter Olympic Games” (USA) is accompanied by this music. Tarasova herself considers this victory a unique event, since earlier in the history of figure skating there were no examples of figure skaters after second places being able to win gold again.
In addition, Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko in 1992 won the gold of the European Championship and the gold of the Olympic Games.
Klimova and Ponomarenko leave Russia
After the brilliant victories of 1992, Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko end their amateur sports career and begin professional. In 2003, their names appear in the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Spouses move to America, California, the city of Morgan Hills, where they live today. Twice more Klimova and Ponomarenko won silver at the world championship among professionals in 1995 and 1996. In addition, they participate in various ice shows.
Actress Marina Klimova
This is not a well-known fact, but Marina has a rather large track record of film works.
Even before moving to America, Klimova was starred in the Russian historical mini-series "White Horse" by Helia Ryabov based on the novel by Victor Ropshin, telling about the fate of Admiral Kolchak, the last days of the royal family and the investigation into the circumstances of their death. This film was released in 1993 and is considered one of the best historical reconstructions.
Also, actress Marina Klimova starred in two films in which she plays herself:
- "Golden Skates-2", USA, 1995;
- “An ice skating novel”, USA, 1996.
In addition, it is known about Klimova’s participation in films such as
- "The best hits on ice", USA, 1994;
- “Beauty and the Beast: Concert on Ice”, USA, 1996 (based on the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”).
In the last film, Marina starred with her husband Sergei Ponomarenko.
In 2007, Marina and Sergey were invited to Russia in the show "Dancing on Ice: The Velvet Season" (RTR channel). At that time, tired of wandering for eight years participating in competitions and happy with a sedentary lifestyle, teaching, they hesitated for a long time before agreeing. But they still decide what later they do not regret. Just returning to the ice, they realize how much they missed it, training. In this show, Marina is dancing with actor Anatoly Zhuravlev.
In the photo Marina Klimova with her sons Tim and Anton (Anthony). They live in America.
The personal life of actress Marina Klimova today
In America, Klimova’s personal life is very successful. The couple gave birth to two sons, Tim and Anton. Now, in 2018, Tim is 20 years old, Anton is 18. Both Marina and Sergey work as trainers at the ice rink in the city of San Jose, teaching juniors the art of figure skating. As Marina and Sergey themselves say, they have absolutely no cult of their former victories at home. Although the grandfather showed the grandchildren videos, they themselves do not review the performances, do not store photos and medals from the competitions in a prominent place. They just do not want the boys to become hostages of these achievements, to equal them. Spouses believe that everyone should go their own way.
Nevertheless, the youngest son Anton went in the footsteps of his parents, became a skater and is making progress. He takes part in competitions in sports dance on ice with a partner Christina Carreira, speaking for the United States.
Tim, too, was not indifferent to sports, but preferred swimming.
In household use, traditions and communication, the family adheres to Russian traditions, instills in their sons a love of Russian literature.