Lake Placid February 1980, XIII Olympic Winter Games. Mixed pairs figure skating: Irina RODNINA and Aleksandr ZAITZEV of the Soviet Union competing. Credit: Getty Images/Steve PowellBorn: 12 September 1949
Birthplace: Moscow (Russia)
Nationality: Russia
Sport: Skating
ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Sapporo 1972
Innsbruck 1976
Lake Placid 1980
AWARDS
Olympic medals:
Gold: 3
Other results:
World Championships
Gold: 10 (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78)
The Most Successful Pairs Skater
Irina Rodnina was the most successful pairs skater in history. Her three Olympic victories in 1972 with Aleksey Ulanov and in 1976 and 1980 with Aleksandr Zaytsev are a record for a pairs skater. Her record at the World Championships was even more impressive. She won the title for ten successive years (1969-1978), the first four with Ulanov and the next six with Zaytsev. Rodnina and Ulanov split up as a pairs team when Ulanov became romantically involved with Lyudmila Smirnova, another pairs skater who won a silver medal in 1972 behind Rodnina and Ulanov. After Rodnina and Ulanov split up as skaters, she married Zaytsev and their successes in the latter part of their partnership were as husband and wife. Rodnina won eleven European pairs championships, in 1969-78 and in 1980, the last seven with her husband.
