Tai Reina Babilonia (born September 22, 1960) is an American former pair skater. Together with Randy Gardner, she won the 1979

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). The first World Championships were held in 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and they have been held e ...

and five U.S. Figure Skating Championships (1976–1980). The pair qualified for the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics.

Career

Babilonia and Gardner began skating together at eight and ten years old when skating coach

Mabel Fairbanks Mabel Fairbanks (November 14, 1915 – September 29, 2001) was an American figure skater and coach. As an African American and Native American woman she paved the way for other minorities to compete in the sport of figure skating such as Tai B ...

needed a young pair team for a skating show in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

, California. They began training with John Nicks in 1971. They won the gold medal as juniors at their first U.S. Nationals in 1973 and as seniors, they came in second place in 1974 and 1975. The pair became five-time U.S. National champions, between 1978 and 1980, and won the gold medal at the 1979 World Championships. They were medal favorites at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

but were forced to withdraw due to an injury to Gardner, which ended their competitive careers. Babilonia was the first African American figure skater to compete for the United States at an Olympics and win a world title. She is also part Filipino on her father's side and part Native American. Babilonia and Gardner toured with the

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...

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 1990, a biographical film of her rise to fame was aired on television, ''On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story''. Babilonia appeared in the 2006 Fox television program '' Skating with Celebrities'', partnered with Olympic

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner. Babilonia and Gardner also appeared on an episode of '' Hart to Hart'' "Silent Dance" (season 5 episode 16) in 1984. Babilonia and Gardner also appeared in an episode of '' Diagnosis Murder'', "Murder on Thin Ice" (season 4 episode 3).

Personal life

Babilonia was inspired at the age of six to begin ice skating after watching Peggy Fleming on television. Babilonia has a son named Scout with former husband Cary Butler. She was engaged in 2005 to actor and comedian

David Brenner David Norris Brenner (February 4, 1936 – March 15, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author. The most frequent guest on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' in the 1970s and 1980s, Brenner "was a pioneer of observ ...

, but they never married before their breakup in 2011.

Competitive highlights

(with Gardner)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babilonia, Tai Reina American female pair skaters Olympic figure skaters for the United States Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics American sportspeople of Filipino descent Sportspeople from Ashland, Oregon 1960 births Living people Figure skaters from Los Angeles World Figure Skating Championships medalists 20th-century American sportswomen Brighton Hall School alumni