Steven Cousins (born 24 May 1972) is a British former competitive men's singles figure skater. He is the 1993

Skate Canada International The Skate Canada International is an international, senior-level invitation-only figure skating competition organized by Skate Canada. It is the second competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating season. The location changes yearly. Meda ...

bronze medalist and an eight-time British national champion. He finished as high as 6th at the Olympics (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

), 7th at the World Championships (

), and 4th at the European Championships ( 1996).

Career

Cousins began skating in 1978 after he and his brother pushed their parents to take them to an ice rink. Although he had a negative reaction at first ("We ended up going to the rink, and I hated it"), he eventually grew interested in figuring out how to jump and spin. He was also spurred on by sibling rivalry with his elder brother. Cousins is the youngest skater to win the British National Championships. He trained with Donna Gately at Deeside Ice Rink in the United Kingdom and then moved to the United States where he spent a number of years. In 1993, he moved to Canada and was coached by

Doug Leigh Douglas Leigh is a Canadians, Canadian figure skating coach. He is the head coach and founder of the Mariposa School of Skating. Among his former students are Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko, Takeshi Honda, Jennifer Robinson (figure skater), Jennifer R ...

at the Mariposa School of Skating in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. He also worked with Stephen Pickavance and

Karen Barber Karen Barber (born 21 June 1961 in Manchester) is a British ice dancer. She is the 1983 European bronze medalist and competed at two Olympics with partner Nicky Slater. Skating career Barber won the silver medal at the 1977 World Junior Cham ...

in the UK. Cousins competed at three

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, nine

World Championships 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, ...

, and nine European Championships during his career. He became the first Briton to land a triple Axel in competition at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

in Lillehammer, Norway. He was the British national champion for seven consecutive years before his streak was interrupted by Neil Wilson in the 1996–97 season. Cousins finished higher at the 1997 European Championships and was sent to the 1997 World Championships. Cousins reclaimed his national title in the 1997–98 season. After finishing ninth at the

1997 Nations Cup The 1997 Bofrost Cup on Ice, Nations Cup was the second event of six in the 1997–98 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, ISU Champions Series, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held in Gelsenkirchen on October 30 ...

, he withdrew from the 1997 Trophée Lalique. He placed sixth 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 ...

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 ...

, Japan. He was coached by Doug Leigh and Robert Tebby. Cousins retired from eligible competition in 1998 but continued to skate in shows, including touring with Stars on Ice until 2007. He has worked as a choreographer. In May 2010, he joined the International Skating School at Planet Ice,

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, and Silver Blades,

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population ...

. He was the event manager for the 2012–13 Disson skating shows.

Personal life

Cousins was born on 24 May 1972 in Chester,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He married Canadian ice dancer Kristina Lenko in June 2003. They formally separated in the summer of 2006 and subsequently divorced. With former wife Elena Berezhnaya, he has two children, a son Trystan, born on 6 October 2007, and daughter Sofia Diana, born on 21 June 2009. The couple's separation was confirmed in August 2013. Cousins has a home in Chester but lives more than half the year in

, Canada.

Programmes

Competitive highlights

''GP: Champions Series (Grand Prix)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Steven 1972 births Sportspeople from Chester British male single skaters English male single skaters Olympic figure skaters of Great Britain Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Living people Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games