Ludmila Pakhomova –the Legend of Russian Sport

Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova (December 31, 1946 in Moscow – May 17, 1986 in Moscow) was an ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With partner Alexandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic champion. Zolotareva Ekaterina

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Pakhomova was the daughter of Alexei Pakhomov, an aviation general. She began figure skating at age seven, when her grandmother brought her to Children and Youth Sports School by the Young Pioneers Stadium. Her first ice dancing partner was the nine-years-older Viktor Ryzhkin, formerly her coach, with whom she trained at CSKA Moscow under Stanislav Zhuk. 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

After her partnership with Ryzhkin ended, Pakhomova invited Alexandr Gorshkov to skate with her.[1Since he had much less experience, some experts were skeptical of her choice. Despite the initial experience gap, Gorshkov said Pakhomova was a strong personality who was determined they would become champions.

Pakhomova / Gorshkov began training in May 1966, under coach Elena Tchaikovskaya, and made their international debut in December of the same yearPakhomova / 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. They won their first World title in 1970 and married later that year. 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.

Following the 1975 European Championships, Gorshkov began feeling ill and underwent a lung operation, with their coach Elena Tchaikovskaya donating blood

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 Olympics champions in the discipline. They won their sixth World title in 1976 in Goteburg, Sweden

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. She coached Igor Shpilband for eight years (age 12 to 20). He and partner Tatiana Gladkova became the 1983 World Junior champions.

They retired from competition in 1976 In 1977, they had a daughter, Yulia Gorshkova.

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. Her husband said she did not want to change anything in her life and it was not in her nature to give up. Pakhomova died at the age of 39 on May 17, 1986 and was interred in the Vagankovo Cemetery in MoscowA minor planet 3231 Mila, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1972 is named after her. Pakhomova was posthumously inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1988, along with Gorshkov