Gennadi Karponosov began skating because
Alexei Ulanov was his neighbor. He initially competed with
Elena Zharkova under coach
Tatiana Tarasova but had greater success with his second partner,
Natalia Linichuk. Linichuk and Karponosov were coached by
Elena Tchaikovskaia at
Dynamo in Moscow. They won the
World Universiade in 1972, and won the bronze medal at the 1974 and 1977 World Championships. They were fourth at the
1976 Winter Olympics, the year ice dancing was introduced as an Olympic sport. They won the bronze medals at the
European Figure Skating Championships from
1974 through
1977 and a silver medal in
1978. Linichuk and Karponosov won the world championship in
1978 and
1979 and the European Championships in
1979 and
1980. Linichuk and Karponosov won the
1980 Olympics, but failed to defend their
World title, making them the only team ever to unsuccessfully defend a World title after winning the Olympics. In 1981, Linichuk and Karponosov retired from competition. == Coaching career ==