Career
As a child, Gedevanishvili lived and trained in Georgia and went to training camps in Moscow, Russia. At the age of nine, she and her mother settled in Moscow and at age eleven, she began working with Elena Buianova (Vodorezova). She trained at CSKA Moscow with Buianova and Tatiana Tarasova. At the 2005–2006 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Estonia, she became the first Georgian skater to win a Junior Grand Prix event.
At her senior level debut, the 2006 European Championships, she finished 5th. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, her second senior competition, Gedevanishvili placed sixth after the short program, and finished tenth overall.
In October 2006, Gedevanishvili was forced to leave Moscow after the Russian authorities revoked her mother's visa on a technicality. She said, "They deported my mother, and I could not stay there on my own." Her mother said, "They stopped us seemingly by chance -- but it is known that they were given orders to stop every Georgian." She was taken to the police station for questioning but Buianova's husband helped her get released. After Gedevanishvili's mother was given ten days to leave the country, Buianova recommended that the skater train in Tallinn, Estonia with Anna Levandi (Kondrashova) for her first Grand Prix event of the season, the 2006 Cup of China, which was to take place in three weeks. Gedevanishvili was later awarded the Order of Honor by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili for her achievements as an athlete and in recognition of her treatment in Russia.
Shortly thereafter, Gedevanishvili contracted a case of whooping cough that went undiagnosed for several months. She withdrew from both of her Grand Prix events. In December 2006, she moved to Wayne, New Jersey to train with coach Galina Zmievskaya, former coach of Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul. She left Zmievskaya in April 2007 due to a personality conflict. She then moved to Hackensack, New Jersey to train with coaches Roman Serov and Viktor Kudriavtsev at the Ice House. In 2009, she changed coaches to Robin Wagner. She also occasionally worked with Roman Serov on her jumps and 1982 World Champion Elaine Zayak. Gedevanishvili can perform the Biellmann spin with a foot change.
In 2009, Gedevanishvili finished 25th at Europeans, the lowest result at the event in her career, but then achieved a career-best result at the World Championships where she finished 10th.
In 2010, Gedevanishvili became the first skater representing Georgia to medal at an ISU Championships when she won the bronze medal at the 2010 European Championships. She finished 8th at the 2011 European Championships but was able to repeat her career-best 10th place finish at the World Championships.
In July 2011, Gedevanishvili switched coaches to Brian Orser in Toronto, Canada. On January 28, 2012, she won her second European bronze medal at the 2012 European Championships.
Read more about this topic: Elene Gedevanishvili
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