Irina Rodnina biography
Irina Rodnina, in full Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina, (born September 12, 1949, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Soviet determine skater who, together with her companions, first Alexey Ulanov and later Aleksandr Zaytsev, gained 10 successive world championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals.
Rodnina survived a bout with tuberculosis as an toddler. She graduated from the Central Institute of Physical Culture in Moscow and taught in addition to skated. After profitable the gold medal within the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan, the Rodnina-Ulanov partnership, which had begun in 1968, broke up as a result of her accomplice married one other pairs skater. Rodnina selected Zaytsev as her new accomplice after Soviet skating officers had carried out a nationwide search. The two have been married in 1975, however they divorced after the 1980 Olympics. They received gold medals within the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and once more in 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, which thus gave Rodnina three gold medals for 3 successive Olympics.
The Rodnina-Zaytsev crew launched side-by-side jumps consisting of double axels. They emphasised velocity and energy and have been thought-about extra athletic than lyrical—in distinction to their predecessors the Protopopovs. Rodnina retired in 1980 and commenced a training profession. She taught a number of Soviet pairs and moved to the United States to teach in 1990. She later returned to Russia and entered politics, turning into a member of Pres. Vladimir Putin’s United Russia occasion. In 2008 she was elected to the Duma.