Aleksandr Georgievich Gorshkov (russian: link=no, Александр Георгиевич Горшков, 8 October 1946 – 17 November 2022) was an

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

who 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 ...

. With his wife

Lyudmila Pakhomova Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova (russian: Людмила Алексеевна Пахомова; 31 December 1946 – 17 May 1986) was an ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With her husband Alexandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic c ...

, he was the 1976 Olympic champion. They were six-time World Champions (1970–74, 1976), as well as six-time European champions (1970–71, 1973–76), which makes them the most decorated of all-time at both events in the pair discipline. From 2010, Gorshkov was the president of the

Figure Skating Federation of Russia The Figure Skating Federation of Russia (russian: Федерация фигурного катания на коньках России, lit. ''Figure Skating on Skates Federation of Russia'') is the national sport governing body for figure skating ...

(FFKKR).

Life and career

Gorshkov was born on 8 October 1946. He began skating at age six after his mother heard that the Sokolniki skating school was taking new students. 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. In 1966 while at

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

, he received an invitation from

to skate with her. Since he had much less experience, some experts were skeptical of her choice. Despite the initial experience gap, Gorshkov said that Pakhomova was a strong personality who was determined they would become champions. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H1219-0016-001, Ludmilla Pachomowa, Alexander Gorschkow

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H1219-0016-001, Ludmilla Pachomowa, Alexander Gorschkow

Pakhomova/Gorshkov began training in May 1966, under coach

Elena Tchaikovskaia Elena Anatolyevna Tchaikovskaia, also spelled as Chaykovskaya or Chaikovskaia (, née Osipova (russian: О́сипова); born 30 December 1939) is a Russian figure skating coach, choreographer, and former competitor for the Soviet Union. She r ...

, and made their international debut in December of the same year. They competed for

Dynamo file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...

. 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. Pakhomova/Gorshkov performed in the ice dancing demonstration event at the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

– the event determined if ice dancing would be added as an official Olympic sport and was successful. They won their first World title in 1970 and married later that year. The duo repeated as World champions in

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 ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, and

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, Pakhomova/Gorshkov and Tchaikovskaia created the

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

Romantica, which the ISU would later adopt as a

compulsory dance The compulsory dance (CD), now called the pattern dance, is a part of the figure skating segment of ice dance competitions in which all the competing couples perform the same standardized steps and holds to the music of a specified tempo and ge ...

. Following the 1975 European Championships, Gorshkov began feeling ill and underwent a lung operation, with their coach Elena Tchaikovskaia donating blood. They flew to

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

for the 1975 World Championships, unsure about their participation. During the first practice session, Gorshkov had trouble breathing and needed to be given oxygen – they withdrew from the event. 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. RR5111-0207R

Pakhomova/Gorshkov returned to competition the following season. Ice dancing debuted as an official Olympic sport at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, 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. In 1977, they had a daughter, Yulia Gorshkova. Pakhomova died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

on 17 May 1986. Gorshkov and his late wife were 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, ...

in 1988. Gorshkov later served as the chairman of the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

's ice dance technical committee. At an election conference held in Novogorsk on 4 June 2010, he was unanimously elected president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation. He was president of a Regional Public Charitable Foundation for the Arts and Sports named after Pakhomova. Gorshkov later married Irina Ivanovna Gorshkova, with whom he has a stepson, Stanislav Belyaev. 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.

Results

(with Pakhomova)

References

External links

* *

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorshkov, Aleksandr 1946 births 2022 deaths Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Merited Coaches of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian male ice dancers Soviet male ice dancers Dynamo sports society athletes European Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Figure skaters from Moscow Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists