Maya Usova

Maya Valentinovna Usova (Майя Валентиновна Усова; born 22 May 1964) is a Russian former ice dancer. With Alexander Zhulin, she is a two-time Olympic medalist (1994 silver, 1992 bronze), the 1993 World champion, and the 1993 European champion. They also won gold medals at Skate America, NHK Trophy, Nations Cup, and Winter Universiade. They represented the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, and Russia.

Career
Maya Usova initially competed with Alexei Batalov. At the age of nine, she moved from Gorky to Moscow to train with coach Natalia Dubova. Dubova paired her with Alexander Zhulin in 1980. In 1988, they made their first appearance at the European Championships, placing fourth. The next season, they won silver at the 1989 European Championships in Birmingham, England and silver in their World Championships debut, in Paris. They maintained their silver medal standing in the world with a silver at the 1990 European Figure Skating Championships, but for the first time dropped behind the Duchesnays to third at the 1990 World Figure Skating Championships in Halifax.

After being third again at the 1991 European Figure Skating Championships, they led a close competition going into the free dance at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships. The ordinals in the free dance were split and dropped Usova and Zhulin to third place. They later described their 1991 free dance as "being about Paganini and his muse". Usova wore a short, Empire-style beige dress and according to writer Ellyn Kestnbaum, represented both a muse and inanimate object. Kestnbaum also reported that they skated their program with "intense emotion" and created "an overall aura of Romanticism and uncanniness", using little runs and turns on their toepicks, knee slides, and "sensuous flowing and intertwining movements" that were enhanced by their billowing costumes.

In the 1991–92 season, Usova/Zhulin won silver at the 1992 European Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland and then captured their first Olympic medal, bronze, at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Usova/Zhulin ended their season with a controversial silver at the 1992 World Championships in Oakland, California despite a fall in the free dance. Usova and Zhulin's free skate during the 1991-1992 season, set to music from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, centered on the theme of statues coming to life, was full of images of symmetry, parallelism, and equality. Figure skating writer Ellyn Kestnbaum described their program in this way: "It is not about sexual difference, but it does convey sexual attraction. These are passionate, eroticized statues, and the skaters' gazes are focused centripetally into the relationship, at each other's bodies and into each other's eyes". They moved with Dubova from Moscow to Lake Placid, New York in September 1992.

In the 1992–93 season, Usova/Zhulin won the 1993 European Championships in Helsinki and the 1993 World Championships in Prague. Heavily favored, Usova and Zhulin won all four phases of the competition, but the first signs of trouble emerged when they losed two first place ordinals in the free dance to up-and-coming Russians Anjelika Krylova & Vladimir Fedorov, ranked only third in Russia.

The next season, they were third at the 1994 European Championships in Copenhagen, behind Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean and Oksana Grishuk / Evgeni Platov. They entered the free dance tied for first with Torvill & Dean, and Grishuk & Platov were mathematically out of contention for the gold medal entering the free dance. However the free dance of Grishuk & Platov which handily won that phase changed the ordinals, and Usova & Zhulin were pushed to third in the free dance behind Torvill & Dean and dropped to third overall. They were heavily criticized for their new free program which was said by critics to lack speed and be too far a departure from their usual sensual and elegant style of dancing.

At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, they won the silver medal behind Grishuk/Platov. They entered the free dance tied for first with Torvill & Dean, with Grishuk & Platov in third, but with all 3 teams in contention for the gold by winning the free dance. They lost gold by the majority rule, Grishuk & Platov having the five first place ordinals they needed to win the free dance. After the loss Usova & Zhulin withdrew from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships, where they had planned to end their amateur career and immediately went professional. Usova and Zhulin were known for excelling technically and artistically and according to writer Ellyn Kestnbaum, "leaned toward drama and passion".

Usova/Zhulin skated together professionally from 1994 to 1997. They toured with Champions on Ice and won the World Professional Championships. From 1998 to 2000, Usova performed with former rival, Evgeni Platov. Their programs included many lifts to camouflage the skill difference between Platov, fresh from his second Olympic gold medal, and Usova, who had spent several years on the professional circuit.

From 2002 to 2004, Usova was an assistant coach to Tatiana Tarasova and Platov, working with Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovsky and Shizuka Arakawa. She has coached at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Odintsovo, near Moscow. She is an International Technical Specialist for Russia.

Personal life
Usova and Zhulin were married in 1986 but later divorced. Zhulin claimed that their marriage was a sham to get a free apartment from the Soviet government, though Usova denied this claim. Usova was hospitalized 15 times for depression and contemplated suicide over the breakdown of her marriage and partnership.

Usova and Oksana Grishuk had a longstanding rivalry extensively reported in the media. In 1992, Usova grabbed Grishuk by her hair and smashed her head against the counter at a Spago restaurant in Los Angeles. During Usova's tenure at the rink in Marlborough, where Grishuk trained, the two had frequent spats, with Grishuk complaining of Usova blocking her entrance to the rink and blowing cigarette smoke in her face.

Usova is remarried to a Russian professor in medicine, Anatoly Orletsky. In 2010, she gave birth to their daughter, Anastasia. Off the ice, she has appeared in several Marlboro advertisements in Russia.

Amateur career
With Zhulin for the Soviet Union (URS), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Unified Team at the Olympics (EUN), and Russia (RUS):