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April
24,
2008 • © J. Barry Mittan
About one hundred years ago, Japan and Russia
were at war. Now they are at peace and two of
their athletes have joined hands to compete in
pairs figure skating. They are 26-year-old Yuko
Kawaguchi, who was born in Aichi, Japan and 23-year-old
Alexander Smirnov, who is from Tver in Russia.
This is not the first Japanese-Russian team to
compete in pairs, but this is the first such
team to compete for Russia.
The couple, who have been together since May
2006, won the Coupe de Nice in both 2006 and
2007 and took the bronze medal at the Cup of
Russia in both of those years as well as a bronze
at Skate Canada in 2007.
Their goals for the 2007-08
season were to make the Grand Prix Final, win
first or second place at Europeans, and to fight
for a spot on the podium at Worlds. They placed
fifth at the ISU Grand Prix Final and won the
bronze medal at Europeans. They were fourth at
the World Championships in 2008, up from ninth
in 2007... Read
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