Ksenia Smetanenko, married name: Gonchar (russian: Ксения Гончар (Сметаненко), born 26 March 1979) is a former

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

who competed internationally for Russia and Armenia. With Samuel Gezalian, she is the 1997 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion and competed at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

for Armenia. Earlier in her career, she competed for Russia with

Igor Lukanin Igor Lukanin (born 3 February 1976) is a former competitive ice dancer who competed internationally for Azerbaijan with Kristin Fraser. He previously competed for Germany with Ksenia Smetanenko. He competed with Jenny Dahlen for two years, rep ...

Career

Smetanenko originally competed for Russia. With

, she placed third at the 1992 Russian National Junior Championships and tenth at the 1993 World Junior Championships for Russia. They also appeared twice at the German Championships. In 1997, Smetanenko teamed up with Samuel Gezalian and began representing

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. Placing sixth at the 1997

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 ...

, they qualified a spot for Armenia at the Olympics. Smetanenko/Gezalian then won gold at the 1997 Golden Spin of Zagreb and placed 20th at the 1998 European Championships before competing at the

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, where they placed 24th. They retired from competition at the end of the season.

Personal life

Smetanenko was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. She married former professional hockey player

Sergei Gonchar Sergei Viktorovich Gonchar ( rus, Серге́й Ви́кторович Гонча́р, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪdʑ ɡɐnʲˈtɕar; born 13 April 1974) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and a former assistant coach f ...

now assistant coach with the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

, whom she met at the 1998 Winter Olympics. They have two daughters, Natalie and Victoria.

Competitive highlights

With Gezalian for Armenia

With Lukanin for Russia and Germany

References

Skatabase: 1990s Olympics

1997 Golden Spin of Zagreb

1997 German Championships

1996 German Championships
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smetanenko, Ksenia 1979 births Russian female ice dancers Armenian female ice dancers Olympic figure skaters of Armenia Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Living people Figure skaters from Moscow