Alexander "Sasha" Abt was born in Moscow, Russia on October 22, 1976. He is a former competitive figure skater and currently coachs skating. Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronounciation: Moskva), capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 878. ... October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 70 days remaining. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Figure skating is an ice skating sporting event where individuals, mixed couples, or groups perform spins, jumps, and other moves on the ice, often to music. ...

The son of an accountant, it was Abt's grandmother who first took him to the figure skating rink at the age of six. Abt first began training with Sergei Volkov who was the first World Champion from the Soviet Union. Volkov suffered from cancer and before he passed away, he sent Abt to be trained by another coach, Rafael Arturian. Almost immediately Abt began to make a name for himself on the junior circuit, placing 2nd at the 1991 Junior World Championships.

Unfortunately, Abt's promising career was somewhat hindered by a series of injuries over the years. The most serious of these injuries took place in 1996, while training at a rink in Mexico, Abt crashed into the boards, which caused his skate blade to cut into his leg. Abt had to spent several weeks in the hospital.

In 1998 Abt was trying to make the Russian Olympic team, he placed 4th, despite having what many consider to have been a stronger free skate than Alexei Yagudin, who made the Olympic Team. Yet 1998 would also be the first year that Abt would win a medal at the European championships, winning the bronze medal.

Over the next few years Abt would continue to hone his style, as he became well known throughout the skating world for his deep edges, knee bends, elegant stroking and musicality. Unfortunately, Abt also had to compete with two very talented skaters on his own team, Alexei Yagudin and Evgeny Plushenko, who besides being great skaters, also possessed an arsenal of very difficult jumps.

At the 2002 European Champions, Abt gave a wonderful free skate, but it was only deemed 2nd best. At the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Abt gave strong back-to-back performances to "Armenian Selections" and "Piano Concerto #2", to place 5th overall. In May of 2002 Abt changed coaches, this time to former Ice Dance World Champion (w/ Maya Usova) Alexander Zhulin. In 2003 Abt would win his first Russian National Championship title.

Abt still however suffered from injuries & illnesses, and he was forced to withdraw from the 2003 European Championships due to an ankle problem.

His last competition was the 2004 Russian Nationals, where he withdrew after placing 4th in the short program. Currently a professional skater, Abt has toured Russia and continues to make new fans with his beautiful skating.

In 1999, Abt married Elena Pavlova, a former ice dancer. Their son Makar was born in March of 2000. The family lives in the United States, where Abt and Pavlova coach.

References

• ISUFS.org
• snafu.de
• pixieworld.net