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Aleksandr Gorshkov (figure skater)

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Aleksandr Gorshkov
Gorshkov in 2013
Full nameAleksandr Georgievich Gorshkov
Born(1946-10-08)8 October 1946
Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Died17 November 2022(2022-11-17) (aged 76)
Moscow, Russia
Height173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Figure skating career
CountrySoviet Union
Retired1976
Medal record
Figure skating: Ice dancing
Representing  Soviet Union
Winter Olympics
Gold medal – first place 1976 Innsbruck Ice dancing
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1976 Gothenburg Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1974 Munich Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1973 Bratislava Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1972 Calgary Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1971 Lyon Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1970 Ljubljana Ice dancing
Silver medal – second place 1969 Colorado Springs Ice dancing
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1976 Geneva Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1975 Copenhagen Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1974 Zagreb Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1973 Cologne Ice dancing
Silver medal – second place 1972 Gothenburg Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1971 Zürich Ice dancing
Gold medal – first place 1970 Leningrad Ice dancing
Bronze medal – third place 1969 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ice dancing

Aleksandr Georgievich Gorshkov (Russian: Александр Георгиевич Горшков, 8 October 1946 – 17 November 2022) was a Russian ice dancer who competed internationally for the Soviet Union. With his wife Lyudmila Pakhomova, he was the 1976 Olympic champion.

They were also six-time World Champions (1970–74, 1976), as well as six-time European champions (1970–71, 1973–76), which makes them the most decorated athletes all-time at both events in the pair discipline.

Since 2010 and until his death, Gorshkov served as the president of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FFKKR).

Life and career

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Gorshkov was born on 8 October 1946.[1] He began skating at age six after his mother heard that the Sokolniki skating school was taking new students.[2] He was moved to the weakest group after a year but his mother brought him to a stronger one when a new coach took over.[2]

In 1966, while at CSKA Moscow, he received an invitation from Lyudmila Pakhomova to skate with her.[2] Since he had much less experience, some experts were skeptical of her choice.[3] Despite the initial experience gap, Gorshkov said that Pakhomova had a strong personality who was determined they would become champions.[2]

Pakhomova and Gorshkov in 1969

Pakhomova/Gorshkov began training in May 1966, under coach Elena Tchaikovskaia, and made their international debut in December of the same year.[2] They competed for Dynamo.[4] After teaming up, a personal relationship developed between the duo and Gorshkov proposed marriage; Pakhomova responded that they would marry only if they became World champions.[2]

Pakhomova/Gorshkov performed in the ice dancing demonstration event at the 1968 Winter Olympics – the event determined if ice dancing would be added as an official Olympic sport and was successful.[5] They won their first World title in 1970 and married later that year.[2] The duo repeated as World champions in 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974. In 1974, Pakhomova/Gorshkov and Tchaikovskaia created the Tango Romantica, which the ISU would later adopt as a compulsory dance.[5]

Following the 1975 European Championships, Gorshkov began feeling ill and underwent a lung operation, with their coach Elena Tchaikovskaia donating blood.[2][3] They flew to Colorado Springs, Colorado for the 1975 World Championships, unsure about their participation.[2] During the first practice session, Gorshkov had trouble breathing and needed to be given oxygen – they withdrew from the event.[2][5] In the Soviet Union, rumors circulated that Gorshkov had died on the flight to the United States and the chairman of the Soviet Sports Committee called him to check if he was still alive.[2]

A 3-ruble Russian coin of 2010 commemorating Pakhomova and Gorshkov

Pakhomova/Gorshkov returned to competition the following season. Ice dancing debuted as an official Olympic sport at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and Pakhomova/Gorshkov became the first Olympic champions in the discipline. They won their sixth World title in 1976 in Goteburg, Sweden. They retired from competition later that year.[2] In 1977, they had a daughter, Yulia Gorshkova.[2]

Pakhomova died of leukemia on 17 May 1986.[2][6] Gorshkov and his late wife were inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1988.[7]

Gorshkov later served as the chairman of the International Skating Union's ice dance technical committee.[5] At an election conference held in Novogorsk on 4 June 2010, he was unanimously elected president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation.[8] He was president of a Regional Public Charitable Foundation for the Arts and Sports named after Pakhomova.[3]

Gorshkov later married Irina Ivanovna Gorshkova, with whom he has a stepson, Stanislav Belyaev.[2]

On 17 November 2022, the director general of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Alexander Kogan, announced that Gorshkov had died in Moscow that same day. He was 76.[9]

Results

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(with Pakhomova)

International
Event 66–67 67–68 68–69 69–70 70–71 71–72 72–73 73–74 74–75 75–76
Olympics 1st
Worlds 13th 6th 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
Europeans 10th 5th 3rd 1st 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st
Moscow News 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
National
Soviet Champ. 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st

References

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  1. ^ СПИСОК кандидатов в спортивные сборные команды Российской Федерации по фигурному катанию на коньках на 2016–2017 гг. [List of candidates for the 2016–17 Russian national team in figure skating] (PDF) (in Russian). Ministry of Sport (Russia). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Пахомова заразила Горшкова фанатизмом. РОДНАЯ ГАЗЕТА № 45(181) (in Russian). 23 November 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov: the first Olympic champions in ice-dancing". The Voice of Russia. 26 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Pakhomova's profile at the Great Olympic Encyclopedia" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Russell, Susan D. (5 January 2013). "Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov". IFS Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  6. ^ "LYUDMILA PAKHOMOVA – Obituary". The New York Times. Associated Press. 18 May 1986. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  7. ^ "World Figure Skating Hall of Fame". www.worldskatingmuseum.org. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Горшков стал новым президентом ФФККР, Писеев – новый гендиректор – Новости Зимних видов спорта" [Gorshkov is the new FFKKR president, Piseev has become CEO] (in Russian). Mail.ru. 4 June 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  9. ^ "Скончался президент Федерации фигурного катания на коньках России Александр Горшков". www.mk.ru (in Russian). 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
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