Natalia Mishkutenok

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Figure skating
Olympic medal record
Competitor for the Unified Team
Gold	1992 Albertville	Pairs
Competitor for Russia
Silver	1994 Lillehammer	Pairs

**Natalia Mishkutenok**
Personal Info
Country:	Russia
Date of birth:	July 14, 1970 (1970-07-14) (age 37)
Former Partner:	Artur Dmitriev
Former Coach:	Tamara Moskvina
Retired:	1994

Natalia Mishkutenok (or Natalja Mishkutienok, Russian: Наталья Евгеньевна Мишкутёнок, born July 14, 1970 in Minsk, Belarus) is a retired Russian pair skater who now works as a coach. With former partner Artur Dmitriev, she is the 1992 Olympic Champion.

1 Biography
2 Program
3 Competitive highlights
4 External links
5 Navigation

[edit] Biography

Mishkutenok competed for the Soviet Union, Russia, and the Unified Team. She trained in St. Petersburg with renowned Russian pairs coach Tamara Moskvina. She skated with partner Artur Dmitriev from 1987 to 1994; together, they won the 1991 and 1992 World and European Championships, and Olympic gold in 1992. They performed to Franz Liszt's Liebestraum (Dream of Love), which became one of the most noted programs of their career and earned them four perfect 6.0 marks at the 1992 World Championships in Oakland, CA. They turned professional shortly after that championship.

Mishkutenok and Dmitriev chose to reinstate as amateurs after the ban against such actions was lifted. They attempted to defend their Olympic title in the 1994 Winter Olympics, where they delivered two nearly flawless programs. Their free skate, to Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto earned a standing ovation and is considered one of their finest performances. In a highly controversial decision, the judges awarded the gold medal to Mishkutenok and Dmitriev's good friends and fellow countrymen Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov ("G & G").

This team was famous for their speed, power, intricate choriography, and flexibility They regularly received standing ovations from audiences world-wide after their soulful and technically difficult performances. One hallmark of Mishkutenok and Dmitriev's style was their creative spins, especially one in which Mishkutenok would do a split and point her head down, with an arm around Dmitriev's calf so that they were both vertical and aligned; this signature move, called "Natasha's spin" was incorporated into virtually every one of their programs. Another singature move was a backwards inside death spiral in which Mishkutenok bent backwards, holding her foot behind and above her head while Dmitriev also held her raised skate blade and her free hand.

Mishkutenok and Dmitriev competed before, during, and after the breakup of the Soviet Union, which put them in the extrordiary position of competing for the Soviet Union, the "Unified Team" (a team made up of athletes from the nation states that were formerly part of the Soviet Union), and Russia all within a four year period.

Mishkutenok and Dmitriev amicably parted soon after the 1994 Olympics. Dmitriev went on to skate with Oksana Kazakova and won the gold at the 1998 Olympics. Mishkutenok moved to the U.S. to learn English and married American hockey player Craig Shephard, with whom she skated professionally on occasion during the late 90s. She divorced Shepherd and remarried Alan Hainline. They had a daughter, Natasha Aleena Mishkutionok Hainline. on January 16, 2006. Mishkutenok is currently coaching pairs and singles skaters in Hurst, Texas. One of her students is the US Ladies Novice Champion, Angela Maxwell.

[edit] Program

1993-1995 Short Programs: Don Quixote" by Minkus, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Long Program: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2 ("The Symphony of Emotions")
Exhibitions: Flute Dance, Nostalgia

1990-1992 Short Programs: "Don Quixote" by Minkus, "The Swan" by Saint Saëns
Long program: "Liebestraum" by Franz Liszt
Exhibitions: "Somewhere in Your Heart" by Frank Sinatra, War Drums, Peasant Dance

1988-1990 Sort Program: "Let's Dance Together"
Long Program: Collection of Jewish folk music
Exhibition: Piano Piece ("The Death Spiral"), Peasant Dance, Rachmaninov "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini", War drums