Samvel (or Samuel) Gezalian (, ; born 12 September 1970) is an Armenian former competitive

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 represented 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 ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, and

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 ...

in international competition. With

Tatiana Navka Tatyana Aleksandrovna Navka (; born 13 April 1975) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer and the wife of Dmitry Peskov. With her dance partner Roman Kostomarov, she is the 2006 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (2004–05), a ...

, he is the 1991

Skate America Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event fo ...

and Nations Cup champion and placed 11th at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

for Belarus. With Ksenia Smetanenko, he 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.

Career

Early years in skating

Gezalian began learning

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. A ...

at age ten in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, where he was coached by Svetlana Rubleva and Boris Rublev. He later moved to

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 ...

. By 1985, he was skating with Maria Anikanova, coached by Tatiana Tarasova. In 1988, the duo joined

Natalia Dubova Natalia Ilinichna Dubova (; born 31 March 1948) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer. Career Competing as Natalia Bakh with partner Vladimir Pavlikhin, she won the bronze medal at the 1965 Soviet Championships. I ...

's group following Tarasova's decision to stop coaching.

Partnership with Navka

After Anikanova ended her competitive career, Gezalian teamed up with

. Representing the Soviet Union, Navka/Gezalian won gold at the 1991 Skate America and

1991 Nations Cup The Bofrost Cup on Ice was an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the German Ice Skating Union (). The first iteration was held in 1986 in Frankfurt. When the ISU launche ...

. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution, Navka/Gezalian chose to skate for Belarus. They placed ninth in their debut at the European and World Championships, in 1993. In the 1993–94 season, Navka/Gezalian won silver at the 1993 Skate Canada International and placed fourth at the

1993 NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Japan Skating Federation. The first NHK Trophy was held in 1979 in Tokyo. When the ISU launched the Champion ...

. They competed at the

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

, placing 11th, before achieving their career-best Worlds result, fifth at the 1994 World Championships in Chiba, Japan. In 1994–95, Navka/Gezalian won silver at the

1994 NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Japan Skating Federation. The first NHK Trophy was held in 1979 in Tokyo. When the ISU launched the Champion ...

and went on to achieve their best European result, fourth, at the 1995 European Championships in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

. Their partnership came to an end following the 1995 World Championships where they placed seventh.

Partnerships with Goolsbee and Smetanenko

Gezalian then teamed up with American-born Jennifer Goolsbee to represent Germany. They won the 1997

German Figure Skating Championships The German Figure Skating Championships () are an annual figure skating competition organized by the German Ice Skating Union () to crown the national champions of Germany. The first official German championships were held in 1891 in Munich; ...

. Their partnership soon ended due to Goolsbee's citizenship problems. Later in 1997, Gezalian teamed up with Ksenia Smetanenko to compete for his native Armenia. 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.

Post-competitive career

Gezalian works as a skating coach in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Results

With Smetanenko for Armenia

With Goolsbee for Germany

With Navka for Belarus and the Soviet Union

References

Skatabase: 1990s Europeans

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gezalian, Samvel Living people Armenian male ice dancers Belarusian male ice dancers Soviet male ice dancers Olympic figure skaters for Belarus Olympic figure skaters for Armenia Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Yerevan 1970 births