Ksenia Smetanenko, married name: Gonchar (, 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. A ...

who competed internationally for Russia and Armenia. With Samuel Gezalian, she is the 1997

Golden Spin of Zagreb The Golden Spin of Zagreb () is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Croatian Skating Federation () and held in Zagreb, Croatia. The competition debuted in 1973, and ...

champion and competed at the

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

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, re ...

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, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. 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: single skating, men's si ...

, they qualified a spot for Armenia at the Olympics. Smetanenko/Gezalian then won gold at the 1997

and placed 20th at the 1998 European Championships before competing at the

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

Personal life

Smetanenko was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. 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 who is currently a Defensive D ...

now assistant coach with the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

, 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 for Armenia Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Living people Figure skaters from Moscow