Nikolai Aleksandrovich Panin-Kolomenkin (russian: Николай Александрович Панин-Коломенкин; – 19 January 1956) was a Russian

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 ...

and coach. He won the gold medal in

special figures Special figures were a component of figure skating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like compulsory figures, special figures involved tracing patterns on the ice with the blade of one ice skate. This required the skater to display signi ...

in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

, became one of the oldest figure skating Olympic champions. Panin was Russia's first Olympic champion.

Life and career

Nikolay Aleksandrovich Kolomenkin was born on in Khrenovoye, Voronezh Governorate, Russian Empire. He competed in figure skating under the name "Nikolay Panin", though most Russian sources now hyphenate his surname to "Panin-Kolomenkin". Despite having a weak constitution, Panin was very active and took part in rowing, cycling, athletics and gymnastics. While studying

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at Saint Petersburg University in 1897, he took part in a figure skating competition, albeit unsuccessfully. To improve, he developed a technique of wrapping towels around his feet to weigh them down and improve his balance, thus preventing falls. It was at this time that he took the nickname "Panin" on to evade the mockery of his fellow students, at a time when many athletes were adopting nicknames. Two men's skating events were contested at the

: single skating and

. Panin won the special figures event and competed, but did not finish, in the singles event. 1908 was the only year in which special figures was an Olympic event. Panin also competed in the 1903 World Championships, placing second behind Salchow. Panin was a prominent figure skating coach both before and after his win at the Olympics. He even helped train his rivals during his own competitive career. He wrote several biographical and reference books, the first of which appeared in 1910. He was also a judge at international competitions. Panin also competed as a shooter. At the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

he placed 8th in 50 metre pistol competition. Panin was also one of the first to be ranked in a sport classification system, a precursor to the Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR. Several of his students also won ratings. Panin died on in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. In 1993 Russia issued a 50 ruble gold coin commemorating Russia's first gold medal. Panin appears alongside the Olympic rings and flame, a laurel branch, and a winged ice skate. He was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009.

Competitive highlights

Single skating

Special figures

References

External links

Nikolai Panin at databaseOlympics.com

Figure skating academy named after Panin
* (figure skating) * (shooting) *

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Panin, Nikolai 1872 births 1956 deaths People from Bobrovsky District People from Bobrovsky Uyezd Russian male single skaters Olympic figure skaters of Russia Figure skaters at the 1908 Summer Olympics Russian male sport shooters Olympic shooters of Russia Shooters at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Russia Saint Petersburg State University alumni Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Soviet figure skating coaches Russian figure skating coaches Burials at Serafimovskoe Cemetery Sportspeople from Voronezh Oblast