Oksana Kazakova - Career

Career

Kazakova began skating at age three or four. In 1982, she was admitted into Saint Petersburg's Yubileyny. She took up pair skating in 1988 and skated with Andrei Mokhov for several years. The pair was 4th at the 1991 World Junior Championships but split after the event. Kazakova's coaches, Natalia Pavlova and V. Teslia, paired her with Dmitri Sukhanov, with whom she competed for four seasons. Svetlana Korol was their choreographer. The pair won a bronze medal at the 1992 Nations Cup and finished 15th at the 1993 World Championships. Their partnership ended after the 1995 Russian Championships.

Kazakova teamed up with Artur Dmitriev in February 1995. Dmitriev was much more experienced, having already competed at two Olympics with Natalia Mishkutenok and won two Olympic medals, gold in 1992 and silver in 1994. Although Mishkutenok decided to retire from competition in 1994, Dmitriev wanted to continue his competitive career and eventually chose Kazakova who also trained in Saint Petersburg. Tamara Moskvina coached them at Yubileyny. Their choreographers were Alexander Matveev, David Avdish, and Moskvina. Early in their partnership, Kazakova and Dmitriev missed six months when she injured her leg. They won the 1996 European Championships and bronze at the 1997 World Championships. In 1998, they won the Olympic title in Nagano, Japan. Kazakova said, "I wanted very much to prove myself and I did." The pair retired from competition but continued to skate in shows.

Kazakova is now a coach at Yubileyny, also known as SDUSHOR St. Petersburg, alongside Moskvina. She coaches Katarina Gerboldt / Alexander Enbert and Kamila Gainetdinova / Ivan Bich.