Randy Gardner

Randy Gardner born December 2 1958 is an American former pair skater Together with Tai Babilonia he won the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships1 and five US Figure Skating Championships 19761980 The pair qualified for the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics He and Babilonia began skating together when they were ten and eight Their first coach was Mabel Fairbanks and they began training with John Nicks in 1971 They won the gold medal as juniors at their first US Nationals in 1973 and as seniors they came in second place in 1974 and 1975 The pair became fivetime US national champions and won the gold medal at the 1979 World Championships They were medal favorites at the 1980 Winter Olympics but were forced to withdraw due to a thigh injury to Gardner which ended their competitive careers He and Babilonia toured with the Ice Capades for four years and with Champions on Ice for two years They performed in many ice shows and competed professionally earning first place in the World Professional Championships in 1985 In 2008 He and Babilonia announced their retirement from show skating due to a neck injury sustained by Gardner and their advancing ages In 2006 he revealed that he is gay From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia