Lyudmila Pakhomova

Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova (Template:Langx; 31 December 1946 – 17 May 1986) was a Russian ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With her husband Aleksandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic champion, one of the oldest female figure skating Olympic champions.

They are 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.

Life and career

Pakhomova was the daughter of Alexei Pakhomov, an aviation general.<ref name=rodgaz/><ref name=IFS130105/> She began figure skating at age seven, when her grandmother brought her to Children and Youth Sports School by the Young Pioneers Stadium in Moscow.<ref name=rodgaz/><ref name=goldsk/> Her first ice dancing partner was the nine-years-older Viktor Ryzhkin, formerly her coach,<ref name=VR080826/> with whom she trained at CSKA Moscow under Stanislav Zhuk.<ref name=rodgaz/> They won three Soviet national titles and placed 10th at the 1966 World Championships. They were the first Soviet ice dancers to compete at Worlds.<ref name=IFS130105/>

After her partnership with Ryzhkin ended, Pakhomova invited Aleksandr Gorshkov to skate with her.<ref name=rodgaz/> He was only a couple of months older and also trained at CSKA Moscow. Since he had much less experience, some experts were skeptical of her choice.<ref name=VR080826/> Despite the initial experience gap, Gorshkov said that Pakhomova was a strong personality who was determined they would become champions.<ref name=rodgaz/>

Pakhomova and Gorshkov in 1969

Pakhomova/Gorshkov began training in May 1966, under coach Elena Tchaikovskaia, and made their international debut in December of the same year.<ref name=rodgaz/> They competed for Dynamo.<ref name=slovari/> 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.<ref name=rodgaz/>

Pakhomova/Gorshkov performed in the ice dancing demonstration event at the 1968 Winter Olympics – the event determined if ice dancing would be added as an official Olympic sport and was successful.<ref name=IFS130105/> They won their first World title in 1970 and married later that year.<ref name=rodgaz/> The duo repeated as World champions in 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974. In 1974, Pakhomova/Gorshkov and Tchaikovskaya created the Tango Romantica, which the ISU would later adopt as a compulsory dance.<ref name=IFS130105/>

Following the 1975 European Championships, Gorshkov began feeling ill and underwent a lung operation, with their coach Elena Tchaikovskaia donating blood.<ref name=rodgaz/><ref name=VR080826/> They flew to Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. for the 1975 World Championships, unsure about their participation.<ref name=rodgaz/> During the first practice session, Gorshkov had trouble breathing and needed to be given oxygen – they withdrew from the event.<ref name=rodgaz/><ref name=IFS130105/> 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.<ref name=rodgaz/>

Pakhomova/Gorshkov returned to competition the following season. Ice dancing debuted as an official Olympic sport at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and Pakhomova/Gorshkov became the first Olympic champions in the discipline. They won their sixth World title in 1976 in Gothenburg, Sweden. They retired from competition later that year.<ref name=rodgaz/> In 1977, they had a daughter, Yulia Gorshkova.<ref name=rodgaz/>

Pakhomova began coaching at CSKA. Her students included 1980 and 1981 World Junior champions Elena Batanova / Alexei Soloviev and European medalists Natalia Annenko / Genrikh Sretenski.<ref name=rodgaz/> She coached Igor Shpilband for eight years (age 12 to 20).<ref name=IFS130105/> He and partner Tatiana Gladkova became the 1983 World Junior champions.

In late 1979, Pakhomova began having health problems which were eventually diagnosed as leukemia, but she continued to go out onto the ice even after her cancer made it very difficult.<ref name=rodgaz/> Her husband said she did not want to change anything in her life and it was not in her nature to give up.<ref name=rodgaz/> Pakhomova died at the age of 39 on 17 May 1986 and was interred in the Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow.<ref name=rodgaz/><ref name=IFS130105/><ref name=NYT860518/>

A minor planet, 3231 Mila, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva in 1972, is named after her.<ref name=IAU/> Pakhomova was posthumously inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1988, along with Gorshkov.

Programs

Pakhomova and Gorshkov's programs included:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• La cumparsita
• Tango Romantica <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Waltz from Masquerade by Aram Khachaturian
• 1985: Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Shine, Shine, My Star (Гори, Гори, Моя Звезда); Mexican dance
• Ozornye Chastushki (Озорные частушки) by Rodion Shchedrin
• Vdol po Piterskoy (Вдоль по Питерской)
• The Nightingale (Соловей) and Svetit Mesyats (Светит месяц) by Alexander Alyabyev
• Works by Edvard Grieg and Stanisław Moniuszko

Results

With Gorshkov

A 3-ruble Russian coin of 2010 commemorating Pakhomova and Gorshkov

International
Event	Template:Tooltip	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

With Ryzhkin

International
Event	1964	1965	1966
World Championships			10th
European Championships			7th
National
Soviet Championships	1st	1st	1st

External links

• Template:Cite Sports-Reference
• Template:Webarchive