{"id":20085,"date":"2026-02-10T19:32:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=20085"},"modified":"2026-02-10T19:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:32:04","slug":"who-are-anthony-ponomarenkos-parents-marina-klimova-and-sergei-ponomarenko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=20085","title":{"rendered":"Who Are Anthony Ponomarenko’s Parents Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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American ice dance team Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are competing in Milan with a star-studded team in their corner. Among their coaching and choreography staff are two-time Olympic champion Scott Moir (of \u201cTessa and Scott<\/a>\u201d fame) and two-time Olympic medalist Madison Hubbell of the United States.<\/p>\n

But Anthony is somewhat ice dance royalty. His parents, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, are former ice dancing medalists and the only team to win an Olympic medal of every color. \u201cIt\u2019s funny because they didn\u2019t want me to figure skate,\u201d San Jose-native Anthony told NBC Bay Area<\/a> ahead of the 2026 National Championships. \u201cThey were like, \u2018Our sons will be completely normal. They won’t see the ice rink.\u2019 I was like a wind-up toy just right away. I just fell in love.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Maddie Meyer<\/span>\/\/<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption>Anthony and Christina at the 2025 World Championships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Below, get to know Anthony Ponomarenko\u2019s parents, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko.<\/p>\n

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Meet Anthony\u2019s mom, Marina:<\/h2>\n

Born in 1966 in Yekaterinburg, previously known as Sverdlovsk, Klimova moved to Moscow for training and was later paired with Sergei. They would go on to win the bronze medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and the silver medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. They climbed to the top of the podium at the 1992 Winter Olympics for the Unified Team, which was made up of five of the fifteen former Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

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\"Sergei<\/p>\n
Bob Martin<\/span>\/\/<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption>The couple on top of the Olympic podium in Albertville in 1992.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

The couple married early on in their career in September 1984. After they retired, they eventually moved to the United States, settling in the Bay Area. They have two sons. Tim, born in 1998, and Anthony, born in 2001. Klimova and Ponomarenko were inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000. While their kids were growing up, Anthony told U.S. Figure Skating<\/a> in 2018 that his parents would show them old videos of their performances, and that their 1992 free dance, \u201cA Man and a Woman: From the Mundane to the Sublime\u201d with music by Bach, is his favorite.<\/p>\n

However, his parents don\u2019t often watch him skate these days due to nerves, but they do share their advice. \u201cI think the most important is that my mom tells me that Christina, my partner, is my best friend,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cNobody else matters except her. We need to have the best friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meet Anthony\u2019s dad, Sergei:<\/h2>\n
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\"Marina<\/p>\n
ABC Photo Archives<\/span>\/\/<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption>

The duo also won bronze at the 1984 Games in Sarajevo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Sergei was born in Kazakhstan in 1960. He also moved to the same rink in Moscow where he met Marina. But first, he competed with another partner, Tatiana Durasova, and they won the 1978 and 1979 World Junior championships together. He teamed with Marina after their split. (Splits between ice dancing teams are still rather common early in athlete\u2019s career in order to find the right fit.)<\/p>\n

Both Sergei and Marina coach young figure skaters at Sharks Ice at San Jose, California. Sergei has also served as an ISU technical specialist for Russia. While they were his first coaches until he was 12, Anthony still refers to his parents as his \u201cbackground coaches\u201d and he gets regular technical feedback from his father.<\/p>\n

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