Ilia Averbukh

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Izyaslavich and the family name is Averbukh.

Ilia Izyaslavich Averbukh (Russian: Илья Изяславич Авербух, correctly spelled "Ilya"; born 18 December 1973) is a Russian ice dancer. With his then-wife Irina Lobacheva, he is the 2002 Olympic silver medalist,^[1][2] the 2002 World champion and the 2003 European champion.

Ilia Averbukh
Born	(1973-12-18) 18 December 1973 (age 51) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Russia
Skating club	Dynamo Moscow
Began skating	1979
Retired	2003
Medal record Figure skating Ice dancing Representing  Russia Olympic Games 2002 Salt Lake City Ice dancing World Championships 2003 Washington, D.C. Ice dancing 2002 Nagano Ice dancing 2001 Vancouver Ice dancing European Championships 2003 Malmö Ice dancing 2002 Lausanne Ice dancing 2001 Bratislava Ice dancing 1999 Prague Ice dancing Grand Prix Final 2002–2003 St. Petersburg Ice dancing 2000–2001 Tokyo Ice dancing 1998–1999 St. Petersburg Ice dancing World Junior Championships 1992 Hull Ice dancing 1990 Colorado Springs Ice dancing

With Marina Anissina, he is the 1990 and 1992 World Junior champion.^[3]

Career

Averbukh started skating at the age of 5. He initially competed with Marina Anissina. They won two World Junior Championships (1990 and 1992).^[3] Averbukh teamed up with Irina Lobacheva in 1992.^[4] After the Goodwill Games in the summer of 1994 their coaches moved with many of their students to the United States to train at the University of Delaware. Lobacheva and Averbukh joined them the next year.^[4]

In September 2001, Lobacheva injured her knee in training, causing them to miss the Grand Prix season.^[4] They won the silver medal at the 2002 Olympics behind Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat.

Lobacheva / Averbukh won gold at the 2002 World Championships and at the 2003 European Championships. They retired from competition at the end of the 2002–2003 season.^[5][6]

Post-competitive career

Following his retirement from competitive skating, Averbukh became a producer of skating shows and tours.^[7] Among his projects are Ice Symphony/Ice Age; City Lights; Bolero (a television show pairing skaters with prima ballerinas);^[8][9] and Small Stories of a Big City, an ice show during the 2012 Olympics in London.^[10] In January 2013, Averbukh was named an ambassador for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.^{[citation needed]}

Averbukh works as a choreographer. His past and current clients include:

• Yulia Lipnitskaya
• Ksenia Makarova
• Evgenia Medvedeva
• Niina Petrõkina^[11]
• Elena Radionova
• Sofia Samodurova
• Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
• Dmitri Aliev
• Mikhail Kolyada
• Maxim Kovtun
• Evgeni Semenenko
• Sergei Voronov
• Elena Ilinykh/Ruslan Zhiganshin
• Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin
• Nelli Zhiganshina/Alexander Gazsi

Programs

(with Lobacheva)

Season	Original dance	Free dance	Exhibition
2002–2003 [4][12]	The Blue Danube Unter Donner und Blitz by Johann Strauss II	Baby Face version by Little Richard Fever version by Elvis Presley Jumpin' Jack performed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
2001–2002 [12][13]	Tanguera by M. Mores Bulerias Magna Mafa by Thomas Espanner	To Everything There is a Season Time for Peace by Rita Ronde de Vigo (Cembalo beginning and end)
2000–2001 [12][14]	Foxtrot: Come into my house Quickstep: Dancing Fool	Toccata from Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 Johann Sebastian Bach	The Same Sun by Chris de Burgh Hava Nagila performed by Russian Jewish Choir
1999–2000 [12]	Ritmo de Bom Bom by Vimi Rhumba de le more	Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber Alegría (Cirque du Soleil) Release (from Afro-Celt 2) by Sinéad O'Connor
1998–1999 [12]	Die Fledermaus The Gypsy Baron by Johann Strauss II	Diablo	Tutti Frutti by Little Richard
1997–1998 [12]	Tutti Frutti by Little Richard	Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber
1996–1997 [12]	Argentine Tango:	The Mask	This Business of Love (from The Mask) by Domino
1995–1996 [12]	Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona	O Sole Mio Santa Lucia Tarantella	Malagueña
1994–1995 [12]	Sing, Sing, Sing	Hava Nagila
1993–1994 [12]	Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps	Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms

Results

With Lobacheva

Results[4][13][14]
International
Event	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–00	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Olympics					5th				2nd
Worlds	13th	15th	6th	7th	4th	4th	4th	3rd	1st	2nd
Europeans		9th	5th	5th	4th	3rd	4th	3rd	3rd	1st
Grand Prix Final				5th	4th	3rd	4th	2nd		1st
GP Cup of Russia			2nd	2nd	2nd			2nd		1st
GP Int. Paris/Lalique	1st							2nd
GP Nations Cup			3rd	4th
GP NHK Trophy		8th				2nd	2nd			1st
GP Skate America			2nd	2nd		2nd	2nd
GP Skate Canada			4th		3rd
Goodwill Games	2nd				2nd
National
Russian Champ.	2nd	3rd	3rd	1st	2nd	2nd	1st	1st	1st

With Anissina

Results[3]
International
Event	1989–1990	1990–1991	1991–1992
World Junior Championships	1st	4th	1st

Hall of Fame

Averbukh is Jewish^[15][16][17] and elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame's induction class of 2015.^[18]

Other sports

Averbukh will play a role in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Bandy World Championship.^[19][20]

Personal life

Lobacheva and Averbukh married in 1995.^[4] Their son, Martin, was born in 2004. They divorced in 2007.

Since December 20, 2020, he has been married to the Russian actress Elizaveta Arzamasova.^[21]

On August 14, 2021, the couple had a son.^[22]

Politics

In February 2023, he stated that Russian athletes should boycott the Olympics if the pre-requisite for their participation is the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[23] In April, Averbukh was sanctioned by the Ukrainian government, with all his assets in Ukraine frozen and a 50-year ban on entering the country, due to his support for the invasion.^[24]

See also

• List of select Jewish figure skaters