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Viktor Petrenko

Chronology

1969	Born June 27 in Odessa in the former Soviet Union
1974	Begins ice skating lessons at age 5
1979	Catches the notice of Galina Zmievskaya, for his talent as a skater at age 10
1980	Masters a triple jump at age 11
1983	Earns a place on the senior National team (of the U.S.S.R)
1984	Tours Europe and American with top international skaters
1992	Joins the 40-city Tour of Champions (U.S.); marries Nina Melnik on June 19 in Odessa; enters first professional competition; moves to Las Vegas with his family
1994	Resumes amateur status according to new ISU ruling; returns to Odessa to train for the Olympics; wins a spot on the Ukrainian Olympic team bound for Lillehammer; moves with his family to Simsbury, Connecticut
1994-95	Joins the "Nutcracker on Ice" tour; suffers a slipped disk; competes in the Tournament of Champions
1995	Loses family friend and former teammate Sergei Grinkov, to a heart attack on November 20
1996	Assumes the role of the Beast in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"; buys a house in Simsbury
1997	His first child, a daughter named Viktoria, born on July 21
1999	Finishes in second place at the Winter Open on December 17