Marina Anissina

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Vyacheslavovna and the family name is Anissina.
Marina Anissina

Anissina and partner Gwendal Peizerat compete in 2001.
Personal information
Full name Marina Vyacheslavovna Anissina
Alternative names Marina Anisina
Country represented France
Former country(ies) represented Russia
Soviet Union
Born 30 August 1975
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Partner Gwendal Peizerat
Former partner Ilia Averbukh (RUS & URS)
Sergei Sakhnovski (URS)
Former coach Muriel Boucher-Zazoui
Skating club CSG Lyon
Retired 2002

Marina Vyacheslavovna Anissina (Russian: Марина Вячеславовна Анисина, born 30 August 1975) is a French-Russian ice dancer. Competing with Gwendal Peizerat for France, she is the 2002 Olympic champion, the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2000 World champion, and a six-time French national champion.

Earlier in her career, Anissina competed with Ilia Averbukh for Russia and the Soviet Union. They won gold at two World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Born to Irina Cherniaeva, a former pair skater who placed sixth at the 1972 Winter Olympics,[1] and Vyacheslav Anisin, a World and European champion in ice hockey, Anissina had a comfortable childhood.[2] She is of Ukrainian descent on her mother's side.[3][4] Her brother is Mikhail Anisin, also a hockey player.

Anissina became a French citizen in 1994.[1][2] On February 23, 2008, she married Russian actor Nikita Djigurda in Moscow after the two met when they were partnered on a celebrity ice dancing television show.[5] Their son, Mick-Angel Christ (in Russian: Мик-Анжель Крист), was born in Biarritz on January 7, 2009.[6] Their daughter, Eva Vlada,[7] was born on January 23, 2010.[8][9] Their children were baptized in an Orthodox church in Moscow.[7] The family currently lives in Moscow.[10] Anissina also spends time in France and works with young ice dancers.[11]

Career

Early years

Born into an ice skating family,[12] Anissina began skating at the age of four.[13] By age nine she was determined to become a champion.[1] Her mother, having been injured in pair skating, discouraged her from following in her footsteps so the young skater went into ice dancing.[13][12]

Early in her career, Anissina competed with Sergei Sakhnovski, representing the Soviet Union. Following that partnership, she teamed up with Ilia Averbukh. They represented the Soviet Union and, after that country's dissolution, Russia. They were the 1990 and 1992 World Junior Champions.[14] Their partnership ended at the end of the 1991–92 season;[15] Averbukh decided to leave Anissina to skate with Irina Lobacheva with whom he had fallen in love.[1]

Anissina trained for several months without a partner at the same rink as the new duo.[2] She received little help from the Russian federation in her search for a new partner.[12] She and her mother studied videotapes of international competitions and selected Gwendal Peizerat and Victor Kraatz.[1] Anissina sent letters to both but the one to Kraatz did not reach him.[1] Peizerat did not respond immediately but when his partnership with Marina Morel fell apart, he contacted Anissina.[16]

Partnership with Peizerat

Anissina arrived in Lyon, France, in February 1993, declaring her goal of becoming World and Olympic champion.[15] She wanted to bring Peizerat back to Russia with her but his family was opposed.[15] Anissina settled in France and began learning the language but experienced homesickness.[2] She focused intensely on skating and insisted her partner, who was dividing his time between skating and his education, be equally focused on their career.[15] Their first year together produced many quarrels and they came close to splitting up.[15] Their coach Muriel Boucher-Zazoui, however, immediately felt it was a promising partnership, saying "They are like fire and ice".[1]

Anissina and Peizerat were selected for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer but her French citizenship was granted a few weeks too late.[2] The Olympics, unlike most skating competitions, require both partners to be citizens of the country they are representing.

Anissina and Peizerat won the 1998 Olympic bronze medal and 1998 and 1999 World silver medals behind Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov. The Russians retired due to injury and Anissina and Peizerat then developed a rivalry with the Italians Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio. The French won the 2000 European and World Championships.[12] In 2001, Anissina and Peizerat won European and World silver behind the Italians but surged past them in 2002 to reclaim their European title and become the Olympic Champions. At the 2002 Olympics, they led after the compulsory dances and the original dance. Their free dance, Liberty, mixed music with sections from the famed freedom speech by Martin Luther King Jr.; a 5–4 split of the judges' panel had them in first place in this segment ahead of Lobecheva and Averbukh, and they became the first French ice dancers to win the Olympic gold medal.[17]

After the Olympics, Anissina and Peizerat retired from competition but continued skating together for many years in shows around the world.[11] During their career, they represented the club Lyon TSC. Their signature move was Anissina lifting Peizerat off the ice, switching the traditional gender roles in lifts.

Anissina coached for several years in Marseille at S.O.G.M.A. 13.[8] She has also done some choreography for other skaters.[18] In 2013, she said she hoped to qualify for the 2014 Sochi Olympics with Peizerat.[19]

Programs

With Peizerat

Season Original dance Free dance Exhibition
1993–1994
[20]
  • J'en ai Marre
    by Hugues Le Bars
  • Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
1994–1995
[20]
  • Tango
    by Astor Piazolla
  • J'en ai Marre
    by Hugues Le Bars
1995–1996
[20]
  • Ay Mi Sombrero
    by Genaro Monreal
1996–1997
[20]
  • Ahla Leila
    by Muhammad Sultan
1997–1998
[20]		 Romeo and Juliet
by Sergei Prokofiev:
  • The Montagues and the Capulets
  • Death of Juliet
1998–1999
[20]
The Man in the Iron Mask
by Nick Glennie-Smith:
  • Heart of a King
  • Surrounded
  • Time To Say Goodbye
    performed by Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli
1999–2000
[20]
  • Black Machine
    by Jazz Machine
  • Feeling the Passion
    by Latin Drums
  • Tres Deseos
    by Gloria Estefan
Carmina Burana
by Carl Orff:
  • O Fortuna imperatrix munda
  • Fortune plango vulnera
2000–2001
[21][20]
Beethoven's Last Night
by Trans-Siberian Orchestra:
  • Overture
  • Ode to Joy
  • Dreams of Candlelight
  • Beethoven
2001–2002
[22][20]
  • Flamenco: Malagua
  • Tango de Guell
  • Flamenco: Malagua
  • Susanna
    by VOF de Kunst

With Averbukh

Season Original dance Free dance Exhibition
1991–1992

    Results

    With Peizerat for France

    Results[22][21]
    International
    Event 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02
    Winter Olympics 3rd 1st
    World Champ. 10th 6th 4th 5th 2nd 2nd 1st 2nd
    European Champ. 12th 5th 4th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd 1st
    GP (CS) Final 3rd 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd
    GP International de Paris /
    Trophée de France/Lalique         		3rd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st
    GP Nations Cup 1st 2nd
    GP NHK Trophy 5th 3rd 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st
    GP Skate Canada 2nd 2nd 1st
    GP Skate America 2nd 1st
    Ondrej Nepela 1st
    Piruetten 5th
    National
    French Champ. 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
    GP = Became part of Champions Series in 1995–96, Grand Prix from 1998–99

    With Averbukh for Russia and the Soviet Union

    International[14]
    Event 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92
    World Junior Championships 1st 4th 1st

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lecaudey, Martine (2 April 2000). "Marina a choisi Gwendal sur une vidéo" [Marina chose Gwendal after watching him on video] (in French). La Dépêche du Midi. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 van Kote, Gilles (19 February 2002). "Pour Marina Anissina, la voie du succès est passée par l’exil" [The road to success through exile for Marina Anissina] (PDF). Le Monde (in French). p. 24.
    3. ↑ http://hockey.sport-express.ru/reviews/37020/
    4. ↑ http://hcdonbass.com/news/donbass_1/dinamo_donbass_kommentarii_trenerov_komand_22_10/
    5. ↑ Kuprina, Yulia (23 February 2008). Марина Анисина и Никита Джигурда поженились [Marina Anissina and Nikita Djigurda have married]. Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian).
    6. ↑ ...Я предложил Марине: давай станем любовниками. Она ответила как отрезала: меня это не устраивает — но о замужестве подумаю (in Russian). teleweek.ru. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009.
    7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kukhianidze, Sergo (4 June 2010). Джигурда — Анисина: "Мы не остановимся!" [Dzhigurda – Anissina : "We will not stop!"] (in Russian). 7days.ru. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
    8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "LA FAMILLE DU PATINAGE ARTISTIQUE S'AGRANDIT" [The skating family grows] (in French). S.O.G.M.A. 13. 24 January 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
    9. ↑ Pustynnikova, Tatiana (25 January 2010). Джигурда стал отцом в пятый раз во Франции [Dzhigurda's fifth child born in France] (in Russian). Lifenews.ru. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010.
    10. ↑ Kukhianidze, Sergo (20 January 2011). Никита Джигурда: "С Мариной мне везде по кайфу!" [Nikita Dzhigurda: With Marina] (in Russian). 7days.ru. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
    11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "L'œil de Marina Anissina" [Under the eye of Marina Anissina]. Sud-Ouest (newspaper) (in French). 5 October 2011. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011.
    12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Lecaudey, Martine (1 April 2000). "Anissina-Peizerat enfin au sommet" [Anissina-Peizerat finally at the top] (in French). La Dépêche du Midi. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011.
    13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Mittan, J. Barry (1996). "Fire on the Ice — Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat". Archived from the original on May 12, 2012.
    14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "World Junior Figure Skating Championships: Dance" (PDF). International Skating Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013.
    15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 "Anissina-Peizerat, un couple de glace" [Anissina-Peizerat, an ice couple] (in French). Le Point. 1 March 2002. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011.
    16. ↑ Paramygina, Svetlana (16 April 2012). Сокровенное: плюс и минус. Марина Анисина: мой нежный и ранимый Дракоша-Джигурда. pressball.by (in Russian).
    17. ↑ "France's Anissina, Peizerat claim ice dancing event". Associated Press (Sports Illustrated). 18 February 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
    18. ↑ Bangs, Kathleen (15 September 2003). "Peizerat still 'Peaking'". GoldenSkate. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008.
    19. ↑ http://en.rsport.ru/other_sports/20130618/668768612.html
    20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 "Free dances – Original dances – Exhibitions – Compulsories list". Archived from the original on 19 July 2006.
    21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Marina ANISSINA / Gwendal PEIZERAT: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 August 2001.
    22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Marina ANISSINA / Gwendal PEIZERAT: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 August 2002.

    External links

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