14 Facts About Yuko Kavaguti

Yuko Kavaguti is a retired pair skater who has represented Japan and Russia in international competition.

Yuko Kavaguti has expressed interest in a career in international diplomacy following her skating career.

Yuko Kavaguti began skating at the age of five because her mother was a fan of ice dancing.

Yuko Kavaguti originally competed as a singles skater for Japan, then switched to pairs after being inspired by the Russian pair skater Elena Berezhnaya at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Yuko Kavaguti decided to write to her coach Tamara Moskvina and due to Yuko Kavaguti's persistence, the renowned coach eventually agreed to train her.

Yuko Kavaguti moved to Hackensack, New Jersey where Moskvina was coaching at the time.

In March 1999, Yuko Kavaguti teamed up with Alexander Markuntsov to compete for Japan.

Yuko Kavaguti began skating with the American skater Josh Martin but in May 2004, he was hit by a car as he rollerbladed to practice, suffering cuts and a broken elbow, and decided to return to the US Kawaguchi then skated with another American, Devin Patrick.

Yuko Kavaguti teamed up with Alexander Smirnov to compete for Russia in May 2006.

Yuko Kavaguti accepted to skate for another country due to the difficulty in finding a good partner.

Yuko Kavaguti fell and dislocated her shoulder after a throw quadruple salchow.

Yuko Kavaguti attempted to continue the program despite the pain, however Smirnov, seeing that she had trouble raising her arm, stopped the program.

The first throw was a triple Salchow; Yuko Kavaguti put her hand down and stumbled coming out of the jump.

On 20 January 2016, Yuko Kavaguti sustained a ruptured tendon in practice, resulting in the pair's withdrawal from the 2016 European Championships.