Alexandra Zaretsky
Alexandra Zaretsky | |
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![]() Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky in 2009 | |
Personal information | |
Full name | Alexandra Zaretsky |
Alternative names | Zaretski |
Country represented |
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Born |
Minsk, Belarus SSR | December 23, 1987
Home town | Metulla, Israel |
Residence | Houston, Texas |
Height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) |
Partner | Roman Zaretsky |
Former coach |
Galit Chait Nikolai Morozov Evgeni Platov Elena Zaretski Igor Zaretski Irina Romanova Igor Yaroshenko |
Former choreographer |
Galit Chait Nikolai Morozov Evgeni Platov |
Skating club | Kochavim on the Ice |
Began skating | 1994 |
Retired | June 2010 |
ISU personal best scores | |
Combined total |
181.26 2010 Worlds |
Comp. dance |
37.59 2004 JGP Romania |
Original dance |
58.10 2008 Worlds |
Free dance |
91.34 2010 Worlds |
Alexandra "Sasha" Zaretsky (Hebrew: אלכסנדרה זרצקי, Russian: Александра Зарецкая, Alexandra Zaretskaya, Belarusian: Аляксандра Зарэцкая) (born December 23, 1987) is an Israeli ice dancer. With her brother Roman Zaretsky, she is the 2009 Skate America bronze medalist, 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, a three-time Nebelhorn Trophy medalist, and a three-time Israeli national champion. They finished as high as 6th at the World Championships and competed twice at the Winter Olympics, finishing 10th in 2010.
Personal life
Alexandra Zaretsky was born in Minsk, Belarus SSR, Soviet Union. The Zaretsky family was Jewish and made aliyah soon after this was made possible. Alexandra, who was three years old at the time, was raised in Metula, Israel where her parents work as coaches. She speaks fluent Hebrew, Russian, and English.[1]
In October 2008, the Zaretskys and their coach Galit Chait filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in Hackensack, New Jersey, alleging that rink officials discriminated against them on the basis of their Israeli nationality by denying them prime training time and threatening to ban them from the rink.[2]
Career
![](../I/m/Alexandra_ZARETSKI_Roman_ZARETSKI_Nebelhorn_Trophy_2009.jpg)
Alexandra Zaretsky began skating at the age of 6, after starting out in rhythmic gymnastics.[1] She originally skated as a single skater, winning age group medals. When older brother Roman wanted to switch to ice dancing, his sister was the only girl at the rink he could partner, so their parents put them together.[3] She was seven and he was 11 when they switched to ice dancing.[1]
The Zaretskys were originally coached by their parents. They were later coached by Irina Romanova and Igor Yaroshenko in Wilmington, Delaware,[3] before switching to Evgeni Platov in January 2005.[4] They temporarily went back to being coached by their parents when Roman's army service kept them in Israel. In the summer of 2006, the Zaretskys briefly trained in Moscow because Platov was taking part in a skating reality show and then returned to the U.S. with Platov. They eventually switched coaches to Galit Chait and trained at the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey.[5][6]
The Zaretskys are the first Israelis to medal at the Junior Winter Olympics[7] as well as the first Israeli figure skaters to medal internationally on the junior level. In the 2005–2006 season, the Zaretskys debuted on the senior level, and were required to finish at least 15th at the 2006 European Championships in order to be sent to the Olympics as Israel's second team.[4] They accomplished this and were sent to Torino, where they placed 22nd.
After the 2005–2006 season, Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski retired, and the Zaretskys became the top Israeli ice dancing team. They won the bronze medal at the 2006 Nebelhorn Trophy, a senior "B" international, and finished just off the podium at the 2006 Cup of China. They finished 11th at the 2007 Europeans and 14th at the 2007 World Championships.
The Zaretskys competed at the 2007 Skate America and 2007 Cup of China Grand Prix competitions, repeating their 4th-place finish in China. They finished 8th at the 2008 Europeans and 9th at the 2008 World Championships, setting a new personal best score. They then had an up and down season in 2008–2009, winning their first international event, the 2009 Universiade, but placing lower at both the 2009 Europeans and 2009 World Championships than they had the previous year.
The Zaretskys rebounded in 2009–2010. After a 5th-place finish at the 2009 Cup of China, the team won their first Grand Prix medal at the 2009 Skate America, where they were second in the free dance, and were named alternates for the Grand Prix Final. The Zaretskys won their next event, the Golden Spin in Zagreb, and skated to a 7th-place finish at the 2010 Europeans, their best result yet at that event.
Based on their top-ten finish at the Europeans, the Zaretskys met their national criterion for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.[8] There, in February 2010 they performed to music from Schindler's List in the free dance,[6] having chosen the music in part to honor 27 family members who died in Minsk during the Holocaust.[9] They finished tenth, setting new personal best scores in the free dance and overall. They went on to finish 6th at 2010 Worlds, again setting personal bests in the free dance and overall.
The Zaretskys announced their retirement from competitive skating in June 2010, citing a lack of support from their federation as the reason. They intend to pursue coaching careers.[10][11]
Programs
![](../I/m/WC_2009_Zaretski_%26_Zaretski.jpg)
Season | Original dance | Free dance |
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2001–2002 [12][13] |
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2002–2003 [13][14] |
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2003–2004 [13][15][16] |
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2004–2005 [13][17] |
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2005–2006 [13][18] |
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2006–2007 [13][19] |
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2007–2008 [13][20] |
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2008–2009 [13][21][22] |
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2009–2010 [13][23] |
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Competitive highlights
![](../I/m/Nebelhorn_Trophy_2009_Ice_Dancing_Podium.jpg)
(with Zaretsky)
Results[24] | |||||||||||
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International | |||||||||||
Event | 1999–00 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 |
Olympics | 22nd | 10th | |||||||||
Worlds | 20th | 14th | 9th | 13th | 6th | ||||||
Europeans | 15th | 11th | 8th | 11th | 7th | ||||||
GP Cup of China | 9th | 4th | 4th | 7th | 5th | ||||||
GP Cup of Russia | 5th | ||||||||||
GP NHK Trophy | 9th | ||||||||||
GP Skate America | 8th | 7th | 3rd | ||||||||
Golden Spin | 1st | ||||||||||
Nebelhorn | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | ||||||||
Skate Israel | 4th | 4th | |||||||||
Universiade | 1st | ||||||||||
International: Junior or novice | |||||||||||
Junior Worlds | 19th | 8th | 9th | 4th | |||||||
JGP Final | 6th | 8th | |||||||||
JGP Germany | 3rd | 3rd | |||||||||
JGP Italy | 8th | ||||||||||
JGP Mexico | 2nd | ||||||||||
JGP Netherlands | 11th | ||||||||||
JGP Poland | 1st | ||||||||||
JGP Romania | 2nd | ||||||||||
JGP Serbia | 3rd | ||||||||||
EYOF | 3rd | ||||||||||
Euro. Crit. Brno | 1st | ||||||||||
Polish Internat. | 1st | ||||||||||
National | |||||||||||
Israeli Champ. | 1st N. | 1st J. | 1st J. | 1st J. | 1st J. | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
GP = Grand Prix; JGP = Junior Grand Prix Levels: N. = Novice; J. = Junior |
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Golinsky, Reut (2010). "Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky: "We never left Israel"". Absolute Skating. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
- ↑ Ben-Ali, Russell (October 30, 2008). "Skaters, coach sue Hackensack rink". New Jersey Star-Ledger.
- 1 2 Mittan, Barry (October 23, 2002). "Zaretskys Add to Israel's Dance Future". GoldenSkate. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
- 1 2 "Young Israelis to compete at Skate America". The Jewish Ledger. October 25, 2006.
- ↑ McGrath, Charles (January 19, 2010). "Israel's Winter Athletes Come to U.S. Seeking Ice and Medals". The New York Times.
- 1 2 D'Alessandro, Dave (February 23, 2010). "Zaretsky, Reed siblings make Jersey proud in Olympic ice dancing". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ↑ "MAN OF THE YEAR". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
- ↑ "2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver / Israel's team: Two skaters, a skier". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
- ↑ Krieger, Hilary Leila (February 19, 2010). "Zaretskys' Olympic dance a tribute to their Holocaust losses". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ↑ האחים זרצקי פרשו. האבא: "חושש לחייהם" [Zaretsky siblings have retired] (in Hebrew). Ynet.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- ↑ Barden, Brett (June 20, 2010). "Zaretskys announce retirement". SkateToday. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 18, 2002.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Music". ice-dance.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 4, 2003.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 13, 2003.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 18, 2004.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 4, 2005.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2005/2006". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 2, 2006.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2006/2007". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2007/2008". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2008/2009". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on December 26, 2008.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI: 2008/2009". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009.
- ↑ "Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012.
- ↑ "Competition Results: Alexandra ZARETSKY / Roman ZARETSKY". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012.
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexandra Zaretski. |
- Official site
- Alexandra Zaretsky / Roman Zaretsky at the International Skating Union
- "Alexandra Zaretsky / Roman Zaretsky". IceNetwork.com.