1. Adelina Dmitriyevna Sotnikova is a retired Russian figure skater.
38 Facts About Adelina Sotnikova
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Adelina Sotnikova is the 2014 Olympic gold medalist in ladies' singles, a two-time European silver medalist, a two-time Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist, and a four-time Russian national champion.
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Adelina Sotnikova later admitted that she failed a drug test during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but that her second sample showed no signs of doping.
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Adelina Sotnikova began skating at the age of four at the Yuzhny ice rink near her home in Moscow.
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Adelina Sotnikova began working with coach Elena Buianova a year later.
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Adelina Sotnikova's mother told her that she was born a month prematurely anyway.
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Adelina Sotnikova struggled with a growth spurt and dropped to fourth at Russian senior nationals and sixth in the junior event.
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Adelina Sotnikova won gold medals in Austria and the UK and qualified for the 2010 Junior Grand Prix Final where she won the title.
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Adelina Sotnikova was assigned to the World Junior Championships where she won the gold medal ahead of teammate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
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Adelina Sotnikova was assigned to two Grand Prix events, the 2011 Cup of China and 2011 Rostelecom Cup.
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Adelina Sotnikova intended to begin her season at the 2011 Ondrej Nepela Memorial but withdrew after a leg injury caused her to miss a month of off-season training.
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Adelina Sotnikova won the bronze medal at Cup of China and at Rostelecom Cup, to become the first alternate for the ladies' event at the Grand Prix Final.
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Adelina Sotnikova then competed at the 2011 Golden Spin of Zagreb and won the gold medal.
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Adelina Sotnikova then competed at the 2012 Youth Olympic Games and won the silver medal.
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Adelina Sotnikova was named to the Russian team for the 2012 ISU World Team Trophy.
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Adelina Sotnikova finished 4th overall and posted a season's best in her free skate of 113.57 points.
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Adelina Sotnikova started her season with a silver medal at the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy.
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Adelina Sotnikova won the bronze medal overall behind Americans Christina Gao and Ashley Wagner.
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Adelina Sotnikova started her season competing with Team Europe at the 2013 Japan Open.
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Adelina Sotnikova placed first in the short and third in the free skate, winning the silver medal ahead of Carolina Kostner.
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At the 2014 Russian Championships, Adelina Sotnikova placed first in the short, second in the free, and won her fourth national title, edging out Yulia Lipnitskaya for the gold.
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Adelina Sotnikova is the second Russian skater to record a score above the 200 mark in ladies' singles.
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Adelina Sotnikova won the gold medal in the ladies' individual event with an overall score of 224.59 points, becoming one of the youngest Olympic figure skating champions.
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Adelina Sotnikova was second behind the defending Olympic and reigning World Champion Kim Yuna by 0.28 point after the short program, but overtook Kim by winning the free skate.
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However, Adelina Sotnikova's victory was controversial due to allegations of judges' impartiality and criticisms of the scoring system.
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Adelina Sotnikova was awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin on 24 February 2014.
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Adelina Sotnikova did not participate in the 2014 World Championships held in Saitama, Japan.
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Adelina Sotnikova was selected to compete at 2014 Rostelecom Cup and 2014 NHK Trophy, but withdrew due to a torn ankle ligament.
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Adelina Sotnikova placed 4th in the individual competition of Japan Open.
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Adelina Sotnikova appeared at two Challenger Series events, winning the silver medal at the 2015 Mordovian Ornament behind Anna Pogorilaya and placing 6th at the 2015 Golden Spin of Zagreb.
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Adelina Sotnikova was named only as an alternate for the 2016 European Championships.
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On 1 March 2020, Adelina Sotnikova officially announced her retirement from competitive figure skating.
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In July 2023, Adelina Sotnikova admitted in an interview she returned a positive doping test during the year of her Olympic triumph, but insisted she was cleared by her B-sample.
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Adelina Sotnikova was named in the WADA-commissioned McLaren Report in December 2016 as one athlete about whom scratches indicative of tampering were found on test tubes in which urine samples were submitted, but the International Olympic Committee cleared her of wrongdoing in November 2017 after deeming "there is no sufficient element in the evidence available to date" to establish an anti-doping rule violation.
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Adelina Sotnikova appeared in the eighth season of ice show contest Ice Age.
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Adelina Sotnikova's father, Dmitry, is a police officer and her mother, Olga, has worked as a homemaker and in merchandising.
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Adelina Sotnikova attended a high school where athletes form about half the student body.
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On 18 March 2022, Adelina Sotnikova attended Vladimir Putin's Moscow rally, which celebrated the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation from Ukraine and justified the Russian invasion of the country.