Oleg Vasiliev (figure skater)

Oleg Vasiliev
Valova and Vasiliev in 1987
Personal information
Full name	Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev
Country represented	Soviet Union / Russia
Born	(1959-11-22) 22 November 1959 (age 57) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) – 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Former partner	Elena Valova
Former coach	Tamara Moskvina
Retired	1988
Medal record Representing  Soviet Union Figure skating: Pairs Olympic Games 1984 Sarajevo Pairs 1988 Calgary Pairs World Championships 1983 Helsinki Pairs 1985 Tokyo Pairs 1988 Budapest Pairs 1984 Ottawa Pairs 1986 Geneva Pairs 1987 Cincinnati Pairs European Championships 1984 Budapest Pairs 1985 Gothenburg Pairs 1986 Copenhagen Pairs 1983 Dortmund Pairs 1987 Sarajevo Pairs

Oleg Kimovich Vasiliev (Russian: Олег Кимович Васильев; born 22 November 1959) is a Russian former pair skater who competed internationally for the Soviet Union. With partner Elena Valova, he is the 1984 Olympic champion, 1988 Olympic silver medalist, and three-time World Champion (1983, 1985, 1988). Their coach throughout their career was Tamara Moskvina. After retiring from competition, Vasiliev became a coach, leading the pair of Tatiana Totmianina / Maxim Marinin to the 2006 Olympic title.

Vasiliev was born in Leningrad (modern-day Saint Petersburg), Russian SFSR, to parents Ludmila Konstantinovna Vasilieva, a nurse, and Kim Mikhailovich Vasiliev. He graduated from the Institute for Physical Culture in Saint Petersburg.

Vasiliev moved to Chicago, Illinois in December 1997. He was married to Valova from 1984 to 1992. He later married a Saint Petersburg resident named Valentina (divorced in 2000), with whom he has a daughter, Katia. His first daughter was born c. 1994.

Around 2013, Vasiliev married his third wife, Natalia, who is from Moscow. As of August 2016, the couple lives in Moscow with their daughter Varvara (born c. 2014).

Vasiliev's parents decided to introduce him to skating when he was five because he had had pneumonia several times as a child and his doctor recommended an outdoor activity. As a single skater, Vasiliev won a Junior national title.

Coach Tamara Moskvina invited Vasiliev to switch to pair skating several times before he agreed, at age 18. Initially, he was physically ill-suited for the discipline and had much work to develop his muscles. He and his first partner, Larisa Selezneva, argued incessantly and split after three months. Moskvina then paired him with Elena Valova, with whom he continued to train in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg).