Oksana Grishuk

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vladimirovna and the family name is Grishuk.

Oksana (Pasha) Vladimirovna Grishuk (Russian: Оксана (Паша) Владимировна Грищук, Ukrainian: Оксана (Пашу) Володимирівна Грищук; born 17 March 1972) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. She is best known for her partnership with Evgeni Platov from 1989 to 1998. With Platov, she is a two-time Olympic champion (1994, 1998), four-time World champion (1994–1997), and three-time European champion (1996–1998). With previous partner Alexandr Chichkov, she is the 1988 World Junior champion.

Oksana Grishuk
Grishuk and Platov at the 1994 European Championships
Full name	Oksana Vladimirovna Grishuk
Other names	Oksana Grishuk/Grishuk Pasha Grishuk
Born	(1972-03-17) 17 March 1972 (age 52)^[1] Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Odesa, Ukraine)
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Figure skating career
Skating club	Sportsclub Dinamo
Retired	March 1998
Medal record Figure skating: Ice dancing Representing  Russia Winter Olympics 1998 Nagano Ice dancing 1994 Lillehammer Ice dancing World Championships 1997 Lausanne Ice dancing 1996 Edmonton Ice dancing 1995 Birmingham Ice dancing 1994 Chiba Ice dancing 1993 Prague Ice dancing European Championships 1998 Milan Ice dancing 1997 Paris Ice dancing 1996 Sofia Ice dancing 1994 Copenhagen Ice dancing 1993 Helsinki Ice dancing Grand Prix Final 1997–98 Munich Ice dancing 1995–96 Paris Ice dancing Representing  CIS ( Unified Team) World Championships 1992 Oakland Ice dancing European Championships 1992 Lausanne Ice dancing Representing  Soviet Union World Junior Championships 1988 Brisbane Ice dancing 1987 Kitchener Ice dancing

Personal life

The skater's name is most commonly romanized as Oksana Grishuk but other variations exist. The Cyrillic shcha ("щ") may be transliterated as 'sh' to reflect modern Russian pronunciation or, alternatively, as 'shch' (scholarly šč) to reflect the older pronunciation, which is still common in Ukrainian. In the early 1990s, her surname sometimes appeared erroneously as Gritschuk.

Grishuk was born in Odessa (Odesa), Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Her father abandoned the family before she was one.^[2] Her mother was an economic engineer.^[2] They moved to Moscow in 1980. Grishuk studied at the Sport University of Moscow from 1988 to 1992. She moved from Moscow to Newark, Delaware in 1994 and then to Marlborough, Massachusetts in 1996. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California with her daughter, Skyler Marie Grace Grishuk.^[2]

Career

Grishuk began skating at the age of four. After moving to Moscow, she was turned away by several clubs before a coach finally accepted her.^[2] She began training under Natalia Linichuk at the age of 12.^[2] Grishuk initially competed with Alexandr Chichkov for the Soviet Union. In 1987, they won the silver medal at the World Junior Championships. The following year, they won gold at the event,^[3] as well as the Soviet Championships. They competed one more season and won bronze at the Grand Prix International de Paris (now known as Trophée Eric Bompard). He retired in the summer of 1989 due to injury.^[4]

Grishuk was invited to join Natalia Dubova's group where she was partnered with Evgeni Platov. They trained in Moscow.^[5] Three months later, in December 1989, they won the bronze medal at the Soviet Championships. They were fifth in their World Championship debut in 1990. Their first European and World medals, both bronze, came at the 1992 European Championships and 1992 World Championships.

Due to tensions between Grishuk and Maya Usova in the summer of 1992,^[5] Grishuk left the group.^[6] Dubova found a new partner for Platov while Grishuk briefly searched for a new partner in Germany before returning to Moscow and her previous coach, Natalia Linichuk.^[5] Platov decided not to follow Dubova and re-teamed with Grishuk in the fall of 1992.^[5]

During the 1992–93 season, Grishuk and Platov won European and World silver medals. In 1993–94, they won silver at the European Championships. They won their first Olympic title at the 1994 Olympics.^[7] They ended the season with their first World title at the 1994 World Championships. They then left Russia and moved with Linichuk to Newark, Delaware for better training and living conditions.^[6] Grishuk and Platov missed most of 1994–95 due to injury but returned to win the 1995 World Championships. They had a full season in 1995–96 and won another set of European and World titles.

In 1996, Grishuk and Platov split from Linichuk and moved to Tatiana Tarasova in Marlborough, Massachusetts.^[6] Injury kept them out of competition in the first half of the 1996–97 season but they returned to win their second European and fourth World title. In September 1997, she changed her first name to Pasha after being repeatedly confused with Oksana Baiul,^[6] but later went back to Oksana.

In 1997–98, Grishuk and Platov used Memorial Requiem by Michael Nymann for the music in their free skating program and dedicated it to the people of Sarajevo. Writer and figure skating historian Ellyn Kestnbaum called it "an intense, relentless, abstract free dance".^[8]

They won their third European Championships. At the event, they were slashed in a practice collision with Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov but were not seriously hurt and both teams said it was an accident.^[9] Grishuk and Platov competed at their third Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, where they became the first ice dancers to repeat as gold medalists.^[6][10]

Grishuk and Platov won 20 consecutive competitions from 1994 to 1998.^[6] They were entered in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998 for becoming the only team in the history of ice dancing to win Olympic gold twice. Grishuk and Platov combined speed and difficult elements, and displayed their mastery of numerous styles of dance.^[6][11] On their partnership, Platov said in 1998: "It's like being a husband and a wife. Sometimes, you fight. Sometimes, you walk away and calm down. I met her a long time ago, and I still remember her as a little girl on the ice. She was so little. So active. Usually, little girls are boring. But that girl. Oh, there was a fire on ice."^[9] He also said: "It's hard to change her mind. She fights every step. But it works out. That's why she is so good."^[6]

Grishuk and Platov retired from competition and did not compete at the 1998 World Championships. They skated together in shows until the summer of 1998. Platov then decided to skate with their former rival Maya Usova. Grishuk teamed up with Alexander Zhulin with whom she skated one year. She also appeared in Cinderella and Nutcracker shows as a solo skater and with partners.^[12]

In 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin awarded Grishuk with a government medal of Friendship for highest achievement in sport. In 1998, Yeltsin awarded Grishuk with a government medal of Labor also for highest achievement in sport.

In 2006, Grishuk was a celebrity judge on the WE tv series Skating's Next Star, created and produced by Major League Figure Skating and hosted by Kristi Yamaguchi. Also in 2006, Grishuk won Dance on Ice, a Russian celebrity skating show in Moscow, and was third in 2007. Grishuk and Platov reunited in February 2008 in Nagano, Japan for their ten-year anniversary of winning the 1998 Olympic gold medal.^[13] Grishuk coaches at the KHS Arena in Anaheim, California.^[2]

Programs

(with Platov)

Season	Original dance	Free dance	Exhibition
1997–1998	Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley	Memorial Requiem by Michael Nyman	Frozen by Madonna You'll See by Madonna Foxy Lady by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1996–1997	Libertango by Ástor Piazzolla	The Feeling Begins by Peter Gabriel	You'll See by Madonna
1995–1996	España cañí	Muchachita by Perez Prado Mambo Jambo (a.k.a. Que Rico El Mambo) by Perez Prado Bogota by Gil Ventura	I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston
1994–1995	Girls Girls Girls	Steppin' Out	Adagio in G minor by Remo Giazotto, Tomaso Albinoni
1993–1994	Historia de um Amor	Rock Around the Clock	Swing the Mood by Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston
1992–1993	Aquarell	St. James Infirmary Blues	Aquarell Viennese Waltz
1991–1992	Polka	Schön Rosmarin Liebesleid by Fritz Kreisler performed by Kryzler & Kompany
1990–1991	Blues Blue by K. Schneider	Tarantella 'O Sole Mio Funiculì, Funiculà
1989–1990	Moliendo Café by Hugo Blanco	Sirtaki from Zorba the Greek by Mikis Theodorakis

(with Zhulin)

Season	Programs
1998–1999	Un-Break My Heart by Toni Braxton Smooth Operator by Sade Enigma

Results

With Platov

International
Event	1989–90 (URS)	1990–91 (URS)	1991–92 (URS/CIS)	1992–93 (RUS)	1993–94 (RUS)	1994–95 (RUS)	1995–96 (RUS)	1996–97 (RUS)	1997–98 (RUS)
Olympics			4th		1st				1st
Worlds	5th	4th	3rd	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st
Europeans	5th	5th	3rd	2nd	2nd		1st	1st	1st
CS (GP) Final							1st		1st
GP TDF / Lalique							1st		1st
GP NHK Trophy	2nd		2nd		1st				1st
GP Skate America							1st
Centennial On Ice							1st
National
Russian Champ.				1st			1st
Soviet Champ.	3rd	2nd	1st
GP = Champions Series (Grand Prix)

With Chichkov

International
Event	1986–87	1987–88	1988–89
International de Paris			3rd
Prize of Moscow News			4th
International: Junior
World Junior Champ.	2nd	1st
National: Junior
Soviet Championships		1st

References

1. "ГРИЩУ́К". Great Russian Encyclopedia. 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2023. (in Russian)
2. Smith, Marcia C. (10 December 2012). "A coach with passion". The Orange County Register.
3. (PDF). International Skating Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013.
4. "Oksana Grishuk & Evgeny Platov". IceNetwork.com.
5. Hersh, Phil (22 February 1994). "Love Triangle (plus 1) Tops Torvill And Dean". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
6. Longman, Jere (2 January 1998). "SKATING; Dancing on the Sharp Edge of Her Skates". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
7. Harvey, Randy (22 February 1994). "'94 WINTER LILLEHAMMER OLYMPICS : Torvill and Dean Must Face Music as Russians Win : Ice dancing: British routine doesn't go over with judges. Gritschuk and Platov get gold". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2011.
8. Kestnbaum, Ellyn (2003). Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning. Middleton, Connecticut: Wesleyan Publishing Press. p. 244. ISBN 0-8195-6641-1.
9. Glauber, Bill (12 February 1998). "Grishuk, fire on and off ice, dances to own beat in Games; Never a dull moment in Russian's career as she, Platov pursue gold". The Baltimore Sun. from the original on 24 December 2011.
10. Frey, Jennifer (16 February 1998). "Basic Instinct for the Gold, and an Oscar". The Washington Post. from the original on 4 March 2016.
11. . Time. 16 February 1998. Archived from the original on 29 January 2011.
12. Mittan, Barry (6 January 2002). "Grishuk Stars in Cinderella Nutcracker Tour". Golden Skate. from the original on 12 May 2008.
13. . Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2009.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oksana Grishuk.

• Oksana Grishuk's official website