Maria Butyrskaya

Maria Viktorovna Butyrskaya (, born 28 June 1972) is a Russian retired figure skater. She is the 1999 World champion and a three-time European champion — becoming the oldest skater and the first Russian to win the World ladies' title and the oldest skater to win the European ladies' title (2002 at age 29). Butyrskaya placed fourth at the 1998 Winter Olympics and sixth at the 2002 Winter Olympics. She won the Russian national title six times.

Personal life Maria Butyrskaya was born on 28 June 1972 in Moscow. They have three children together. At the 1996 World Championships in Edmonton, she missed a triple loop late in her free skate and finished 4th, losing the bronze to Slutskaya.

The 1996–97 would see Butyrskaya maintain her status as one of the World's top skaters, but struggle with consistency of her triple lutz, which she failed to land cleanly in any of her long programs of the season. After finishing 10th at the 1996 Skate America, she rebounded with a silver medal at the 1996 Trophée Lalique, finishing second to Kwan but ahead of rising star Tara Lipinski. Second in the short program at the Grand Prix Final, she dropped to fourth overall after missing her triple lutz in the free skate. At the 1997 European Championships, she came in fourth place; her 9th-ranked short program kept her off the podium despite placing second in the long program. At the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne, she placed third in the short program but her performance in the free skate dropped her to 5th overall.