Galina Efremenko ( Maniachenko ( uk, Галина Єфременко (Маняченко): Halyna Yefremenko (Manyachenko); born 23 December 1980) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

former competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. She competed as Galina Maniachenko from 1993 until 2005 when she began competing under her married name, Efremenko. She won the bronze medal at the 2003

Cup of Russia The Rostelecom Cup (russian: Кубок Ростелекома), formerly the Cup of Russia (russian: Кубок России), is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating seri ...

, gold medals at the 2000

Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. The competitio ...

, 2003

Karl Schäfer Memorial The Karl Schäfer Memorial (other titles: Asko Cup (1987), Vienna Cup (1994), or Vienna Trophy) was a senior-level international figure skating competition held in Vienna, Austria. Medals were awarded in four disciplines: men's singles, ladies' s ...

, 2000 and 2003

Ondrej Nepela Memorial The Nepela Memorial ( sk, Memoriál Ondreja Nepelu), formerly known as the Ondrej Nepela Trophy in 2013–15 & 2017 and the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, is an annual senior-level international figure skating competition. Named after Figure skating at t ...

, and three Ukrainian national titles. She competed twice at the Winter Olympics, placing 12th in 2002. Her highest placement at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

was 4th in 2002.

Career

For most of her career, she competed under her birth name, Galina Maniachenko. In the early 1990s, she competed in

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

with Evgeni Zhigurski, coached by

Nina Mozer Nina Mikhailovna Mozer (russian: Нина Михайловна Мозер; born 28 August 1964) is a Russian pair skating coach based in Moscow. She is best known for coaching Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov and Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov, ...

. The pair won the bronze medal at the 1994 World Junior Championships. However, in 1995 she was severely injured after her partner's blade hit her face while they were practicing side-by-side camel spins. Maniachenko retired from skating but after a year and a half she decided to return to competition as a singles skater. Maniachenko won the Ukrainian national title three times and competed at two Olympics (2002, 2006). She won gold medals at

, and silver medals at the

Winter Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

and Golden Spin of Zagreb. Maniachenko won a Grand Prix bronze medal at

2003 Cup of Russia 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. At the European Championships, she finished as high as fourth in 2002. In 2005, she began competing as Galina Efremenko. She had a number of injuries towards the end of her career. After competing at her second Olympics, she decided to retire from competition.

Personal life

In the summer of 2005, she married

pentathlete A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

Mikhail Efremenko and took his name. By marriage, she is related to fellow skater

Elena Liashenko Elena Liashenko ( uk, Олена Анатоліївна Ляшенко ''Olena Anatoliyivna Liashenko''; russian: Елена Анатольевна Ляшенко; born 9 August 1976) is a Ukrainian former competitive figure skater. She is a thre ...

who married her husband's brother, Andrei Efremenko. After retiring from competition, she began coaching in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and gave birth to a daughter in 2007. Her daughter's godmother is

Aliona Savchenko Aljona Savchenko ( uk, Олена Валентинівна Савченко, ''Olena Valentynivna Savchenko''; German Romanization: ''Aljona Sawtschenko'', sometimes ''Aliona Savchenko''; born 19 January 1984) is a Ukrainian-born German pair ...

Programs

Competitive highlights

Singles career

Pairs career

(with Evgeni Zhigurski)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Efremenko, Galina 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Kyiv Ukrainian female single skaters Ukrainian female pair skaters Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Ukraine World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Universiade medalists in figure skating Universiade silver medalists for Ukraine Competitors at the 1999 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade