 Gorshkov in 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aleksandr Georgievich Gorshkov | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1946-10-08)8 October 1946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aleksandr Georgievich Gorshkov (Russian:Александр Георгиевич Горшков, 8 October 1946 – 17 November 2022) was a Russianice dancer who competed internationally for theSoviet Union. With his wifeLyudmila Pakhomova, he was the1976 Olympic champion.
They were also six-timeWorld Champions (1970–74, 1976), as well as six-timeEuropean 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 theFigure 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 atCSKA Moscow, he received an invitation fromLyudmila 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 coachElena Tchaikovskaia, and made their international debut in December of the same year.[2] They competed forDynamo.[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 the1968 Winter Olympics – the event determined if ice dancing would be added as an official Olympic sport and was successful.[5] They won their firstWorld title in 1970 and married later that year.[2] The duo repeated as World champions in1971,1972,1973, and1974. In 1974, Pakhomova/Gorshkov and Tchaikovskaia created theTango Romantica, which the ISU would later adopt as acompulsory dance.[5]
Following the1975 European Championships, Gorshkov began feeling ill and underwent a lung operation, with their coach Elena Tchaikovskaia donating blood.[2][3] They flew toColorado Springs, Colorado for the1975 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 the1976 Winter Olympics inInnsbruck, Austria, and Pakhomova/Gorshkov became the first Olympic champions in the discipline. They won their sixth World title in1976 in Goteburg, Sweden. They retired from competition later that year.[2] In 1977, they had a daughter, Yulia Gorshkova.[2]
Pakhomova died ofleukemia on 17 May 1986.[2][6] Gorshkov and his late wife were inducted into theWorld Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1988.[7]
Gorshkov later served as the chairman of theInternational Skating Union's ice dance technical committee.[5] At an election conference held inNovogorsk on 4 June 2010, he was unanimously elected president of theFigure Skating Federation of Russia.[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)
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| International | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 66–67 | 67–68 | 68–69 | 69–70 | 70–71 | 71–72 | 72–73 | 73–74 | 74–75 | 75–76 |
| Olympics | 1st | |||||||||
| Worlds | 13th | 6th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | |
| Europeans | 10th | 5th | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
| Moscow News | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||
| National | ||||||||||
| Soviet Champ. | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
