Elena Germanovna Buianova (, née Vodorezova, Водорезова; born 21 May 1963) is a Russian figure skating coach and retired competitive skater who represented the Soviet Union. She is the 1983 World bronze medalist and three-time European medalist.
Career
Vodorezova was coached by Stanislav Zhuk at the Armed Forces sports society in Moscow. A gifted free-skater, she represented her country at the 1976 Winter Olympics aged just 12. She was the first skater to complete a double flip-triple toe loop combination. She was noted for a spectacularly high double Axel and fast spins. She won the bronze medal at the 1978 European Championships; it was the first time a Soviet ladies' single skater had won a medal at the event. She missed the 1979–1981 seasons completely due to severe juvenile arthritis, which prevented her from even walking for months in 1979.
She won a second bronze medal at the 1982 Europeans and silver at the 1983 event. She also won bronze at the 1983 World Championships – the first World medal for a Soviet female single skater. Vodorezova placed 8th at the 1984 Winter Olympics. She retired from competition in 1984. That year, she married a former skater, Sergey Buianov, and in 1987 gave birth to a son, Ivan.
She began coaching at the CSKK Club in Moscow. Irina Tagaeva often choreographs for her students. Her former pupils include: Adelina Sotnikova Maxim Kovtun Elene Gedevanishvili Olga Markova Andrei Griazev Artem Borodulin Artur Dmitriev Jr Denis Ten Alexander Samarin Adian Pitkeev Alexandra Proklova Maria Sotskova Anastasiia Gubanova Polina Tsurskaya Elena Radionova Egor Rukhin Brendan Kerry
Buianova's current students include:
Artur Danielian Alena Kostornaia
Competitive highlights International Event 76–77 77–78 79–80 81–82 82–83 83–84 Olympics 12th 8th Worlds 11th 7th 6th WD 5th 3rd Europeans 8th 5th 3rd 3rd 2nd WD Moscow News 1st 1st National Soviet Champ. 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st WD = Withdrew
References