Aleksandr Gorshkov (figure skater)

Aleksandr Gorshkov
Gorshkov in 2013
Full name	Aleksandr Georgievich Gorshkov
Born	(1946-10-08)8 October 1946 Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Died	17 November 2022(2022-11-17) (aged 76) Moscow, Russia
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Soviet Union
Retired	1976
Medal record Figure skating: Ice dancing Representing  Soviet Union Winter Olympics 1976 Innsbruck Ice dancing World Championships 1976 Gothenburg Ice dancing 1974 Munich Ice dancing 1973 Bratislava Ice dancing 1972 Calgary Ice dancing 1971 Lyon Ice dancing 1970 Ljubljana Ice dancing 1969 Colorado Springs Ice dancing European Championships 1976 Geneva Ice dancing 1975 Copenhagen Ice dancing 1974 Zagreb Ice dancing 1973 Cologne Ice dancing 1972 Gothenburg Ice dancing 1971 Zürich Ice dancing 1970 Leningrad Ice dancing 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).

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/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]

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]

(with Pakhomova)

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• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Aleksandr Gorshkov". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
• "Aleksandr Gorshkov at databaseOlympics.com". Archived from the original on 10 October 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2007.