Liudmila Pakhomova

Lyudmila Pakhomova
Pakhomova on a 2013 Russian stamp from the "Sports Legends" series
Personal information
Full name	Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	(1946-12-31)31 December 1946 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	17 May 1986(1986-05-17) (aged 39) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Former partner	Alexandr Gorshkov Viktor Ryzhkin
Former coach	Elena Tchaikovskaya Stanislav Zhuk
Medal record Figure skating: Ice dancing Representing  Soviet Union Winter Olympics 1976 Innsbruck Ice dancing World Championships 1976 Gothenburg Ice dancing 1974 Munich Ice dancing 1973 Bratislava Ice dancing 1972 Calgary Ice dancing 1971 Lyon Ice dancing 1970 Ljubljana Ice dancing 1969 Colorado Springs Ice dancing European Championships 1976 Geneva Ice dancing 1975 Copenhagen Ice dancing 1974 Zagreb Ice dancing 1973 Cologne Ice dancing 1972 Gothenburg Ice dancing 1971 Zürich Ice dancing 1970 Leningrad Ice dancing 1969 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Ice dancing

Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova (Russian: Людмила Алексеевна Пахомова; 31 December 1946 – 17 May 1986) was an ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With partner Alexandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic champion.

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. 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. Despite the initial experience gap, Gorshkov said that 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 year. They competed for Dynamo. 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.