Alexandra "Sasha" Zaretsky ( he, אלכסנדרה זרצקי, russian: Александра Зарецкая, , be, Аляксандра Зарэцкая) (born December 23, 1987) is an Israeli retired
ice dancer
Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...
. With her brother
Roman Zaretsky
Roman Zaretsky ( he, רומן זרצקי, russian: Роман Зарецкий, be, Раман Зарэцкі; born December 4, 1983) is an Israeli retired ice dancer. With his sister, Alexandra Zaretsky, he is the 2009 Skate America bronze medal ...
, she is the
2009 Skate America bronze medalist,
2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb
The 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb ( hr, Zlatna pirueta Zagreba) was the 42nd edition of an annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held at the Dom Sportova on December 10–12, 2009. Skaters compe ...
champion, a three-time
Nebelhorn Trophy
The Nebelhorn Trophy is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season.
The competitio ...
medalist, and a three-time
Israeli national champion. They finished as high as sixth at the World Championships and competed twice at the Winter Olympics, finishing tenth in 2010.
Personal life
Alexandra Zaretsky was born on December 23, 1987, in
Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
,
Belarus SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
[ The Zaretsky family was Jewish and made aliyah, settling in ]Metula
Metula ( he, מְטֻלָּה) is a town in the Northern District of Israel. Metula is located next to the northern border with Lebanon. In it had a population of . Metula is the northernmost town in Israel.
History Bronze and Iron Age
Metu ...
, Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, in 1990.[ Alexandra trained in ]rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...
as a young child before choosing skating.[ She speaks fluent Hebrew, Russian, and English.][ Her sons, Dennis and Adam, were born in ]Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, United States.[
]
Career
Early years
Alexandra Zaretsky began skating in Metula at the age of 6.[ She originally competed 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.][ She was seven and he was 11 when they switched to ice dancing.][ They were coached by their mother until 2001, when they relocated for training to the United States.][
The siblings debuted on the ]ISU Junior Grand Prix
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...
series in October 2001, placing 11th in The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, Netherlands. They placed 19th at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Hamar
Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...
, Norway.
2002–2003 season
In September 2002, the Zaretskys became the first Israeli figure skaters to medal on the ISU Junior Grand Prix
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...
series, taking bronze in Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, Serbia. After winning another bronze, at a JGP event in Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
, Germany, they were named the first alternates for a spot at the JGP Final. In January 2003, the siblings became the first Israelis to medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival
The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fir ...
.[ They went on to finish eighth at the 2003 World Junior Championships in ]Ostrava
Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...
, Czech Republic. They were coached by Irina Romanova and Igor Yaroshenko in Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
.[
]
2003–2004 season
Competing in their third JGP season, the Zaretskys won silver in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, Mexico, and then gold in Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, Poland. They qualified for the first time to the JGP Final, where they would finish sixth. They placed ninth at the 2004 World Junior Championships in The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, Netherlands.
2004–2005 season
In their final JGP season, the Zaretskys took bronze in Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
, Germany, and then silver in Miercurea Ciuc
Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt Ri ...
, Romania. In December, they placed eighth at the JGP Final in Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, Finland. They decided to change coaches, switching to Evgeni Platov
Evgeni Arkadievich Platov (Ukrainian to English: Ev'heni Arkadievich Platov) (russian: Евгений Аркадьевич Платов; born August 7, 1967; Ukrainian: Євген Аркадійович Платов) is a Russian former competit ...
in January 2005.[ In March, they competed at the 2005 World Junior Championships in ]Kitchener, Ontario
)
, image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg
, image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg
, image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg
, image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg
, blank_emblem_type = ...
, Canada. Ranked third in the compulsory dance, fourth in the original dance, and fifth in the free dance, they finished fourth overall.
2005–2006 season
The Zaretskys debuted on the senior Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
series, placing 9th at both of their assignments. They 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.[ They accomplished this and were sent to Torino, where they placed 22nd.
]
2006–2007 season
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. Following Galit Chait
Galit Chait ( he, גלית חייט, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bro ...
/ Sergei Sakhnovski's retirement at the end of the previous season, the siblings 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
The 2006 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2006–07 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Nanjing on November 9 ...
. They finished 11th at the 2007 Europeans and 14th at the 2007 World Championships. They were coached by Platov in Little Falls, New Jersey
Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The township was named for a waterfall on the Passaic River at a dam near Beattie Mill.
As of the 2020 census, the township's population was 13,360 reflecting a decrea ...
until the end of the season.[
]
2007–2008 season
They Zaretskys began their season with a new coaching team, having joined Galit Chait
Galit Chait ( he, גלית חייט, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bro ...
, Nikolai Morozov and Mathew Gates
Mathew Gates (born June 29, 1975) is a British-American former competitive ice dancer. With Eve Chalom, he is the 1996 Nebelhorn Trophy silver medalist and a two-time (1997, 1999) U.S. national silver medalist. He has medaled seven consecuti ...
in .[
They competed at two Grand Prix events, 2007 Skate America and 2007 Cup of China, 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.
]
2008–2009 season
In October 2008, the Zaretskys and their coach Galit Chait
Galit Chait ( he, גלית חייט, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bro ...
filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in , 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.[
The siblings had an up and down season, winning their first international event, the 2009 Winter Universiade, but placing lower at both the 2009 Europeans and 2009 World Championships than they had the previous year.
]
2009–2010 season
The Zaretskys rebounded in their final competitive season. After a 5th-place finish at the 2009 Cup of China, the siblings won their first Grand Prix medal – bronze at the 2009 Skate America after placing fourth in the compulsory dance, third in the original dance, and second in the free dance. They were named third alternates for the Grand Prix Final. The Zaretskys won their next event, the 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb
The 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb ( hr, Zlatna pirueta Zagreba) was the 42nd edition of an annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held at the Dom Sportova on December 10–12, 2009. Skaters compe ...
, and skated to 7th place at the 2010 European Championships, their career-best result at that event.
Based on their top-ten finish at the Europeans, the Zaretskys met their national criterion for the 2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...
in Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.[ There, in February 2010 they performed to music from '']Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
'' in the free dance
Free dance is a 20th-century dance form that preceded modern dance. Rebelling against the rigid constraints of classical ballet, Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis (with her work in theater) developed their own styles of free dance ...
,[ having chosen the music in part to honor 27 family members who died in ]Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
during the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.[ 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 on June 20, 2010, citing a lack of support from their federation as the reason.][
]
Post-competitive career
The Zaretskys later performed in various ice shows, including Shall We Dance on Ice, and coached together for several years in Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, Texas.[ In 2017, Alexandra relocated to ]Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
.[
]
Programs
Competitive highlights
''GP: Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...
''
;with Roman Zaretsky
See also
* List of select Jewish figure skaters
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaretsky, Alexandra
1987 births
Figure skaters from Minsk
Israeli female ice dancers
Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Olympic figure skaters of Israel
Universiade medalists in figure skating
People from Metula
Belarusian emigrants to Israel
Living people
Universiade gold medalists for Israel
Competitors at the 2009 Winter Universiade