Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina ( rus, Ирина Константиновна Роднина, p=ɪˈrʲinə kənstɐnˈtʲinəvnə rədʲnʲɪˈna; born 12 September 1949) is a Russian politician and retired

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

, who is the only

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 ...

to win 10 successive

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals (1972, 1976, 1980). She was elected to the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

in the 2007 legislative election as a member of President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

party. As a figure skater, she initially competed with

Alexei Ulanov Alexei Nikolaevich Ulanov (russian: Алексей Николаевич Уланов; born 4 November 1947) is a retired pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With Irina Rodnina, he is the 1972 Olympic champion and a four-time (1969–19 ...

and later teamed up with

Alexander Zaitsev Alexander Zaytsev may refer to: *Alexander Zaytsev (artist), Alexander Dmitryevich Zaytsev (1903–1982), Russian painter and art educator *Alexander Zaytsev (pilot), Alexander Andreyevich Zaytsev (1911–1965), Soviet aircraft pilot and Hero of the ...

. She is the first pair skater to win the Olympic title with two different partners, followed only by

Artur Dmitriev Artur Valeryevich Dmitriev (russian: Артур Валерьевич Дмитриев; born 21 January 1968) is a Russian former pair skater who competed internationally for the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, and Russia. He is a two-time Olymp ...

Figure skating career

In her pre-school years, Irina Rodnina suffered from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

eleven times; deciding to enroll her in an activity, in 1954 her parents brought her to her first skating rink, in the Pryamikov Children Park in Moscow. Since the sixth form of secondary school, age 13, she trained at

Children and Youth Sports School A sports school (russian: Детско-Юношеская Спортивная Школа, ДЮСШ) is a type of educational institution for children that originated in the Soviet Union. Sports schools were the basis of the powerful system of ph ...

of CSKA on Leningradsky Prospekt. By 1963, Rodnina had begun skating with her first partner Oleg Vlasov, coached by Sonia and Milan Valun. In 1964, her coach became

Stanislav Zhuk Stanislav Alekseyevich Zhuk (russian: Станислав Алексеевич Жук, ; 25 January 1935 – 1 November 1998) was a pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his wife Nina, he won three silver medals at the European Figur ...

, who paired her with

. They won four consecutive World and European titles. Rodnina/Ulanov won their first World title in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, ahead of

Tamara Moskvina Tamara Nikolayevna Moskvina (, née Bratus, Братусь; born 26 June 1941) is a Russian pair skating coach and former competitive skater. Competing in pairs with Alexei Mishin, she became the 1969 World silver medalist and Soviet national ...

Alexei Mishin Alexei Nikolayevich Mishin (russian: link=no, Алексей Николаевич Мишин; born 8 March 1941) is a Russian figure skating coach and former pair skater. With partner Tamara Moskvina, he is the 1969 World silver medalist and ...

. They won their next two World titles,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, ahead of silver medalists

Lyudmila Smirnova Lyudmila Stanislavovna Smirnova (russian: Людмила Станиславовна Смирнова; born July 21, 1949, in Leningrad) is a retired pair skater who competed for the Soviet Union. With partner Andrei Suraikin, she is the 197 ...

Andrei Suraikin Andrei Alexandrovich Suraikin (russian: Андрей Александрович Сурайкин; 20 October 1948 -28 September 1996) was a Russian pair skater. With partner Liudmila Smirnova, he was the 1972 Olympic silver medalist. Car ...

. However, Ulanov fell in love with Smirnova, and prior to the 1972 Olympics, the couple made the decision to skate together the following season. Rodnina/Ulanov went on to compete at the 1972 Olympics where they captured the gold. They then prepared for their last competition together, the 1972 World Championships. While practicing together a day before the start of the competition, the pair had an accident on a lift and Rodnina ended up in hospital with a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

and an intracranial

hematoma A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillary, capillaries. A he ...

. Despite the accident, they had a strong showing in the short program, receiving some 6.0s. In the long program, Rodnina became faint and dizzy but it was enough for their fourth World title. Ulanov continued his career with Smirnova, while Rodnina considered retirement. In April 1972, her coach

suggested she team up with the young Leningrad skater

, who had good jumping technique and quickly learned the elements. Their music stopped during their short program at the 1973 World Championships, possibly due to a Czech worker acting in retaliation for the suppression of the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

. Known for intense concentration, they finished the program in silence, earning a standing ovation and a gold medal upon completion, ahead of Smirnova/Ulanov, whom they again defeated in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. In 1974, Rodnina/Zaitsev left Zhuk, with whom the working relationship had become strained, to train with

Tatiana Tarasova Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova (; born 13 February 1947) is a Russian figure skating coach and national figure skating team adviser. Tarasova has been coach to more world and Olympic champions than any other coach in skating history. Her students h ...

. They won six consecutive World titles together, as well as seven European gold medals, and won their first Olympic title together in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. Rodnina/Zaitsev did not compete during the 1978–79 season because she was pregnant with their son who was born on 23 February 1979. They returned in 1980 to capture their second Olympic title together and Rodnina's third. At the age of 30 years and 159 days, she became one of the oldest female figure skating Olympic champions. They then retired from competitive skating. Throughout her career, Rodnina competed internationally for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and represented the Armed Forces sports society at the national level. With her partners, she won ten World Championships and three consecutive Olympic gold medals from 1971 to 1980, along with eleven European titles, making her the most successful pair skater in history.

Political career

Rodnina became a member of the

Public Chamber of Russia The Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation (russian: Общественная палата Российской Федерации), sometimes shortened to Civic Chamber (russian: Общественная палата), is a consultative civil s ...

in 2005. In the 2007 legislative election, she was elected to the

as a member of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

party. On 17 December 2012, Rodnina supported the

Dima Yakovlev Law The Dima Yakovlev Law (russian: Закон Димы Яковлева), Dima Yakovlev Bill, Dima Yakovlev Act, anti-Magnitsky law, or Law of Scoundrels (officially Federal Law of 28 December 2012 No.272-FZ "On Sanctions for Individuals Violating F ...

, the law in the Russian Parliament banning adoption of Russian orphans by citizens of the United States.

Personal life

Rodnina graduated from the Central Institute of Physical Culture. Her first marriage was to

, with whom she has a son of the same name, born in 1979. From her second marriage with the film producer Leonid Menkovsky, Rodnina has a daughter,

Alyona Minkovski Alyona Leonidovna Minkovski (russian: Алёна Леони́довна Минько́вская; born 30 January 1986) is a Russian American journalist, television host and commentator. In 2011, she was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 media li ...

, born in 1986. She is currently divorced. She spent a number of years living in the United States and then moved back to Russia.

Twitter controversy

On 13 September 2013, Rodnina caused a stir when she

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

a doctored photo of

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and his wife Michelle, with Obama's mouth full of food, with a

photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...

ped banana in the image's foreground. She said she was practicing her right to free expression, but critics claimed she was making a racist comment about the African-American president. On 10 February 2014, Rodnina in her Twitter claimed that her account was hacked at the time of posting the offensive photograph and apologized for her handling of the affair.

Results

With Ulanov

With Zaitsev

Other honours and awards

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

(1972) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

(1976) *

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

, 3rd and 4th classes *

Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" The Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" (russian: Медаль «В память 850-летия Москвы») is a commemorative medal of the Russian Federation created to denote the 850th anniversary of the city of Mos ...

*Inducted into International Women's Sports Hall of Fame (1988) *Inducted into the

World Figure Skating Hall of Fame The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame serves as a repository for the sport of figure skating. The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame is where the greatest names in the history of the sport are honored. It is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ...

(1989) *International Skating Union's Jacques Favart Award *In the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, she was given the honor of being the lighter of the Olympic Cauldron along with

Vladislav Tretiak Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, Meritorious Service Decoration (Canada), MSM ( rus, links=no, Владислав Александрович Третьяк, p=trʲɪˈtʲjak; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Un ...

References

Bibliography

External links

* * *
Irina Rodnina in Encyclopædia Britannica

Pairs on Ice: Rodnina and Ulanov

Pairs on Ice: Rodnina and Zaitsev
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodnina, Irina 1949 births Living people Figure skaters from Moscow Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Soviet female pair skaters Russian female pair skaters Armed Forces sports society athletes Members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Russian sportsperson-politicians United Russia politicians Olympic cauldron lighters Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics 21st-century Russian politicians Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni Fifth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Sixth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Seventh convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Eighth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)