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Tai Babilonia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tai Reina Babilonia (born September 22, 1959) is a U.S. figure skater, the partner of Randy Gardner. Their coach was John Nicks. The pair won the gold medal at the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships. They were medal favorites at the 1980 Olympics but were forced to withdraw due to an injury to Gardner.
Babilonia was the first figure skater of partial African American descent to win U.S. and World titles. She is also part Filipino via her paternal family and part Native American. In the late 70's and early 80's, however, her mixed ethnic ancestry was rarely discussed by the media.
While skating as a professional, Babilonia became addicted to drugs and alcohol. After receiving treatment, she returned to the ice.
Tai Babilonia appeared in the 2006 FOX television program "Skating with Celebrities", partnered with Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner (Decathlon). Recently, she became engaged to comedian David Brenner.
Babilonia has a child, Scout Gabriel (born in February of 1985), with her ex-husband Cary Butler, whom she married in 1992 and divorced in 1997.[1]
Contents |
(with Gardner)
- U.S. Championships - 2nd
- World Championships - 10th
- U.S. Championships - 2nd
- World Championships - 10th
- U.S. Championships - 1st
- Olympics - 5th
- World Championships - 5th
- U.S. Championships - 1st
- World Championships - 3rd
- U.S. Championships - 1st
- World Championships - 3rd
- U.S. Championships - 1st
- World Championships - 1st
- U.S. Championships - 1st
- Tai Babilonia - Official website.
Categories: United States figure skating biography stubs | 1959 births | American figure skaters | Olympic figure skaters of the United States | Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics | Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics | African American sportspeople | Asian American sportspeople | Filipino Americans | Living people