Tatiana Navka became interested in skating at the age of five after seeing it on television. Tamara Yarchevskaya and Alexander Rozhin coached her during her early years as a single skater. In 1987, following a 14 cm growth spurt that hampered her jumps, her parents were advised that she should try ice dancing.
Navka teamed up with Nikolai Morozov in 1996, continuing to represent Belarus. At their first practice at the 1997 World Championships, Morozov sustained a torn meniscus in his knee but they finished 14th at the event and he then underwent surgery. They earned an Olympic berth by winning gold at the 1997 Karl Schäfer Memorial. 90 seconds into their free dance at the 1998 Winter Olympics, nearly three-quarters of the floodlights turned off but Navka/Morozov did not interrupt their performance. They finished 16th at the Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and 10th at the 1998 World Championships in Minneapolis. They were coached by Alexander Zhulin and Bob Young at the International Skating Center in Simsbury, Connecticut. Following 1998 Worlds, Navka ended the partnership to compete with another skater.
Partnership with Kostomarov
Navka then teamed up with Roman Kostomarov and began competing for Russia during the 1998–99 season. They were coached by Natalia Linichuk. They won the bronze medal at the Russian Championships and were sent to the World Championships in their first season together, placing 12th. Linichuk then dissolved the team and paired Kostomarov with Anna Semenovich. Navka became pregnant with her daughter and took a year off from competition. In mid-2000, Kostomarov called Navka and asked to skate with her again. They were coached by Alexander Zhulin in Hackensack and Montclair, New Jersey. Navka/Kostomarov won the World title in 2004 and again in 2005. They also won three European titles from 2004–2006. They then won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At the age of 30 years and 313 days, she became one of the oldestfemale figure skating Olympic champions. Navka/Kostomarov retired from competition after the Olympics but continue to skate in shows together.
Later career
Navka has partnered with Russian celebrities to compete in Channel One Russia ice shows: Stars On Ice, which she won with actor Marat Basharov, and Ice Age, in which she was runner-up with actor Ville Haapasalo. In the 2008–09 season of Ice Age, she was runner-up for the second time, partnered with actor Vadim Kolganov. In September 2008, Navka, together with professional dancer Alexander Litvinenko, took part in the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008. In October 2011, she became a 2014 Winter Olympics ambassador.
Personal life
Navka became a citizen of Belarus by 1994 and of Russia no later than 2002. She formerly resided in New Jersey. In 2000, Navka married Russian ice dancer Alexander Zhulin. Their daughter, Sasha, was born in May 2000 in the United States. The couple filed for divorce in the summer of 2009 and were officially divorced in July 2010. Navka and Russian diplomat Dmitry Peskov, the press spokesman for Vladimir Putin, have a daughter, Nadezhda, born in August 2014 in Russia. They married in a civil ceremony at a registry office in June 2015 before a larger ceremony on 1 August 2015. In May 2020, Navka was hospitalized for COVID-19.
Controversies
From 2014 to 2015, Navka was the beneficiary of Carina Global Assets Ltd., an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands. In February 2019, questions were raised over Navka and her husband's wealth following reports about their ownership of multiple properties in the Moscow region. An investigation by The Guardian suggested that Navka may have underreported income, claimed married status for several years after her divorce from Zhulin, and falsely told the IRS that she had sold a house. In 2016, Navka caused controversy when she and her dancing partner, Andrei Burkovsky, appeared in the Russian version of Dancing on Ice dressed as Holocaust concentration camp prisoners.
