Alexey Tikhonov is a famous Russian pairs figure skater, world champion and two-time European champion. However, it is incorrect to characterize Tikhonov simply as an athlete. The man is also a popular theater and film actor. Alexey proved that life does not end after leaving big sport.
Our hero is making his way into cinema and actively participating in television projects. Athletes involved in pair skating often become close in their personal lives. The biography of figure skater Alexei Tikhonov demonstrates that the athlete is no exception. With his wife Maria Petrova, the man achieved gold at the World Championships.
Family and childhood
The future Honored Master of Sports of the Russian Federation was born on November 1, 1971 in Samara, which was then called Kuibyshev. Alexei's family was not poor. Father Tikhonov Vladimir Nikolaevich came from a working environment, but, having received three higher educations, managed to rise to leadership positions.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the man went into business. Alexey's mother, Larisa Grigorievna, worked as a lawyer. Another son was raised in the family. Alexei's younger brother Ilya later became a lawyer, like his mother.
Only my father was interested in sports. When the fashion for bodybuilding entered the USSR along with Perestroika, Vladimir Nikolaevich was the first in Samara to engage in bodybuilding. For the first time, Alexei’s parents took him to the skating rink when the boy was 5 years old.
The child made progress, and soon trainer Vera Birbraer became interested in the little talent. For a long time, the woman saw her student as a single skater, so she developed the appropriate skills in the boy.
Note: Until the age of 13, Alexey treated figure skating as a hobby. The child did not believe that he would achieve serious success in this field.
Vera Birbrier had a different opinion. The coach recommended that the 14-year-old student move to Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg) and study with Yulia and Ardo Rennikov. The coach saw a pair figure skater in the young athlete.
Alexey Tikhonov in his childhood
Alexey's first partner was Irina Sayfutdinova. As a duet, the athletes achieved their first success in 1989, winning a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships. After the victory, the Rennikovs recommended Alexei to move to Moscow.
Vladimir Zakharov began training with the young athlete at the CSKA club. The coach paired Tikhonov with Ekaterina Murogova. Two years later, the girl got married and quit the sport.
Looking for a partner
The future champion was born in 1979 in Kuibyshev. His father was one of the first bodybuilders in the city, and also worked in a government agency. Mother worked as a lawyer. From an early age the guy was introduced to sports. He started figure skating at the age of 5, and at 14 he changed from singles to pairs.
At the beginning of his career, Alexey Tikhonov could not find a permanent partner. His first success came in tandem with Irina Saifutdinova. Then he moved to Moscow to skate with Ekaterina Murugova, but she soon ended her career due to marriage. Around this time, the USSR collapsed.
Soon after the collapse, Tikhonov moved to Japan, where he performed with Yukiko Kawasaki. The couple became national champions, but remained in the second ten at the world championship. So, there was a pause in Tikhonov’s career, because Tatyana Tarasova invited him to the ice theater, and Alexey agreed.
Tikhonov refused the first chance to perform with Petrova. I didn’t want to give up a profitable business. But when the theater collapsed, he found his future common-law wife and became a couple with her. They were able to charm the audience and judges more than once, winning the World and European Championships.
Japanese period
Alexey's situation was dire. The figure skater was left without a partner, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the sport was left without state support. Tikhonov had a choice: quit figure skating and go into business like his father, or emigrate. Our hero chose the second.
USSR figure skating champion Viktor Ryzhkin helped Alexey. In 1992, the young athlete moved to Japan and teamed up with Yukiko Kawasaki, also a former singles skater. Over the two years of cooperation, the couple twice became national champions.
Alexey Tikhonov in Japan
This is explained by the fact that single skating is more developed in Japan. Due to the low competition in pair ice dancing, the athletes earned two gold medals. At international competitions, successes were more modest. The couple took bronze in the NHK Trophy, and took 15th place in the 1993 World Championships.
Alexey Tikhonov: biography
Alexey Vladimirovich Tikhonov is a Russian figure skater who competed for Russia in pairs skating with Maria Petrova and for Japan with Yukiko Kawasaki. He was repeatedly European and world champion, and also won gold medals in the championships of Russia and Japan. He completed his professional career in 2007 with the title of Honored Master of Sports. After leaving figure skating, he became an actor and starred in the films “Sea Devils”, “Team”, “Emergency”.
Alexey entered a children's figure skating school at the age of 5. Tikhonov’s first coach was the popular Vera Birbraer, who for a long time saw him as a singles athlete. Only at the age of 14, Tikhonov first became a couple and two years later he left for Yekaterinburg, since there were more prospects there. In 1989, Alexey, paired with Irina Sayfutdinova, achieved his first notable achievement - the guys took bronze medals at the World Junior Championships.
Figure skater Alexey Tikhonov
True, the skater did not dance with Irina anymore, as he went to Moscow and paired up with Ekaterina Murogova. The athletes represented the CSKA club for about two years in their biography, but then Tikhonov’s partner stopped competing in amateur figure skating due to marriage. Alexei was left alone again, and then the Soviet Union collapsed.
Theatrical debut
In 1994, the athlete decided to spend his vacation at home in Russia. In Moscow, the skater met with coach Tatyana Tarasova, who approached the athlete with a very interesting proposal: to join the All Stars ice theater troupe. Alexey agreed.
On the stage/skating rink of this theater the artist played:
- Prince in "Cinderella"
- The Beast in Beauty and the Beast.
Most often, the skater’s partner on the ice stage was Inna Volyanskaya. The theater toured mainly in the UK, where the productions were successful. Big sport never ceased to attract Tikhonov.
Note: Alexey’s experience in the theater came in handy in the future. After all, in the productions the artists did not just skate and show various techniques, but created an image.
Return to big sport
In 1996, Alexei Tikhonov learned that figure skater Maria Petrova was left alone when Anton Sikharulidze left. The athlete tried to ride with her. The attempt was a success, but the skater did not want to give up good money in the theater and a comfortable life in the capitals of England and Russia for the sake of “pie in the sky” in St. Petersburg.
The theater collapsed in 1998, and then Tikhonov had no choice. In the summer of 1998, the athlete began training with Maria Petrova. In the first season the couple received:
- gold at the Grand Prix “Bofrost Cup on ice”;
- 3rd place in the qualifying round;
- gold in the European Championship.
Alexey Tikhonov paired with Maria Petrova
In subsequent seasons, luck smiled on the duo:
- gold at the European Championships 2000;
- gold at the 2000 World Championships;
- 6th place at the 2002 Olympics;
- 5th place at the 2006 Olympics;
- gold at the Russian Championship.
In 2007, Alexey was injured, and at the World Championships the couple took only 11th place. Tikhonov and Petrova announced their retirement from big-time sports.
Sports career
Alexey Tikhonov, in his own words, searched for “his” partner for a long time. He skated with Sayfutdinova for only 1 year; a significant award appeared in the couple’s treasury - a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships (1989), but then the young people broke up. Alexey went to Moscow, where coach Vladimir Zakharov paired him with Ekaterina Murogova. Tikhonov worked with her for two years. I had to end my professional partnership because the girl got married and gave up her career.
Alexey never found a partner for himself in Russia, at least not during that period of his career development. He was invited to Japan, and he happily agreed. In Japan, Tikhonov skated with Yukiko Kawasaki. They won two national championships, traveled to the international level, even took bronze in 1993, but this partnership was short-lived.
In 1994, Alexey Tikhonov returned to Russia, performed for some time in Tarasova’s ice shows, until he met figure skater Maria Petrova. At that time, she did not have a partner in figure skating; she was looking for a partner to continue her sports career. Alexey decided to return to professional sports, and within a few months the Petrova-Tikhonov pair won their first gold in Germany, and then at the World Championships.
They had many victories, the couple was considered one of the best, but an unfortunate injury forced Alexei to leave the big sport, and Maria followed him.
Personal life
It cannot be said that love broke out at first sight between Alexei and Maria. More likely, from the second. When the skaters trained in 1998, “chemistry developed” between them. The athletes were in no hurry to act recklessly. After skating the program and taking gold at the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002, the couple began to live together.
Athletes live in a civil marriage. At first there was no time for a noisy wedding, but then they decided that going to the registry office would not affect marital happiness. On February 1, 2010, his wife gave Alexey a daughter, Polina. So far, the girl is the only child in the family.
Alexey, Maria and daughter Polina - Tikhonov family
Interesting Facts
- Parents took little Alyosha Tikhonov to the skating rink because the boy was fat and clumsy. The father and mother hoped that the training would help their son gain a slender figure and grace.
- Tikhonov has other sports hobbies. The star loves tennis, horse riding, and football. The man also enjoys drawing. The skater spends his holidays actively: every year he goes to the sea with his wife and child.
- Alexey Tikhonov and Maria Petrova often become ice ballet actors in productions for children: “Miracles on New Year’s Eve”, “Baby and Carlson” and others.
- Tikhonov noticed Maria Petrova back in the Japanese period, when she performed in tandem with Sikharulidze. But the athlete regarded the woman as an excellent partner with whom he could win competitions.
- Spouses often participate in television shows. Alexey has already skated the 7th of the eight seasons of Ice Age. The celebrity and his wife were also guests in the program “Alone with Everyone.”
Frequently asked questions about Alexey Tikhonov
- What films did the former figure skater star in? Our hero can be seen in the TV series “Hot Ice”, “Memory of the Heart”, “Sea Devils”, “Team”, “Boomerang”. But the skater also loves to play on stage, in particular on the stage of the Theater. Vakhtangov in the play “Normalnaya”.
- Will the daughter of Tikhonov and Petrova become a great figure skater? For now, Polina is studying ballet at a choreographic school. Parents recently started introducing the girl to ice skating.
Alexey Tikhonov in the series “Hot Ice”
As a child, Alexey did not disappear at the skating rink. The first coach captivated the boy and made him believe in success. As a result, the fat, clumsy child turned into a man with an athlete's figure and became a two-time European champion and world champion in pair skating. In sports, a man met his soul mate, with whom he easily achieved victories.
Alexey Tikhonov now
In 2021, Alexey Tikhonov appeared in a supporting role in the film “Insomnia,” which was created by American filmmakers.
In 2021, work continues on the musical “Romeo and Juliet”, in which Maria Petrova and Alexey Tikhonov play the roles of Laura and Father Lorenzo. The director of the play, which will premiere on October 28, 2021 at the Small Arena of the Luzhniki sports complex, is Ilya Averbukh. In addition to the role of Lorenzo, Alexey Tikhonov played the role of a living narrator, whose voice is heard throughout the play. The artist reads lines of poetry from William Shakespeare's play.
Figure skater Alexey Tikhonov
The production, as conceived by the director, is not a direct adaptation of the play, but a dance interpretation of the work. Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin played Romeo and Juliet; the roles of Mercuzzio and Tybalt went to Alexei Yagudin and Roman Kostomarov. Ilya Kulik will try on the image of Paris. The play will also star Tatyana Volosozhar, Maxim Trankov, Oksana Domnina, Maxim Shabalin.
In October 2021, the melodrama “Boomerang” will start on the Rossiya-1 TV channel, in which Alexey Tikhonov played the character Dmitry. Now Alexey Tikhonov is working in new television projects - the series “Second Sight” and the medical drama “Practice-2”.
