Randy Gardner (born December 2, 1958) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

former

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

. Together with

Tai Babilonia Tai Reina Babilonia (born September 22, 1959) is an American former pair skater. Together with Randy Gardner, she won the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships and five U.S. Figure Skating Championships (1976–1980). The pair qualified for ...

, he won the 1979

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ...

and five

U.S. Figure Skating Championships The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is ofte ...

(1976–1980). The pair qualified for the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics.

Career

Babilonia and Gardner began skating together when Babilonia was eight and Gardner ten. Their first coach was

Mabel Fairbanks Mabel Fairbanks (November 14, 1915 – September 29, 2001) was an American figure skater and coach. As an African American and Native American woman she paved the way for other minorities to compete in the sport of figure skating such as Naomi L ...

, and later they were coached by

John Nicks John Allen Wisden Nicks (born 22 April 1929) is a British figure skating coach and former pair skater. With his sister, Jennifer Nicks, he is the 1953 World champion. As a coach, his skating pupils have included Peggy Fleming, pairs team Tai B ...

. The pair became five-time U.S. national champions and won the gold medal at the 1979 World Championships. They were medal favorites at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

but were forced to withdraw due to a thigh injury to Gardner. In 2006, Gardner appeared as a choreographer on the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series '' Skating with Celebrities''. In 2008, he indicated that he was working on his autobiography which was to be released at the end of the year. It has not been released. In 2008, Babilonia and Gardner announced their retirement from show skating due to a neck injury sustained by Gardner and their advancing ages.

Personal life

Gardner discovered in 1998 that he was adopted after a relative divulged the family secret. After a five-year search, he found his birth mother who had become pregnant with him at age 17 after being raped by a family friend. In 2006, Gardner revealed that he is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Competitive highlights

(with Babilonia)

References

External links

* * + 1958 births American male pair skaters Olympic figure skaters of the United States Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Living people Figure skaters from Los Angeles World Figure Skating Championships medalists LGBT figure skaters American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from California Gay sportsmen {{US-figure-skating-bio-stub