Elena Bechke
| Elena Betchke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Elena Yurievna Betchke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternative names | Yelena Bechke Elena Betchke |
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| Country represented |
 Unified Team CIS Soviet Union
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| Born |
January 7, 1966 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
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| Height | 1.58 m (5 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former partner |
Denis Petrov Valery Kornienko |
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| Former coach | Tamara Moskvina | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former choreographer | Alexander Matveev Valeri Pecherski |
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Medal record
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| Olympic medal record | ||
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Representing the  Unified Team
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| Figure skating | ||
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1992 Albertville | Pairs |
Elena Yurievna Bechke (Russian: Елена Юрьевна Бечке; born January 7, 1966) is a Russian former pair skater. She competed for the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Unified Team. With partner Denis Petrov, she is the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, the 1989 World bronze medalist, and the 1991 and 1992 European silver medalist.
As a young skater, Bechke was told by her coaches that she had no talent and that she should quit skating. She did not give up and skated with Valery Kornienko from 1979 to 1987. Their notable competitions included a gold medal at the inaugural pairs event of the 1984 Skate Canada International, as well as the 1986 European Championships, where they won the bronze.
Bechke began skating with Denis Petrov, two years her junior, in 1987. They trained with Tamara Moskvina at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg. They won their first international title at the 1988 Grand Prix International de Paris, although they missed the 1988 Olympic team as they finished fourth at the Soviet Figure Skating Championships. Their first appearance at the Worlds was at the 1989 World Championships. Again, Bechke and Petrov had finished fourth and initially did not qualify for the Soviet Worlds team, but they won a skate-off to replace an injured team. They captured the bronze medal at their first Worlds showing, but they again placed fourth at the Soviet Nationals in 1990, missing the World Championships. In 1991, they placed third at the Nationals and fourth at the Worlds. In 1992, they won the Soviet Nationals over the teams of Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov and Marina Eltsova and Andrei Bushkov (Bechke and Petrov's training partners and chief rivals, Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev, missed the Nationals but qualified for the Olympics as they were the reigning World Champions). Bechke and Petrov also won silver medals at the 1991 and 1992 European Championships, and the silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games behind Mishkutenok and Dmitriev. Their choreographer was Alexander Matveev. They retired from amateur competition after the 1992 Worlds.
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