| Tatiana Tarasova | |
| Fullname: | Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova |
| Birth Date: | 13 February 1947 |
| Formerpartner: | Georgi Proskurin Aleksandr Tikhomirov |
| Retired: | 1966 |
Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova (Russian: {{audio|Ru-Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova.ogg|Татьяна Анатольевна Тарасова; born 13 February 1947) is a Russian figure skating coach and national figure skating team adviser. Tarasova has been coach to more world and Olympic champions than any other coach in skating history. Her students have won a total of eight Olympic gold medals in three of the four Olympic figure skating disciplines, in addition to 41 gold medals at the European and World championships.
Tatiana Tarasova is the daughter of Anatoly Tarasov, a famed ice hockey coach, who introduced her to figure skating at the age of five. She lived for more than a decade in Simsbury, Connecticut before moving back to Russia in 2006. She is the widow of Vladimir Krainev, who died in April 2011.
Tarasova competed in pair skating with Aleksandr Tikhomirov[1] and Georgi Proskurin. With Proskurin, she was a two-time Soviet national medalist. They finished 7th at the 1965 World Championships and 4th at the 1966 European Championships.[2] At 18 years of age, Tarasova sustained a career-ending injury.
| International | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 63–64 | 64–65 | 65–66 | ||||
| align=left | 7th | ||||||
| align=left | 6th | 4th | |||||
| align=left | bgcolor=cc9966 | 3rd | |||||
| align=left | bgcolor=gold | 1st | |||||
| National | |||||||
| align=left | bgcolor=cc9966 | 3rd | bgcolor=silver | 2nd |
Tarasova started coaching at age 19, at her father's insistence. Her most notable students have been Alexei Yagudin, Ilia Kulik, Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin, Oksana Grishuk / Evgeni Platov, Ekaterina Gordeeva / Sergei Grinkov, Marina Klimova / Sergey Ponomarenko, and Irina Rodnina / Alexander Zaitsev.
In the mid-1980s, Tarasova launched the Russian All-Stars, an ice ballet. She coached for ten years at Simsbury, Connecticut's International Skating Center before announcing her retirement from full-time coaching and moving back to Russia in 2006. A notorious chain smoker, Tarasova was known for smoking cigarettes during her coaching sessions.[3]
Her students have included:
She coached Asada from 2008 until 2010. Asada won the 2010 World title and 2010 Olympic silver medal under Tarasova. Tarasova continued to choreograph for her.
Led her to win the World Championships in 2004 and Olympic gold medal in 2006 together with Nikolai Morozov.
Coached and choreographed his programs starting 2012.
Coached him and choreographed programs for him.
Coached her from 2002 until 2004. Was also her choreographer.
Choreographed programs for her.
Choreographed multiple programs for him.
choreographed his programs in the 2004-5 season.
Was also his choreographer. Led him to win the Olympic gold medal in 1998.
Choreographed her short and free programs for the 2005-6 season.
[4] Choreographed multiple programs for him.
Choreographed her programs.
Worked with him during periods of his career as well as choreographed programs for him.
Choreographed programs for him.
Choreographed multiple programs for him.
Coached and choreographed him from 1998 to his retirement in 2003. Led him to three World Championships and an Olympic gold medal in 2002.
Tarasova is assisted by choreographer Jeanetta Folle.
In March 2023, Tarasova lashed out at Canadian athletes who signed a petition calling for a continuation of the ban on Russian athletes amidst the Russo-Ukrainian War:[5]
Tarasova was awarded Order of Friendship of Peoples (1984). In March 2008, she was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.