Michael Zenezini (30 September 1980) is a French

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 Melanie Espejo, he placed fifth at the

1998 World Junior Championships 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 ...

. In 2011, he performed on ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their pr ...

'' with Chloe Madeley.

Skating career

Competitive

Zenezini grew up in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

and began skating at the age of eight. He competed in

ice dancing 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 ...

and won the French junior title with Melanie Espejo. They were assigned to the 1997 World Junior Championships in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, South Korea and finished ninth. The following season, they placed fifth at the

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

, Canada. Zenezini also competed briefly with Nathalie Péchalat and

Véronique Delobel Véronique Delobel (born 17 June 1978) is a French former competitive ice dancer. With Olivier Chapuis, she is the 2000 Ondrej Nepela Memorial champion and competed on the senior Grand Prix series. She later competed briefly with Michael Zenezi ...

. He retired from competition in 2002.

Ice shows

Zenezini later appeared in ice shows. He spent six years with ''Holiday on Ice'' and then skated in ''Hot Ice''. His partners included Lindsey Woolstencroft, Carole Azario, and Suzanna Dagger. In 2011, Zenezini joined series six of the U.K. television programme ''

'' as Chloe Madeley's partner.

Personal life

Zenezini lives near

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ci ...

with his wife, Barbara Maros, a Hungarian skater.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenezini, Michael 1980 births Living people French male ice dancers Sportspeople from Lyon