Irina Rodnina

Irina Rodnina Konstantinovna (Russian Ирина Константиновна Роднина; born September 12, 1949 in Moscow) is a former Russian figure skater, which was launched in pair skating for the Soviet Union. With three Olympic victories, ten World Cup titles and eleven European championship titles that she won at the side of Alexei Ulanov and Alexander Zaitsev, she is the most successful pair skater in figure skating history.

Career

Before Rodnina started school, she was already suffering under eleven pneumonia, whereupon her parents brought her to her first ice rink in 1954. When she came in the sixth grade at the age of 13, she began with professional figure skating training at the Children 's and Youth Sports School of CSKA Moscow on Leningradsky Prospekt.

Rodninas first partner in the pairs figure skating Alexei Ulanov was. With him it was established in 1968 with their first Soviet Championship third behind Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov and Tamara Moskvina and Alexei Mishin. Rodnina and Ulanov disputed 1968 as the European Championships in Västerås, Sweden also their first major international tournament. With the double victory of their countrymen, they finished it in fifth place. It was the only part in a major international competition in which Rodnina not won. 1969 occupied Rodnina and Ulanov again only the third place at the national championships were in Garmisch -Partenkirchen, but European champion and in Colorado Springs at their first world championship is also world champion, the latter with a unanimous judges' verdict in front of their two Soviet competitors Moskvina / Mishin and Belousova / Protopopov. It was the beginning of the longest era in the history of the pair run.

In 1970 the couple was the first time Soviet champion and defended in Leningrad the European Championship title in Ljubljana and the world championship title. They defeated their rivals from now on most Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin. 1971 resulted in the National Championship, the European Championship in Zurich and the World Cup in Lyon the same results. However Rodnina and Ulanov lost Kürwertung in against their national rivals WM. Rodnina and Ulanov again dominated in 1972. They were European champions in Gothenburg for the fourth time in a row. In her first Olympics, they won with victories in the short program as well as freestyle gold medal in Sapporo ahead of their eternal rival Smirnova and Suraikin. However, this success had a history. Alexei Ulanov she was satisfied that Rodnina was viewed as a stronger part of the pair and fell in love with the arch rival of the couple, Lyudmila Smirnova. Even before the Olympics, the separation of the couple was a done deal for next season. After the Olympic freestyle Rodnina left the ice in tears. The World Cup in Calgary was the last joint appearance of the skating pair Rodnina / Ulanov. With a unanimous judges' verdict, they were for the fourth time in a row world champion. Here, Rodnina had at a elevation during training, one day before the competition, injured. She had to be hospitalized because of a concussion and an intracranial hematoma. Nevertheless, she completed the short program without errors and also got some high marks. At the end of the free skate, she was dizzy, but she made it in spite of increasing weakness, not to bring the world title in jeopardy. After the end of her last appearance with Alexei Ulanov, who should continue his career with Lyudmila Smirnova, she thought about retirement.

In April 1972, recommended Rodninas coach Stanislav Zhuk her to try it with the young Leningrad figure skaters Alexander Zaitsev as a pair of running partner. Zaitsev noticed by a good jumping technique and by its rapid learning of new elements. Rodnina tied with him seamlessly from past successes. Rodnina and Zaitsev 1973 were already Soviet champion and won in Cologne at their first joint European Championship as well as in Bratislava at their first joint World Championship gold medal. At the World Cup they succeeded even though the music was failed. Nevertheless, they kept the concentration and ran the freestyle at the end. They received a standing ovation and a unanimous judges' verdict in their favor. Both the European title as well as the world title they won before Rodninas former partner Alexei Ulanov and their Dauerkonkurrentin Lyudmila Smirnova. The dance style of the couple Rodnina / Zaitsev was hailed at the time as a " revolution." The two had a romantic ice skating turned their backs and given their freestyle with fast elements a new direction in figure skating. 1974 defended the couple his Soviet Championship title in Zagreb his European title in Munich and his world title. This they succeeded in 1975 at the European Championships in Copenhagen and the World Championships in Colorado Springs. Shortly thereafter, in April 1975, married Rodnina and Zaitsev. Also in 1976, they continued their triumphant. In Geneva, she became European Champion and World Champion in Gothenburg. In Innsbruck, she then went on their first joint Olympic Games. Your Olympic victory was unharmed. They won both the short program and free skating as well have been set by all judges in the first place. They pointed Romy Kermer and Rolf Oesterreich from the GDR, as in the past and following World Championship, on the second place. Rodnina and Zaitsev 1977, the fourth and last time Soviet champion. It was the sixth overall national championship titles for Rodnina. In Helsinki, the pair became the fifth consecutive European Champion and in Tokyo for the fifth consecutive time world champion. So they were the first and are still the only pair that could win five titles at the world championships. In 1978 she won the European Championships in Strasbourg and ran up in Ottawa, Canada, their sixth and last World Cup title in a row. This is Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev to date, the most successful pair in the World Championships. 1979 denied the couple no contests since Rodnina was pregnant and gave birth to a son. This led to the fact that 1979 was the first year since 1968 in which neither Rodnina world nor was European champion. Rodnina and Zaitsev 1980 returned back. They won in Gothenburg their seventh and last European Championship title. Thus they passed Marika Kilius and Hans -Jürgen Baumler, who had brought it on six European titles and was the most successful pair in European Figure Skating Championships. The Olympic Games in Lake Placid should be her last appearance as Rodnina the next World Cup because of a shoulder injury could no longer deny. The reigning world champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner from the USA were unable to participate because Gardner had been injured, and Rodnina and Zaitsev so had to defend her Olympic title no effort. After Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet in 1932 and 1936 and Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov 1964 and 1968 they were the third and final pair that could defend an Olympic gold medal. Rodnina and Zaitsev won all the competitions in which they participated in their career and this. Within a period of eight years

Rodnina, with a total of three Olympic victories, ten World Cup titles and eleven European Championship titles, the most successful by far pair skater in history. It is next to the individual runners figure skater Sonja Henie the only who managed to win three Olympic gold medals and ten world titles.

After her competitive career Rodnina worked as a trainer, she led the Czechs Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný World Championship title 1995. 1985 Rodnina was divorced from Alexander Zaitsev. In 1990 she moved to the U.S. and married the businessman Leonid Minkowski, by whom she has a daughter and is also divorced. In 2000, Rodnina returned to Russia and has been living in Moscow. Her son studied at the Stroganov University in Moscow ceramic design and her daughter studying in the U.S. journalism.

Rodnina was awarded in 1972 the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, 1976, the Order of Lenin and the 1999 Order of Merit for the Fatherland 3rd class. Rodnina 1989 was inducted into the Figure Skating Hall of Fame. They also got the Jacques Favart Award, the highest award of the International Skating Union.

At the Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi she lit together with Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak the Olympic flame.

Results

Pair of running

( with Alexei Ulanov )

( with Alexander Zaitsev )

Political activity

Rodnina is chairman of the Central " Sports Russia", the " development of mass sport" sets itself the goal.

In 2006 she was a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, whose members are appointed by the President to publicly perform hearings of legislative projects.

Since 2007, Rodnina is a Member of the Russian State Duma for the ruling party, United Russia. In December 2012, she voted in favor of the Law № 272 -FZ, which prohibits, among other things, the adoption of Russian orphans by U.S. citizens.

Winter Olympic Games 1969 World Figure Skating Championships 1970 World Figure Skating Championships 1971 World Figure Skating Championships 1972 World Figure Skating Championships 1973 World Figure Skating Championships 1974 World Figure Skating Championships 1975 World Figure Skating Championships 1976 World Figure Skating Championships 1977 World Figure Skating Championships 1978 World Figure Skating Championships 1969 European Figure Skating Championships 1970 European Figure Skating Championships 1971 European Figure Skating Championships 1972 European Figure Skating Championships 1973 European Figure Skating Championships 1974 European Figure Skating Championships 1975 European Figure Skating Championships 1976 European Figure Skating Championships 1977 European Figure Skating Championships 1978 European Figure Skating Championships 1980 European Figure Skating Championships Alexander Gennadiyevich Zaitsev History of figure skating 1968 European Figure Skating Championships East Germany Randy Gardner (figure skater) Pierre Brunet (figure skater) List of Olympic medalists in figure skating 1995 World Figure Skating Championships Order of the Red Banner of Labour World Figure Skating Hall of Fame Russian Figure Skating Championships Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Ernst Baier Micheline Lannoy Ria Baran Sissy Schwarz Kurt Oppelt Barbara Wagner Oksana Kazakova David Pelletier Shen Xue Maxim Trankov Phyllis Johnson James H. Johnson Karl Mejstrik Ludwig Wrede Peter Kennedy (figure skater) Jennifer Nicks John Nicks Frances Dafoe Norris Bowden Maria Jelinek Otto Jelinek Irina Vorobieva Tassilo Thierbach Barbara Underhill Isabelle Brasseur Lloyd Eisler Ingo Steuer Pang Qing Aliona Savchenko Robin Szolkowy Olga Orgonista Idi Papez Karl Zwack Marianna Nagy (figure skater) Silvia Grandjean Michel Grandjean Yuko Kavaguti Alexander Smirnov (figure skater) Igor Moskvin Nina Zhuk Marina Pestova Denis Petrov Integrated Authority File
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