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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.
Mar 23, 2023 · World Champion figure skater Tai Babilonia speaks on her rise to the Olympics during the 1970s-'80s, growing up mixed race in Southern California and how she’s creating new paths to diversify the sport.
Apr 30, 2020 · Tai Babilonia with Mabel Fairbanks in Nashville, Tennessee, the day after Fairbanks’ historic induction into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Photo courtesy of Tai Babilonia. Tai Babilonia continues the legacy of her mentor by supporting minority athletes and skaters.
Jan 10, 2015 · LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — For decades, Tai Babilonia and her partner Randy Gardner were known as ice skating royalty. Not making headlines in the years since was Tai's alcoholism.
Feb 21, 2020 · Babilonia and Gardner — Tai and Randy, most simply called them, and the Los Angeles Times once referred to them as TaiandRandy in a way to show how inseparable they were — turned pro after the 1980 Olympics. They were stars in the Ice Capades, but Babilonia soon was facing serious demons.
Jul 7, 2020 · When pairs’ figure skater Tai Babilonia debuted at the Olympics in 1976, the fact that her presence in Innsbruck, Austria, was historic did not enter her 16-year-old mind. None of the previous 500-plus U.S. Winter Olympians dating to 1924 were Black.
Babilonia has become active designing her own line of sportswear with Bear Hill Sports, called Tai. She is of mixed Filipino, Native American, and African-America heritage and can be said to be the first African-American to have competed in figure skating at the Olympics for the United States.
