Marina Nikolayevna Pestova, married surname: Akbarov, (, born 20 December 1964) is a former pair skater who competed for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. With her skating partner,

Stanislav Leonovich Stanislav Viktorovich Leonovich (; 22 July 1958 – 1 July 2022) was a Russian figure skating coach and pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his skating partner, Marina Pestova, he became a two-time World medalist (silver in 198 ...

, she became a two-time

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

medalist (silver in 1982, bronze in 1980), a two-time European medalist (silver in 1982, bronze in 1980), and a three-time Soviet national champion. The pair competed at the 1980 Winter Olympics, placing fourth.

Personal life

Pestova was born on 20 December 1964 in Sverdlovsk,

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

, Soviet Union. She married fellow pair skater Marat Akbarov, with whom she has a daughter, Angela.

Career

Early years

Pestova began skating in 1968 at the Spartak Skating Club in Sverdlovsk (now

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

) with coach Igor Ksenofontov. She moved to Moscow in 1976 to train with

Stanislav Zhuk Stanislav Alekseyevich Zhuk (, ; 25 January 1935 – 1 November 1998) was a pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his wife Nina Zhuk, Nina, he won three silver medals at the European Figure Skating Championships and finished sixth at ...

. In the 1976–77 season, she competed in partnership with Mikhail Vazhenin.

Partnership with Leonovich

Pestova teamed up with

in 1977. In the 1977–78 season, they won silver at the Soviet Championships and were granted their European and World Championship debuts, placing 7th at both competitions. They began the next season by winning gold at the

Prize of Moscow News The Prize of ''Moscow News'' (), also known as the Moscow Skate, Nouvelles de Moscou, and the Moscow News Trophy, was an international, senior-level figure skating competition held in the Soviet Union from 1966 to 1990 (excluding 1989, in 1990 was ...

. They placed fourth at Europeans and 5th at Worlds in 1979. In the 1979–80 season, Pestova/Leonovich won their first national title and went on to win bronze at the 1980 European Championships. The pair was sent to the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

in Lake Placid and finished fourth. They were bronze medalists at their final event of the season, the 1980 World Championships. The following season, Pestova/Leonovich placed fourth at the Soviet Championships and did not receive any assignments. They rebounded in 1981–82, taking their second national title and then winning silver at both the 1982 European Championships and 1982 World Championships. In their final competitive season, Pestova/Leonovich won their third national title and placed sixth at the 1983 World Championships.

Post-competitive

After retiring from competition, Pestova performed with the Russian All Stars under the direction of Tatiana Tarasova. She now coaches at the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy in

Wheaton, Maryland Wheaton is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, situated north of Washington, D.C., and northwest of downtown Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), a career officer in the Uni ...

Competitive highlights

With Leonovich

With Vazhenin

References

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pestova, Marina 1964 births Living people Russian female pair skaters Soviet female pair skaters Olympic figure skaters for the Soviet Union Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters from Yekaterinburg People from Wheaton, Maryland Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Maryland 20th-century Russian sportswomen