Ksenia Smetanenko

Ksenia Smetanenko, married name: Gonchar (Russian: Ксения Гончар (Сметаненко), born 26 March 1979)[1] is a former ice dancer who competed internationally for Russia and Armenia. With Samuel Gezalian, she is the 1997 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion and competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics for Armenia. Earlier in her career, she competed for Russia with Igor Lukanin.

Ksenia Smetanenko
Personal information
Alternative namesKsenia Gonchar
Xenia Smetanenko
Country representedArmenia
Russia
Born (1979-03-26) 26 March 1979
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Former partnerSamuel Gezalian
Igor Lukanin
Retired1998

Career

Smetanenko originally competed for Russia. With Igor Lukanin, she placed third at the 1992 Russian National Junior Championships and tenth at the 1993 World Junior Championships for Russia. They also appeared twice at the German Championships.

In 1997, Smetanenko teamed up with Samuel Gezalian and began representing Armenia. Placing sixth at the 1997 Karl Schäfer Memorial, they qualified a spot for Armenia at the Olympics. Smetanenko/Gezalian then won gold at the 1997 Golden Spin of Zagreb and placed 20th at the 1998 European Championships before competing at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, where they placed 24th. They retired from competition at the end of the season.

Personal life

Smetanenko was born in Moscow.[2] She married former professional hockey player Sergei Gonchar now assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, whom she met at the 1998 Winter Olympics.[3]

Competitive highlights

With Gezalian for Armenia
International
Event 1997–98
Winter Olympics24th
World Championships27th
European Championships20th
Golden Spin of Zagreb1st
Karl Schäfer Memorial6th

With Lukanin for Russia and Germany
International
Event 1991–92 1992–93 1995–96 1996–97
World Junior Champ.10th
National
Russian Junior Champ.3rd
German Champ.5th4th
gollark: WRONG!
gollark: Working dependency management?
gollark: Macros which are sensible?
gollark: ... *any safety*? A good type system?
gollark: Well, we can have a long-running C vs not-C conflict, sure.

References
  1. "Ksenya Smetanenko". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  2. "Our Founders". Big Dreams Children's Foundation. Archived from the original on 2014-03-11.
  3. Khmylev, Olga (11 March 2013). "Checking in with one of Russia's greatest defensemen". Hooked on Hockey Magazine.
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