Aleksandr Gorelik

Aleksandr Gorelik started to skate pairs with Tatyana Sharanova and won his only medal with her, a silver, at the Soviet Championships in 1964. Later in 1964 Gorelik started to skate with Tatyana Zhuk and although they never won a Soviet Championships medal together, they were quite successful at the international level. They won bronzes at the 1965 World and European Championships, which they turned to silver in 1966. In 1968 Gorelik and Zhuk won an Olympic silver and then in their last competition won another silver at the 1968 World Championships.

After the World Championships Tatyana Zhuk decided to end her competitive career to give a birth to a child, so Gorelik tried skating with Irina Rodnina for a couple of months. But Soviet skating officials did not see them matched as a pair, so Gorelik retired from competition. He then tried his hand at acting, starring in the leading role in the famous figure skating film Blue Ice (Голубой лёд, 1969) and then briefly skated professionally with his old partner Tatyana Zhuk in ice shows, before starting coaching. He was the coach of the 1976 Soviet Union Olympic figure skating team. Since 1970s Gorelik has also worked as a sports commentator in radio and since 2001 he was the sports commentator with TV channel RTR Sport.