Sergei Shakhrai
| Sergei Shakhrai | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Sergei Semenovich Shakhrai | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |
 Soviet Union
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| Born | June 28, 1958 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former partner | Marina Cherkasova | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former coach | Stanislav Zhuk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Olympic medal record | ||
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| Figure skating | ||
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1980 Lake Placid | Pairs |
Sergei Semenovich Shakhrai (Russian: Серге́й Семёнович Шахрай; born June 28, 1958 in Soviet Union) is a Russian retired pair skater. With partner Marina Cherkasova, he is the 1980 Olympic silver medalist, 1980 World champion, and 1979 European champion.
Cherkasova and Shakhrai trained in Moscow with Stanislav Zhuk. Their main rivals included fellow Soviets Irina Rodnina / Alexander Zaitsev, whom they never defeated, Irina Vorobieva / Igor Lisovsky, Marina Pestova / Stanislav Leonovich, and Veronika Pershina / Marat Akbarov.
Cherkasova and Shakhrai were 12 and 18 respectively when they were paired together. Initially, there was a 35 cm height difference between the pair, with Cherkasova only 138 cm tall.
With his 12-year-old partner, he won the bronze at their first European Championship in 1977. Their height difference facilitated innovation in twist and lift elements; they became the first pair to perform the split quadruple twist in 1978. Later, the judging standards were changed to value physical harmony between the partners, which handicapped the pair.
They won the European title in 1979. By 1980 Cherkasova had grown 20 cm. The change affected their technical elements, however, the pair managed to win silver at 1980 Europeans, silver at the 1980 Olympics, and gold at Worlds. Cherkasova was only 15 years old when she competed at the Olympics while Shakhrai was 21.
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Wikipedia