Tatiana Tarasova: Skating Coach Quiz

Answer: Hockey coach

Tarasova's father Anatoly Tarasov is known as "father of Russian hockey". He revolutionized the sport, and led the Soviet team to 3 Olympic Gold medal. He was quite upset to have two daughters, as girls just did not play hockey! He still tried raising them as boys, forcing them to do their warm-up exercises at 7 am every morning outside (gets quite chilly in Moscow)!

Answer: Classical piano player

Tarasova's husband Vladimir Krainev was a famous piano player. He has also set up a fund to help young pianists mainly in Russia and Ukraine. Tarasova recalls having many students of both hers and her husband's living right there in their house. The two were married in 1979.

Answer: Mink fur coat

The long mink coat had become Tarasova's symbol. She treated herself to a new one once in a while. For example, she bought one for herself after Yagudin first became a World champion.

Answer: Rodnina and Zaitsev

Rodnina and Zaitsev were Tarasova's only really famous pair skating team. Gordeeva and Grinkov worked with Tarasova as professionals. After leaving Zhuk they skated with Leonovich. Rodnina and Ulanov skated with Zhuk the whole time. Klimova and Ponomarenko were ice dancers, and were never with Zhuk.

Answer: Moiseeva and Minenkov

Moiseeva and Minenkov were Tarasova's first experience with ice dancing. Their old coach Igor Kabanov passed them to Tarasova when he seized coaching. Tarasova helped them become two-time World Champions. Unfortunately, they never got to win the Olympic Gold.

Answer: Sasha Cohen

A little known fact is that Natalia Bestemianova skated as a single before teaming up with Bukin in 1977. Andrei Griazev won Junior Nationals in 2004. Sasha Cohen's best result at Junior Nationals, though, was 2nd in 1999.

Answer: 1990 Professional Championship

Gordeeva and Grinkov worked with Tarasova right after they left the amateur ranks in 1990. The partnership was short-lived; according to Katya, they were not getting the exposure but not the money they were promised. Gordeeva and Grinkov did ask Tarasova to help them again in 1994, but she refused since they were already working with Zueva and Zakharov.

Answer: Ilya Kulik

The movie was about ballet dancers, and featured Kulik in a role of a young aspiring dancer.

Answer: Rudolf Zagainov

Zagainov started working with Yagudin in 2001, after Alexei bombed at the Goodwill Games. Zagainov also worked with many chess players, including Anatoly Karpov. He claimed that 19 of his clients have gone on to win Olympic gold.

Answer: Richard Callaghan

Arakawa trained with Callaghan before. Michelle Kwan started training with Arutunian in 2003, Sasha Cohen with Wagner in 2003, and Kirk started training with Carroll after the 2004 season.