Foreign-born stars spearhead Spain’s figure skating hopes for Milano-Cortina Olympics

Many countries are able to achieve great results in sports competitions by bringing in foreign athletes that have gained their citizenship. Spain is also using international partnerships to enhance its presence at Winter Olympics, particularly in figure skating. The country has a very limited ice-making infrastructure and little tradition in figure skating.

To date, the most significant contribution to the development of this type of competition and its traditions has been made by Javier Fernández, a native of the country who, it should be noted, trained mainly abroad — in Russia, Latvia, the United States and Canada. His two world championships and seven European titles made him a legend. Javier’s most memorable moment is his historic bronze medal from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. In the same Winter Olympics, in South Korea, Sara Hurtado as well as Kirill Khaliavin had the honour to represent Spain. Khaliavin is a Russian skater who began to train with Spain’s Sara Hurtado, in 2015. He was then granted the right to compete for Spain. The pair trained together in Moscow from 2022 until Russia invaded Ukraine.

In 2022, at the Winter Olympics in Beijing two pairs represented Spain: Olivia Smart with Adrian Diaz for ice dancing; and Laura Barquero with Marco Zadron for pairs skating. Marco, an Italian native, became a Spanish national in 2021 to be able to compete with the Spanish skater. Today he represents Uzbekistan. Olivia Smart was born in Sheffield on 1 April 1997. She represented the Spanish team in the opening ceremony of the Olympics held in Italy. Olivia Smart, who was born in Sheffield on 1 April 1997, obtained Spanish citizenship in 2017 and represented Spain with Adrian Diaz. Olivia Buckland competed for Great Britain with Joseph Buckland five years prior. The pair was a success in Beijing. They finished 8th in team events and 11th in ice dance, becoming an important figure in Spain’s global success.

Olivia Smart teamed with Tim Dieck in April 2023. Tim was born in Dortmund in 1996 and competed for Germany alongside Katharina Müller until 2022. Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck were considering representing Germany or Spain, but the Spanish Federation offered greater financial support. So, in 2023, Tim took Spanish citizenship.

In the Winter Games at Milano-Cortina the pair made it to the final along with Sofia Val Kazimov. Asaf Kazimov, born in Russia in 2000 began skating in St Petersburg. In 2012, Asaf’s family moved from Russia to Germany. He began competing with his first partner Diana Scheidt. Asaf Kasimov partnered up with Sofia Val of Madrid in 2023. He is a part of a growing group of foreign-born figures skaters. It is also worth noting that figure skater Guarino Sabaté (who also represents Spain in men’s figure skating in Milan-Cortina) was born in Barcelona but competed for Switzerland before representing Spain.

In fact, Spain’s first figure skaters from abroad were born in the 1980s. Yvonne Gómez, was born in San Francisco, and first represented the United States. Later, she switched to Spain’s national team to compete in the singles women’s event at the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary.