Anton Sikharulidze

Infobox Figure skater
title= Anton Sikharulidze


caption=Sikharulidze and Berezhnaya compete in 2001
country= RUS
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1976|10|25
residence= St. Petersburg
height= 182 cm
partner= Elena Berezhnaya
formerpartner=Maria Petrova
formercoach=Tamara Moskvina
skating club= Yubileiny Sport Club
retired= 2002

Anton Tarielyevich Sikharulidze was born October 25, 1976 in St. Petersburg. He is a Russian pairs figure skater, currently professional and partnered with Yelena Berezhnaya. With Berezhnaya, he won a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. This gold was later shared with Canadian pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier after much controversy regarding the judging of the long program of that competition.

Sikharulidze lived in Fort Lee, New Jersey, while training at the Ice House skating rinks in nearby Hackensack. [Araton, Harvey. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E1DB113FF934A25751C0A9649C8B63 "Sports of The Times; Golden Windfall for the Russians"] , "The New York Times", February 17, 2002. Accessed November 4, 2007. "At 25, Anton Sikharulidze is already a citizen of the world, more than familiar with the culture of the West. He lived in Fort Lee, N.J., for two years, trained in Hackensack."]

Career

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze also had many excellent performances at the World and European championships. At the World Championships, they finished ninth in 1997, first in 1998 and 1999, and second in 2001. They won the European Championships in 1998 and 2001 and were third in 1997.

Coached by Tamara Moskvina during their amateur years, the pair were known for the great elegance and technical quality of their skating. They had a superb rivalry with Canadian pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier.

Before being paired with Berezhnaya, Sikharulidze was World Junior Champion and finished as high as sixth at Senior Worlds with Maria Petrova, who went on to become World Champion in 2000 with Alexei Tikhonov.

In the often serious world of figure skating, Sikharulidze was known for his sense of humor. In 1998, after a very ugly fall during the final moments of their long program, he joked that it was "their new landing position." During the judging controversy, Sikharulidze's humorous comments did much to diffuse a tense situation. He was gracious about the double-gold decision, saying, "Two great countries, two great pairs." Later on, he acknowledged that the controversy brought them more attention than they would have gotten without any scandal.

Competitive highlights

References

External links

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