World Monitor Magazine WM_KIOGE 2018_Web | Page 46

SPORT
Denis Ten, a world-class figure skater,
attained a strong reputation performing
and competing in singles as an Honored
Master of Sports of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, winning abronze medal
at the 2014 Winter Olympics, asilver
medal atthe 2013 World Figure Skating
Championships, a bronze medal atthe
2015 World Championship, 2015
champion of champions on four
continents, champion of the VII Winter
Asian Games, multiple winner of various
international tournaments under the
auspices of the ISU, and five-time
champion of Kazakhstan.
The first and only athlete in the history
of independent Kazakhstan, who won
Olympicmedals (2014), as well as medaling
in the World Championships (2013, 2015),
the Continental Championship (2015), the
Winter Universiade (2017), the Winter
Asian Games (2011), and the Grand Prix
in figure skating. Having won gold at the
Grand Prix stage among juniors (2008),
he became the first Kazakhstan figure
skater to win the ISU tournament medal.
One of the few male figure skaters who
have successfully performed the rotation
known as thebilman.
Ten represented Kazakhstan at the 2010
Olympics, where he was the younge st
participant (16 years) in the men's
championship. The first single skater
from Kazakhstan who managed to go to
the final stage of the competition at the
Olympics.
Ten also had the honor of serving as
the official ambassador in the Olympic
campaign ‘Almaty 2022’.
In2013 he produced the ice show, "Denis
Ten and Friends", in which world famous
figureskaters participated. According to
the official information of the organizers,
more than 500 tourists from abroad
(mainly from Japan) came to the ice show
every year to see this live show.
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In addition to figure skating,Tenalso
practiced other sports, including tennis,
acrobatics, taekwondo, karate, swimming,
and attended the school of dance and
painting.
He graduated from the 5th grade at the
music school in piano class and sang in
the choir. In 2002, the choir, in which
Denis sang, won a silver medal at the
choral Olympiad in Busan (Republic of
Korea). But later, Ten had achoice to
make: music or figure skating. Ten chose
the second. In 2003, at the tournament
"Crystal Horseshoe" he was noticed by
Elena Buyanova (Vodorezova) and invited
to Moscow. In 2010, he moved to Los
Angeles to work with hishis new coach
Frank Carroll.
In May 2014, Ten graduated from the
Kazakh Academy of Sports and Tourism
with a red diploma. He studied at the
Business School of Kazakh-British
Technical University, mastering the MBA
(Master of Business Administration)
degree in the Oil and Gas program. In
addition to all of this, he was fond of
photography.
Tenhas fan clubs in Kazakhstan, Korea
and Japan. In autumn 2015, on an official
visit to Kazakhstan, the Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe referred to Denis Ten
as a symbol of friendship between Japan
and Kazakhstan.
Interesting Facts:
Ten’s winning of the silver medal in the
2013 World Championship caused a flurry
of emotions in the world community
because many believed that the athlete
really earned gold. Denis was supported
by such eminent sportsmen as Evgeni
Plushenko, Johnny Weir, Todd Eldridge
and others. American journalist Monica
Friedlander wrote a petition requesting
that a second gold medal be awarded
to the Kazakhstani and having collected
more than 1,000 signatures, which was
sent as anappeal to the president of
the International Skating Union, Ottavio
Ciquante.
Ten alsoparticipated in charity events. In
2011 he was an active participant in the
project "Skating Friends Support Japan",
helping victims after the March 2011
earthquake that hit Japan. In 2013, the
athlete visited the SOS children's village
in Astana and a boarding school in Almaty.