Maria Butyrskaya

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**Maria Butyrskaya**
Personal Info

Country:	Russia
Residence:	Moscow, Russia
Height:	160 cm
ISU Personal Best Scores

Most Recent Results:
Event	Points	Finish	Year
Olympic Winter Games	-	6th	2002
European Championships	-	1st	2002
National Championships	-	2nd	2002
World Championships	-	4th	2001

Maria Viktorovna Butyrskaya (Russian: Мария Викторовна Бутырская) (born June 28, 1972 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian figure skater. In 1999, she became the oldest person to win the ladies' singles title at the World Figure Skating Championships, and also became the first Russian woman to win the World Championships. She also won bronze medals at the 1998 and 2000 World Championships. She placed fourth at the 1998 Winter Olympics and sixth at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Butyrskaya is a six-time champion at the Russian Figure Skating Championships and a three-time champion at the European Figure Skating Championships. When she won at the 2002 European Championships at the age of 29, she also became the oldest woman to ever win the European Championships.

As a teen, she was replaced by the Soviet Figure Skating Federation, and then lost coach after coach while struggling to finance her skating following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Her persistence paid off when she defeated defending world champion Michelle Kwan at the 1999 World Championships. She was never able to win a second world title, however, nor an Olympic medal of any color. She ended her amateur career at the 2002 World Championships, withdrawing from the competition after skating poorly in the qualifying round.

Butyrskaya was known for her triple loop and triple lutz jumps, and a combination spin that involved holding her arms behind her back while rotating at high speed. She participated often in choreographing her programs and in designing her costumes. She often skated better in practice sessions than in competitive events, however, as she frequently succumbed to nervous tension when competing. In particular, Butyrskaya's car was blown up by the Russian mafia in December 1999, and speculation followed that the ensuing emotional distress caused her to lose the 1999 Russian Championships.

Besides the technical elements of figure skating, Butyrskaya won adulation for her ubridled femininity, which, especially toward the end of her professional career, was often in stark contrast to competitors half her age. She herself described her skating style as "a Woman on the ice". In the mid-1990s, the New York Times described her short program (Sarah Brightman's Scene d'Amour) as "flowing, lyrical skating... ...a performance of rare elegance and beauty."

[edit] Personal

In 1998, she posed for the Russian edition of Playboy magazine. In 2006, she married a hockey player, Vadim Khomitski, who currently is signed by the NHL team Dallas Stars (in October 2006 he was assigned to their farm club, Iowa Stars of the AHL, and in December re-assigned to the Russian Super League team Khimik Moscow Oblast). He is 10 years younger than her. [1]

[edit] Competitive highlights

Event/Season	1991-92	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02
Russian Championships	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	3rd	2nd
European Championships	-	5th	4th	7th	3rd	4th	1st	1st	2nd	2nd	1st
World Championships	-	-	-	-	4th	5th	3rd	1st	3rd	4th	-
Winter Olympics	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	-	-	-	6th
Champions/Grand Prix Final	-	-	-	-	7th	4th	3rd	2nd	3rd	4th	4th
Skate America	-	-	-	-	-	10th	-	1st	-	-	-
Skate Canada Int.	-	-	-	-	-	-	2nd	-	-	-	-
Sparkassen Cup	-	-	-	-	2nd	-	-	-	1st	1st	1st
Trophee Lalique	-	-	-	-	-	2nd	-	1st	1st	1st	1st
NHK Trophy	-	5th	-	-	5th	1st	2nd	-	1st	-	-