Ilia Izyaslavich Averbukh (, correctly spelled "Ilya"; born 18 December 1973) is a Russian

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 ...

. With his then-wife

Irina Lobacheva Irina Viktorovna Lobacheva (; born 18 February 1973) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. With partner and former husband Ilia Averbukh, she is the 2002 Olympic silver medalist, the 2002 World champion and the 2003 European champion. ...

, he is the 2002 Olympic silver medalist, the 2002

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 ...

and the 2003

European champion A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers to a ...

. With

Marina Anissina Marina Vyacheslavovna Anissina (; born 30 August 1975) is a Franco-Russian ice dancer. Competing with Gwendal Peizerat for France, she is the 2002 Olympic champion, the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2000 World champion, and a six-time ...

, he is the 1990 and 1992 World Junior champion.

Career

Averbukh started skating at the age of 5. He initially competed with

. They won two World Junior Championships (1990 and 1992). Averbukh teamed up with

in 1992. After the Goodwill Games in the summer of 1994 their coaches moved with many of their students to the United States to train at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

. Lobacheva and Averbukh joined them the next year. In September 2001, Lobacheva injured her knee in training, causing them to miss the Grand Prix season. They won the silver medal at the 2002 Olympics behind

Gwendal Peizerat Gwendal Peizerat (born 21 April 1972) is a French former competitive ice dancer. With Marina Anissina, he is the 2002 Olympic champion, the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2000 World champion, and a six-time French national champion. Pe ...

. Lobacheva / Averbukh won gold at the 2002

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 at the 2003

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. They retired from competition at the end of the 2002–2003 season.

Post-competitive career

Following his retirement from competitive skating, Averbukh became a producer of skating shows and tours. Among his projects are ''Ice Symphony/Ice Age''; ''City Lights''; ''Bolero'' (a television show pairing skaters with prima ballerinas); and ''Small Stories of a Big City'', an ice show during the 2012 Olympics in London. In January 2013, Averbukh was named an ambassador for the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

. Averbukh works as a choreographer. His past and current clients include: *

Yulia Lipnitskaya Yulia Vyacheslavovna Lipnitskaya (also spelled Julia Lipnitskaia; , ; born 5 June 1998) is a Russian retired competitive figure skater. She was part of the Russian team that won the Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Team trophy, 2 ...

Ksenia Makarova Ksenia Olegovna Makarova (, born 20 December 1992) is a retired Russian, later an American, figure skater. She is the 2010 Skate Canada International silver medalist, 2009 Cup of Nice champion, and 2010 Russian national champion. She represented ...

Evgenia Medvedeva Evgenia Armanovna Medvedeva (alt. spelling: Yevgenia Medvedeva; rus, Евгения Армановна Медведева, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪjə mʲɪˈdvʲedʲɪvə; born 19 November 1999), is a retired competitive Russian figure skater. She ...

Niina Petrõkina Niina Petrõkina (born August 14, 2004) is an Estonian figure skater. She is the 2025 European Figure Skating Championships, 2025 European champion, 2023 Skate America bronze medalist, a five-time ISU Challenger Series medalist, and a three-time ...

Elena Radionova Elena Igorevna Radionova (; born 6 January 1999) is a Russian retired competitive figure skater. She is the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships, 2015 World bronze medalist, a two-time (2015 European Figure Skating Championships, 2015–2016 ...

Sofia Samodurova Sofia Vyacheslavovna Samodurova (pronounced ''Sah-moh-DOO-roh-vah''; ; born 30 July 2002) is a retired Russian figure skater. She is the 2019 European Figure Skating Championships, 2019 European champion, the 2019 CS Ice Star champion, the 2018 ...

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Elizaveta Sergeyevna Tuktamysheva ( ; rus, Елизавета Серге́евна Туктамышева, , jɪlʲɪzɐˈvʲetə tʊktɐˈmɨʂɨvə; born 17 December 1996) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2015 World Figure Skating Cham ...

Dmitri Aliev Dmitri Sergeyevich Aliev (; born 1 June 1999) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2020 European Figure Skating Championships, 2020 European champion and the 2020 Russian Figure Skating Championships, 2020 Russian national champion. On the junio ...

Mikhail Kolyada Mikhail Sergeyevich Kolyada ( rus, Михаил Сергеевич Коляда, , mʲɪxɐˈil kəlʲɪˈda; born 18 February 1995) is a Russian figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the 2018 World bronze meda ...

Maxim Kovtun Maxim Pavlovich Kovtun (; born 18 June 1995) is a retired Russian figure skater. He is a three-time European medalist (silver in 2015 and 2017, bronze in 2016) and four-time (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019) Russian national champion. On the junior level, ...

Evgeni Semenenko Evgeni Stanislavovich Semenenko ( rus, Евгений Станиславович Семененко, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj sʲɪmʲɪˈnʲenkə; born 26 July 2003) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2021 Skate Canada bronze medalist and a two ...

* Sergei Voronov *

Elena Ilinykh Elena Ruslanovna Ilinykh (; born 25 April 1994) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. With partner Ruslan Zhiganshin, she is the 2015 Russian national champion. With former partner Nikita Katsalapov, she is a 2014 Olympic champion in th ...

Ruslan Zhiganshin Ruslan Nailevich Zhiganshin (; born 25 September 1992) is a retired Russian ice dancer. With partner Elena Ilinykh, he is the 2015 Russian national champion. With former partner Victoria Sinitsina, he is the 2012 World Junior champion and won ...

Alexandra Stepanova Alexandra Nikolayevna Stepanova (; born 19 August 1995) is a Russian ice dancer. With her skating partner, Ivan Bukin, she is a five-time European medalist (silver in 2019 European Figure Skating Championships, 2019 an2022 bronze in 2015 Europe ...

Ivan Bukin Ivan Andreyevich Bukin (; born 16 September 1993) is a Russian ice dancer. With his skating partner, Alexandra Stepanova, he is a five-time European medalist (silver in 2019 an2022 bronze in 2015, 2018 and 2020), the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki ...

Nelli Zhiganshina Nelli Nailevna Zhiganshina (; born 31 March 1987) is a Russian-born German ice dancer. With Alexander Gazsi, she is a six-time German national champion (2007, 2011–2015) and has won twelve international medals. They have placed as high as 6t ...

Alexander Gazsi Alexander Gazsi (born 6 October 1984) is a German ice dancer. With partner Nelli Zhiganshina, he is a six-time German national champion (2007, 2011–2015) and has won twelve international medals. They have placed as high as 6th at the European ...

Programs

(with Lobacheva)

Results

With Lobacheva

With Anissina

Hall of Fame

Averbukh is Jewish and elected to the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

's induction class of 2015.

Other sports

Averbukh will play a role in the opening ceremony of the

2016 Bandy World Championship Bandy World Championship 2016, the XXXVI Bandy World Championship, was held with Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, as host region. Most of the games were played at the Volga-Sport-Arena in Ulyanovsk. Because of its higher spectator capacity, the group sta ...

Personal life

Lobacheva and Averbukh married in 1995. Their son, Martin, was born in 2004. They divorced in 2007. Since December 20, 2020, he has been married to the Russian actress Elizaveta Arzamasova. On August 14, 2021, the couple had a son.

Politics

In February 2023, he stated that Russian athletes should boycott the Olympics if the pre-requisite for their participation is the condemnation of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In April, Averbukh was sanctioned by the

Ukrainian government The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed on 18 April 1991, by the Law ...

, with all his assets in Ukraine frozen and a 50-year ban on entering the country, due to his support for the invasion.

References

External links

*
Official website of Lobacheva and Averbukh

Jews in Sports bio

Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh divorce
{{DEFAULTSORT:Averbukh, Ilia 1973 births Russian male ice dancers Jewish Russian sportspeople 21st-century Russian sportsmen Olympic figure skaters for Russia Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic silver medalists for Russia Figure skaters from Moscow Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating Goodwill Games medalists in figure skating Season-end world number one figure skaters FISU World University Games gold medalists for Russia Competitors at the 1995 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Russian sportsmen