Natalia Filimonovna Bestemianova or Bestemyanova (russian: Наталья Филимоновна Бестемьянова, born 6 January 1960) is a Soviet and Russian former competitive

ice dance 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 ...

r who competed for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. With her partner

Andrei Bukin Andrei Anatolyevich Bukin (russian: Андрей Анатольевич Букин, born 10 June 1957) is a Soviet and Russian former ice dancer who represented the Soviet Union in his competitive career. With his partner Natalia Bestemianova, he ...

, she is the 1988 Olympic Champion, 1984 Olympic silver medalist, four-time

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, three-time World silver medalist, and five-time European champion.

Life and career

Bestemianova was coached by

Tatiana Tarasova Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova (; born 13 February 1947) is a Russian figure skating coach and national figure skating team adviser. Tarasova has been coach to more world and Olympic champions than any other coach in skating history. Her students h ...

and competed in

with

. In 1984, she was named an

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

. Bestemianova and Bukin capped their lengthy career by winning the gold medal at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

and that year's

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ...

. The

Besti Squat A Besti squat is a figure skating move. It is similar to the spread eagle (figure skating), spread eagle in that the skater travels along an edge with both skates on the ice, the toes turned out to the sides and the heels facing each other. The kn ...

was Bestemianova's signature move and is unofficially named for her. In 1983, Bestemianova married

Igor Bobrin Igor Anatolyevich Bobrin (Russian: Игорь Анатольевич Бобрин) (born 14 November 1953 in Leningrad) is a Russian former competitive figure skater who represented the Soviet Union. He is the 1981 European champion, the 1981 ...

. After she finished her career she performed in the Ice Miniature Theater, led by her husband. She is the stepmother of Maxim, Igor's son from his previous marriage. Together, they run Moscow Stars on Ice. In 2006–2008, Bestemianova appeared as a coach and show-host in the Russian version of the British show ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

'', shown on Russian RTR. In early 2007, she appeared as a member of the ice panel for the British show

, shown on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

. In 2011—2012, Bestemianova was on the panel of judges for the

Channel One Russia Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervyy kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian state-controlled television channel. It is the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation. Its headquarters ...

television show ''Cup of Professionals''.

Competitive highlights

Ice dance with Bukin

Ladies' singles

Programs

(With Bukin)

References

External links

"Bobrin's Moscow Stars on Ice official site"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bestemianova, Natalia 1960 births Living people Soviet female ice dancers Russian female ice dancers Olympic figure skaters of the Soviet Union Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Figure skaters from Moscow Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni