Melissa Gregory (born May 22, 1981) is an American
ice dancer. With partner and husband
Denis Petukhov, she is the 2004-2007
U.S. silver
medalist.
Biography
Gregory
was born in Highland Park, Illinois
to a Catholic father,
Joseph, and a Jewish mother, Dale. She
has one older brother, Michael. She first skated at age seven. She
previously competed on the junior level with James Shuford.
Gregory was without an ice dancing partner for nearly three years
and told her coach that she would quit skating and go to college if
she could not find one by September 1, 2000. She met Russian ice
dancer
Denis Petukhov on an online
skating partner search (he spoke little English and so had a friend
write his messages for him) and he came to the United States on a
tourist visa on August 31, 2000 to try skating with her and several
other prospective partners. After skating with Gregory first,
Petukhov canceled his other tryouts and never used his return plane
ticket to Russia.
Gregory
and Petukhov were married in Las Vegas, Nevada
on February 2, 2001. The next month they
flew to
Kirov, Russia so that
Petukhov's family could celebrate their marriage as well. Together,
they have won four silver medals and two bronze medals at the
U.S. Figure Skating
Championships and competed in the
2006 Winter Olympics.
Gregory and Petukhov both suffered injuries in a fall during the
warmup before the free dance at
2007 Skate Canada
International on November 4, 2007. Petukhov lost his footing
while practicing a one-handed rotational lift and dropped Gregory
onto the ice, injuring her ribs and hip and skidding into the
boards himself, hurting his own knee and neck. Gregory was taken to
a hospital following the fall but released that night. They were
then forced to withdraw from competition for the rest of the season
while they healed from their injuries.
Gregory and Petukhov did not return to competition, partially due
to financial difficulties. In 2008, they moved to Connecticut and
began coaching and choreographing for other skaters at the
International Skating Center of Connecticut. They also launched
their own
YouTube channel,
Olympian
Uncut (www.youtube.com/OlympianUncut), which focuses on a
behind-the-scenes look at the skating world. They continue to skate
in shows such as the
Stars, Stripes and Skates show in
September of 2009.
Coaching changes
Gregory and Petukhov were originally coached by Oleg Epstein and
Sandra Hess but made a change in 2003 to
Nikolai Morozov and
Shae-Lynn Bourne.
Following the
2005/2006 season, they switched again to Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karpanosov at the University of
Delaware
in Newark
.
On
September 7, 2007, they announced another coaching change, this
time to Priscilla Hill at The Pond
Ice Arena, also in Newark.
Competitive highlights
(with Petukhov)
(with Shuford)
References
- US Figure Skating Official Site, February 23, 2005:
"Denis Petukhov Becomes a United States Citizen"
- icenetwork.com, December 19, 2007: "Gregory &
Petukhov Combine Holiday Traditions"
- US Figure Skating Official Site: Athlete
Bio
- Skating Magazine, January 2006: "Team Destiny: Gregory,
Petukhov Cherishing Life On, Off Ice"
- WNBC.com, January 2006: "Figure Skating: Melissa
Gregory and Denis Petukhov"
- About.com: Marriage "Melissa Gregory and Denis
Petukhov"
- US Figure Skating Official Site, November 5, 2007:
"Melissa Gregory Expected to Make Full Recovery after Fall during
Warm-up at Skate Canada"
- U.S. Figure Skating Official Site, January 11, 2008: "Ice
Dancing Team Gregory and Petukhov Withdraw from 2008 U.S. Figure
Skating Championships"
- icenetwork.com, January 1, 2009: "Gregory, Petukhov
Hit the Road with Camera"
- US Figure Skating Official Site, April 24, 2003:
"Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov Switch Coaches"
- US Figure Skating Official Site, May 31, 2006: "Ice
Dancers Gregory and Petukhov Announce Coaching Change"
- US Figure Skating Official Site, September 7, 2007:
"Gregory and Petukhov Change Coaches"
External links
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