Anton Tarielyevich Sikharulidze (Georgian: ანტონ ტარიელის ძე სიხარულიძე; Russian: Антон Тариэльевич Сихарулидзе, born 25 October 1976) is a Georgian-Russian former pair skater.

During their competitive career, they were coached by Tamara Moskvina at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey.

In September 2021 Netflix premiered docuseries Bad Sport that includes an episode ("Gold War") detailing the events of the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal.

Anton Sikharulidze was born on 25 October 1976 in Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg,[1] to a Russian mother and Georgian father.

[2] At the age of 15, he considered leaving the sport, feeling it was taking up a lot of his time and limiting his personal life, but his father encouraged him to persevere.

They trained under Ludmila Velikova and Nikolai Velikov at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Peterburg, Russia, despite the deteriorating and crowded facilities of the 1990s.

In late 1995, Elena Berezhnaya and Oleg Shliakhov of Latvia began training at the same rink, under coach Tamara Moskvina.

[8][9] At the end of 1995, Shliakhov demanded that he and Berezhnaya train in Riga, Latvia for three weeks in preparation for the European Championships.

[8] Berezhnaya was seriously injured when Shliakhov's blade sliced into her skull while the pair were practicing a side-by-side camel spin in Riga on 9 January 1996.

[14] In December, they placed fifth at Cup of Russia, and then captured the silver medal at the Russian Nationals, earning them a berth to the European Championships.

[11][15] At the 1997 World Championships in March, their short program placed them provisionally in third, with two judges giving them first-place votes.

[10][11][12][17][18] Ekaterina Gordeeva selected the pair as her and Sergei Grinkov's skating doubles in a documentary on the legendary team after her husband's death.

In the long, they put themselves back in contention for the gold medal with a strong performance, until five seconds from the end when they had a surprising fall as Sikharulidze set her down from a closing star lift.

[19] Although disappointed by suddenly giving away their chance at the gold so close to the end of the program, Sikharulidze recovered from his shock and joked, "It's a new finish.

Former Japanese singles skater Yuko Kawaguchi became inspired to switch to pair skating after seeing Elena Berezhnaya at the Nagano Olympics.

Although Salé fell on the triple toe loop in the short program and then singled her double Axel in the long, Salé/Pelletier were awarded gold ahead of Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze.

[26] In autumn 2001, Sikharulidze required stitches for a 12 cm (4.7 in) long gash along his arm when his partner's blade accidentally cut him in training just before the start of the Grand Prix season.

[29][30] The commentators received criticism for failing to mention Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze's strengths, with some observers stating that the pair had performed a more challenging program with greater speed, more interweaving moves and transitions, and less distance between the partners.

[26] Later, Le Gougne rescinded her earlier statement and declared she had voted according to her honest assessment of the performances but had been pressured to say otherwise.

In 2006, he competed in a Channel One (Russia) show Stars on Ice (Russian: Звёзды на льду), partnered with Natalia Ionova (later replaced by Yulia Barsukova due to injury).