Ruslan Goncharov

Ruslan Nikolaevich Goncharov ( or Ruslan Mykolayovych Goncharov; born 20 January 1973 in Odessa, USSR) is a Ukrainian ice dancer. With partner Elena Grushina, he is the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist, 2005 World bronze medalist, and two-time (2005, 2006) European silver medalist.

Career

Goncharov began skating at the age of six. He was originally a single skater but grew too tall and switched to ice dancing when he was 13.

Having trained in the same group in Odessa, he and Elena Grushina were paired together in 1990. They finished fourth at the 1992 Junior Worlds. They were 18th in their senior Worlds debut at the 1994 World Championships and 15th at their first Olympics in 1998. They won their first Grand Prix medal, silver, at 1999 Skate Canada International.

Grushina and Goncharov trained with Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponossov in Newark, Delaware for several years. They were 9th at the 2002 Olympics and 6th at the 2002 World Championships. In the summer of 2002, they changed coaches to Tatiana Tarasova and Nikolai Morozov in Newington, Connecticut. During the 2002–03 season, they won three gold medals on the Grand Prix series, at 2002 Skate America, 2002 Skate Canada International, and 2002 Trophée Lalique....
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