Alexander Zaitsev

Personal information
Full name	Alexander Gennadyevich Zaitsev
Born	(1952-06-16)16 June 1952 (age 73) Leningrad,RSFSR,Soviet Union
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1]
Figure skating career
Country	Soviet Union
Retired	1980
Medal record Figure skating:Pairs Representingthe Soviet Union Olympic Games 1980 Lake Placid Pairs 1976 Innsbruck Pairs World Championships 1978 Ottawa Pairs 1977 Tokyo Pairs 1976 Gothenburg Pairs 1975 Colorado Springs Pairs 1974 Munich Pairs 1973 Bratislava Pairs European Championships 1980 Gothenburg Pairs 1978 Strasbourg Pairs 1977 Helsinki Pairs 1976 Geneva Pairs 1975 Copenhagen Pairs 1974 Zagreb Pairs 1973 Cologne Pairs

Alexander Gennadyevich Zaitsev (Russian:Александр Геннадьевич Зайцев, born 16 June 1952) is a Russian retiredpair skater who represented theSoviet Union. With partnerIrina Rodnina, he is a two-time (1976,1980) Olympic champion, six-timeWorld champion and seven-timeEuropean champion. They were coached byStanislav Zhuk and laterTatiana Tarasova inMoscow.

From 1973 to 1980 they won every event they entered and are, to date, the most decorated pair team of all time.

In April 1972, Zaitsev was recommended byStanislav Zhuk to Irina Rodnina as a potential partner. She was already a four-time World champion and 1972 Olympic gold medalist with her previous partnerAlexei Ulanov, who had left her to skate withLyudmila Smirnova. Zaitsev was three years younger than Rodnina and was much less seasoned but learned quickly. He was fromLeningrad (Saint Petersburg) while she was fromMoscow.

Rodnina / Zaitsev's music stopped during their short program at the1973 World Championships, possibly due to a Czech worker acting in retaliation for the suppression of thePrague Spring.^[2][3] Known for intense concentration, they finished the program in silence, earning a standing ovation and a gold medal upon completion,^[4] ahead of Smirnova / Ulanov, whom they again defeated in1974.

In 1974, Rodnina / Zaitsev left Zhuk, with whom the working relationship had become strained,^[3] to train withTatiana Tarasova. They won six consecutive World titles together, as well as seven European gold medals, and won their first Olympic title together in1976. Rodnina / Zaitsev did not compete during the 1978–79 season because she was pregnant with their son, who was born on 23 February 1979.^[3] They returned in 1980 to capture theirsecond Olympic title together and Rodnina's third. They then retired from competitive skating. In 2023, Zaitsev's medal for the 1980 Olympics was sold at theRR Auction auction house for $93,000 (including the buyer's premium). Zaitsev himself said that he had nothing to do with the sale, the medal was kept by the parents of his ex-wife.^[5][6]

After retiring from competition, Zaitsev became a coach and for a time was involved in the administration of the sport.

Rodnina and Zaitsev were married in April 1975. Their son, also named Alexander, was born in 1979. The pair later divorced.

Pairs withIrina Rodnina

• USSR at the Winter Olympics

• Rodnina and Zaitsev pair profile

• 1952 births
• Living people
• Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
• Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR
• Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• Russian male pair skaters
• Soviet male pair skaters
• Olympic figure skaters for the Soviet Union
• Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics
• Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
• Figure skaters from Saint Petersburg
• Olympic medalists in figure skating
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists
• European Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics
• Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics
• 20th-century Russian sportsmen

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