Two passengers on the American Airways jet that crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday evening had been world-class ice skaters who labored as coaches in the USA. The skaters, two champions from Russia, shared a partnership each on the ice and in marriage.
The Skating Membership of Boston confirmed in a social media submit on Thursday that Yevgeniya Shishkova, 52, and Vadim Naumov, 55, had been on the aircraft that collided with a army helicopter because it approached Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport, resulting in the crash that killed everybody on board. Many passengers had been athletes and coaches leaving the U.S. Determine Skating nationwide championships in Wichita. Kan.
Ms. Shishkova, also called Evgenia Shishkova, and Mr. Naumov competed for Russia in pair determine skating earlier than shifting to the USA in 1998. They had been married of their native St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1995.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, Mr. Naumov and Ms. Shishkova reached the highest of their careers. They received gold in pair skating on the World Skating Championship in Japan in 1994, and took part within the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. Total, they skated in six World Championships, successful a set of gold, silver and bronze medals.
They didn’t qualify for the 1998 Olympics and ended their skating careers to develop into coaches. Like {many professional} Russian skaters, they moved to America whereas Russia skilled a pointy financial downturn after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
They settled in Simsbury, Conn., the place they joined the Worldwide Skating Heart of Connecticut. Aside from teaching, they took half in skilled tournaments.
The teaching was not all the time simple. Talking with the Yankee Journal of New England in 2007, Mr. Naumov stated that in the USA, youngsters “are overexposed to competitors.”
“Mother and father need to see outcomes for what they’re paying for, and coaches need to present these outcomes,” he stated. “In Russia the federal government paid for our coaching. I practiced with a gaggle, and I didn’t begin to actually compete till I used to be 15.”
On his profile web page for The Skating Membership of Boston, Mr. Naumov stated that he liked “to create an surroundings the place college students have enjoyable whereas working onerous.”
Juliet Macur contributed reporting.