Vladimir Nikolayevich Kovalev

Vladimir Kovalyov
nation	Soviet Union
birthday	February 2, 1953
place of birth	Moscow
Career
discipline	Single run
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 1 × 0 × World Cup medals 2 × 2 × 1 × EM medals 1 × 4 × 1 ×
winter Olympics silver Innsbruck 1976 Men's  World figure skating championships bronze Calgary 1972 Men's silver Colorado Springs 1975 Men's silver Gothenburg 1976 Men's gold Tokyo 1977 Men's gold Vienna 1979 Men's  European figure skating championships gold Copenhagen 1975 Men's silver Geneva 1976 Men's silver Helsinki 1977 Men's silver Strasbourg 1978 Men's silver Zagreb 1979 Men's bronze Gothenburg 1980 Men's

Wladimir Nikolajewitsch Kowaljow ( Russian Владимир Николаевич Ковалёв ; born February 2, 1953 in Moscow ) is a former Soviet figure skater who started in a single run . He is the world champion of 1977 and 1979 and the European Champion of 1975 .

In 1972 he was surprisingly Soviet champion and promptly won the bronze medal at his first world championship behind Ondrej Nepela and compatriot Sergei Tschetwerukhin . In the same year he finished his first European Championship in sixth and his first Olympic Games in eighth. After the season he began to train with Sergei Tschetwerukhin. After he did not take part in any competition in 1973 and narrowly missed a medal at the European Championships and the World Championships in 1974 when he came fourth, in 1975 he won his first major international title by winning the European Championships in Copenhagen . He also became vice world champion behind his compatriot Sergei Volkov . In 1976 he was runner-up in Europe , runner-up in the world and Olympic silver medalist , in all cases behind the British John Curry . At the Olympic Games, his silver medal was controversial because despite mistakes he ended up ahead of Jan Hoffmann and Toller Cranston , which the audience disliked. 1977 in Tokyo , Kowaljow won his first world championship title just ahead of Jan Hoffmann, to whom he had to admit defeat at the European championship . Also in 1978 and 1979 he was defeated by Hoffmann at the European Championships and had to be content with silver. 1979 in Vienna , however, Kowaljow was able to win his second world championship title, ahead of Robin Cousins and Jan Hoffmann. In 1980 he won bronze again at the European Championships , but gave up at the Olympic Games after he was fifth after compulsory. The official reason was illness; allegedly he was forced to resign by Soviet officials because of his poor constitution.

After his resignation he started to work as a trainer in Moscow and from 1990 in Greece . His students included Kira Ivanova , with whom he also had a relationship in the eighties, Marija Butyrskaja and Natalja Lebedewa .

Results

Competition / year	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980
winter Olympics	8th.				2.				Z
World championships	3.		4th	2.	2.	1.	4th	1.
European championships	6th		4th	1.	2.	2.	2.	2.	3.
Soviet championships	1.		3.	3.		1.	2.

• Z = withdrawn

Web links

• Wladimir Nikolajewitsch Kowaljow in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )