Tatiana Volosozhar

Tatiana Andreyеvna Volosozhar (Татьяна Андреевна Волосожар, Тетяна Андріївна Волосожар; born 22 May 1986) is a Ukrainian-born Russian pair skater.

Volosozhar competed for Ukraine with Petr Kharchenko in 2000–04 and with Stanislav Morozov in 2004–10.

They trained in Dnipropetrovsk in very poor conditions until they were able to move to Kyiv in 2003; Volosozhar was accompanied by her mother.

Their coach in Kyiv was Galina Kukhar.

They split at the end of the 2003–04 season.

The pair won several medals on the Junior Grand Prix circuit and were the Ukrainian national champions in 2004.

Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov teamed up prior to the 2004–05 season and were coached by Galina Kukhar.

In their first season together, they were silver medalists at the Winter Universiade and finished fifth at the European Championships.

She and Morozov are four-time Ukrainian national champions (2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010) and finished as high as fourth at the World Championships.

Volosozhar/Morozov began the 2005–06 season with a win at the 2005 Karl Schäfer Memorial and placed 12th at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

In 2006–07, the pair finished fifth again at the European Championships and fourth at the World Championships.

Trankov later said that he had been interested in skating with Volosozhar since 2006.

During the 2007–08 season, Volosozhar/Morozov came close to winning a medal at the European Championships but placed ninth at the World Championships.

At the end of the season, the pair changed coaches and began working with Ingo Steuer in Chemnitz, Germany.

Conditions in Ukraine had steadily deteriorated until there was only one good rink, although Morozov said reaching it was not simple, "You can't get to the entrance; you need to jump over holes, it's like a precipice."

After moving to train in Chemnitz, they won their first Grand Prix medals—silver at the 2008 Cup of China and bronze at the 2008 Cup of Russia—and qualified for the 2008–09 Grand Prix Final, where they placed fourth.

They also placed fourth at the 2009 European Championships and were sixth at the 2009 World Championships.

In the 2009–10 season, Volosozhar/Morozov won a bronze medal at the 2009 Cup of China and silver at the 2009 Skate America.

In December 2010 she was granted expedited Russian citizenship, as both her parents are Russian.

They again placed fourth at the European Championships and then came in eighth at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Morozov retired from competition before the 2010 World Championships.

The pair performed in shows together in the spring of 2010.

Volosozhar decided to continue her competitive career.

In March 2010, rumors emerged that she might team up with Maxim Trankov.

The head of the Ukrainian trainers' council admitted there were no partners for her in the country who could compete at a high level, and on 14 May 2010, it was reported that Ukraine would not interfere with her decision to compete for Russia.

Russian coach Ludmila Velikova confirmed that Russia had attempted years earlier to persuade Volosozhar to skate under its colors, however, the Ukrainian skating federation believed she would be successful with Stanislav Morozov.

Volosozhar left her previous training base in Germany to train in Moscow, beginning training with Trankov the week of 17 May.

They are coached by Nina Mozer.

Stanislav Morozov is their assistant coach, helping them with their elements.

Igor Tchinaev was their short program choreographer, with Nikolai Morozov choreographing the long program.

Nikolai Morozov also worked with them on their stroking to reduce energy loss.

With Maxim Trankov, she is the two-time 2014 Olympic champion in the pairs and in team events, the 2013 World champion, a four-time (2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016) European champion, the 2012 Grand Prix Final champion, and a three-time (2011, 2013 and 2016) Russian national champion.

They have also won six events on the Grand Prix series.

That same season, they finished fifth at Junior Worlds and 14th at senior Worlds.

Volosozhar and Trankov are the historic World record holders for the short program, before the scoring change in the 2018–19 season.

They are the first figure skaters to win two gold medals at the same Olympics, having taken gold in pairs and in the inaugural team event.

Volosozhar began skating at the age of four.

The instructors at her skating class were initially dismissive, saying she was overweight, but gave her three months and eventually agreed to keep her.

At age 14, she switched from singles to pairs, to her father's dismay.

As a junior, Volosozhar skated for four years with Petr Kharchenko.