Nataliya Bestemyanova

Nataliya Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin were the world’s best ice dance couple in the late 1980s. They rose to prominence in 1978, when they won a bronze at the Soviet Championships. In 1980 they won silver at the Soviet Championships and were eighth at the 1980 Olympics. In 1981 they again won a bronze at the Soviet Championships and won their first major international tournament medal, placing third at the World Championships. In 1982 Bestemyanova and Bukin won their first Soviet title and they rose to the world’s second ranking for ice dance couples by placing second at both the European and World Championships behind British pair Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. In 1983 Bestemyanova and Bukin won their first title, by winning the European Championships in Torvill and Dean’s absence, but they were second behind Torvill and Dean at the 1983 and 1984 World Championships, the 1984 European Championships, and the 1984 Olympics. After the 1984 Olympics Torvill and Dean turned professional, and Bestemyanova and Bukin assumed the mantel of world’s top ice dance couple, winning the World and European Championships from 1985-88 and the 1988 Olympic Games. They also won Soviet titles in 1983 and 1987 and were second in 1985. After retiring from competitive skating after the 1988 Olympics, Bestemyanova has worked with the Ice Miniature Theatre, that is led by her husband Igor Bobrin.