Tai Babilonia

Biography

Tai Reina Babilonia (born September 22, 1959) is an American former pair skater. Together with Randy Gardner, she won the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships and five U.S. Figure Skating Championships (1976–1980). The pair qualified for the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics.She was the first African American figure skater to compete for the United States at an Olympics and win world titles. She is also part Filipino on her father's side and part Native American.

She and Gardner began skating together at eight and ten years old when skating coach Mabel Fairbanks needed a young pair team for a skating show in Culver City, California. They began training with John Nicks in 1971. They won the g...