Irina Rodnina

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Soviet Union
Figure skating
Gold	1972 Sapporo	Pairs
Gold	1976 Innsbruck	Pairs
Gold	1980 Lake Placid	Pairs

Irina Rodnina
Irina Rodnina in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	September 12, 1949 (1949-09-12) Moscow
Height	5' (152 cm)
Former partner	Alexei Ulanov Alexander Zaitsev
Former coach	Tatiana Tarasova Stanislav Zhuk
Skating club	Armed Forces sports society
Retired	1980
Medal record Competitor for Soviet Union Pairs' Figure skating Olympic Games Gold 1980 Lake Placid Pairs Gold 1976 Innsbruck Pairs Gold 1972 Sapporo Pairs World Championships Gold 1978 Ottawa Pairs Gold 1977 Tokyo Pairs Gold 1976 Gothenburg Pairs Gold 1975 Colorado Springs Pairs Gold 1974 Munich Pairs Gold 1973 Bratislava Pairs Gold 1972 Calgary Pairs Gold 1971 Lyon Pairs Gold 1970 Ljubljana Pairs Gold 1969 Colorado Springs Pairs European Championships Gold 1980 Gothenburg Pairs Gold 1978 Strasbourg Pairs Gold 1977 Helsinki Pairs Gold 1976 Geneva Pairs Gold 1975 Copenhagen Pairs Gold 1974 Zagreb Pairs Gold 1973 Cologne Pairs Gold 1972 Gothenburg Pairs Gold 1971 Zürich Pairs Gold 1970 Leningrad Pairs

Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina (Russian: Ирина Константиновна Роднина, born September 12, 1949, Moscow, Russian SFSR) is one of the most successful figure skaters ever and the only pair skater to win 10 successive World Championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals (1972, 1976, 1980). She initially competed with Alexei Ulanov and later teamed up with Alexander Zaitsev. She is the first pair skater to win the Olympic title with two different partners, followed only by Artur Dmitriev.

Career

In pre-school years Irina Rodnina suffered from pneumonia eleven times, and in 1954 her parents brought her to her first skating rink, in the Pryamikov Children Park in Moscow. Since the sixth form of the secondary school, age 13, she trained at Children and Youth Sports School of CSKA on Leningradsky Prospekt.

Throughout her career she competed internationally for the Soviet Union. At the national level she represented the Armed Forces sports society.

Rodnina graduated from the Central Institute of Physical Culture. She won ten World Championships and three consecutive Olympic gold medals in pairs competition between 1971 and 1980 with her partners Alexei Ulanov and Alexander Zaitsev. She also won 11 European pairs championships, making her the most successful pair skater in history.

Rodnina with Alexei Ulanov in 1970.

Rodnina began her career with Alexei Ulanov. They won four consecutive World and European titles. They won their first World title in 1969, ahead of Tamara Moskvina and Alexei Mishin. They won their next two World titles, 1970 and 1971, ahead of silver medalists Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin. 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 and 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 and an intracranial hematoma. 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 Stanislav Zhuk suggested she team up with the young Leningrad skater Alexander Zaitsev, 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. Known for intense concentration, they finished the program in silence, earning a standing ovation and a gold medal upon completion, ahead of Ulanov and Smirnova, who they again defeated in 1974.

In 1974, Rodnina and Zaitsev left Zhuk, with whom the working relationship had become strained, to train with Tatiana Tarasova. They won six consecutive World titles together, as well as seven European gold medals, and won their first Olympic title together in 1976. Rodnina and Zaitsev did not compete during the 1978–79 season because she was pregnant with their son who was born on February 23, 1979. They returned in 1980 to capture their second Olympic title together and Rodnina's third. They then retired from competitive skating.

Rodnina was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (in 1972) and the Order of Lenin (in 1976).

Rodnina coached numerous elite Soviet skaters and taught at the University of Moscow. From 1990–2002, she coached in the United States and led the Czech team of Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný to a world title. She later moved back to Russia. Since 2005, Rodnina is a member of the Public Chamber of Russia.

Personal life

Rodnina's first marriage was to her second partner, Alexander Zaitsev, with whom she has a son of the same name, born in 1979. From her second marriage, she has a daughter, Alyona Minkovski, born in 1986. She is currently divorced.

Halls of Fame and other awards

In 1988 she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. In 1989 she was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She also received the International Skating Union's highest honor, the Jacques Favart Award.

Results

Pairs with Alexei Ulanov

Event	1967–68	1968–69	1969–70	1970–71	1971–72
Winter Olympics					1st
World Championships		1st	1st	1st	1st
European Championships	5th	1st	1st	1st	1st
Soviet Championships	3rd	3rd	1st	1st
Prize of Moscow News	1st	2nd	1st

with Alexander Zaitsev

Event	1972–73	1973–74	1974–75	1975–76	1976–77	1977–78	1978–79	1979–80
Winter Olympics				1st				1st
World Championships	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
European Championships	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st		1st
Soviet Championships	1st	1st	1st		1st
Prize of Moscow News						1st

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd and 4th classes
• Two Orders of Lenin
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice
• Medal 850th Anniversary of Moscow

Bibliography

A. Chaikovsky (1977) (in Russian). Irina Rodnina. Heroes of the Olympic Games. Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. http://www.sportlib.ru/books/figur/rodnina/. 

External links

• Irina Rodnina on Olympic.org
• Irina Rodnina in Encyclopædia Britannica
• Pairs on Ice: Rodnina and Ulanov
• Pairs on Ice: Rodnina and Zaitsev