Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner's bond survives off the ice

They were Taiandrandy the five-time U.S. pair champions, capable of great athleticism and grace.

Taiandrandy the 1979 world champions, a feat no U.S. duo has matched and none came near at the World Championships this week in Sweden.

Most memorably they were Taiandrandy the tragic victims of misfortune, favored to win gold at the 1980 Olympics but forced to withdraw when Gardner was hobbled by a groin injury.

Their disappointment became part of their shared history as they went on to perform in shows, collaborate on a book and support each other through crises and everyday life.

Time and a serious neck problem that drove Gardner to undergo surgery in September have led them to acknowledge that their skating days are over. Their bond, however, has grown to incorporate their changing identities.

"We're branching out in all these different directions," Babilonia said, "but people want us to be Tai and Randy, and we always will be. Just not on the ice."

Babilonia, long recovered from substance abuse problems that fueled her 1988 suicide attempt, is the mother of a 13-year-old son, fiancée of comedian David Brenner, a Special Olympics volunteer and designer of a line of skaters' clothing.

Gardner, who turned 50 in December, is a choreographer and coach and, in a larger sense, is still discovering who he is.

Gardner learned by chance 10 years ago that he had been adopted, sending him on a five-year search for his birth mother. He found her and learned she had conceived him when she was 17 and was raped by a family friend.

While he assimilated that -- and learned he had a half-brother and half-sister -- he told Scene magazine two years ago that he is gay, a peek into a part of his life he had always kept private.

Now, he's working on a book about his life and evolution of his new, separate self.

He always wondered if he had been adopted because he didn't resemble anyone else in the family, but the parents who raised him -- now deceased -- never discussed it.

"I found my birth certificate had been altered and the search agency I was working with told me that's usually the sign of an adoption," he said.