[1][2] She began figure skating at age seven, when her grandmother brought her to Children and Youth Sports School by the Young Pioneers Stadium in Moscow.

[1][3] Her first ice dancing partner was the nine-years-older Viktor Ryzhkin, formerly her coach,[4] with whom she trained at CSKA Moscow under Stanislav Zhuk.

[1] Pakhomova/Gorshkov began training in May 1966, under coach Elena Tchaikovskaia, and made their international debut in December of the same year.

[5] After teaming up, a personal relationship developed between the duo and Gorshkov proposed marriage; Pakhomova responded that they would marry only if they became World champions.

[2] Following the 1975 European Championships, Gorshkov began feeling ill and underwent a lung operation, with their coach Elena Tchaikovskaia donating blood.

Her students included 1980 and 1981 World Junior champions Elena Batanova / Alexei Soloviev and European medalists Natalia Annenko / Genrikh Sretenski.

In late 1979, Pakhomova began having health problems which were eventually diagnosed as leukemia, but she continued to go out onto the ice even after her cancer made it very difficult.