Galit Chait ( he, גלית חייט, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive

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 ...

. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists.

Personal life

Chait was born in Israel. Her family moved to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

when she was young, and she first skated at age 8. Her father, Boris Chait, has been president of the Israeli Ice Skating Federation since 2002. On August 23, 2008, Chait married former Italian military policeman Francesco Moracci in

and then on September 13, 2008 they had a second wedding in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy. The two had met at the 2006 Olympic Games in

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, Italy, where Moracci was a member of the security detail assigned to protect the Israeli team. They have two daughters, Raffaella, born in 2009, and Gabriella, born in 2011. Chait has been a resident of

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

Career

She first tried

ice dancing 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. A ...

in the 1990s when she traveled to Russia with her father, who was teaching there at a sports camp. She competed with Max Sevostianov at the U.S. Nationals in 1992 and 1994. They were involved in a collision with Renée Roca at the 1994 U.S. Championships. In 1994, the pair placed 6th at the U.S. Nationals and 28th at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(representing Israel). Chait met Sergei Sakhnovski while they were both students at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

. Partnered since 1995, they trained initially in Russia with Ludmila Buytskova and Elena Maslenikova before moving to

Monsey, New York Monsey (, yi, מאנסי, translit=Monsi) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The ...

. They rose steadily in the international rankings. The highlight of their career was winning the bronze medal at the 2002 World championships. Sergei Sakhnovski suffered a foot injury that forced the pair to miss the entire 2006–2007 season, and they subsequently announced their retirement. Their coaches included

Natalia Dubova Natalia Ilinichna Dubova (russian: Наталья Ильинична Дубова; born 31 March 1948) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer. Career Competing as Natalia Bakh with partner Vladimir Pavlikhin, she wo ...

Tatiana Tarasova Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova (; born 13 February 1947) is a Russian figure skating coach and national figure skating team adviser. Tarasova has been coach to more world and Olympic champions than any other coach in skating history. Her students h ...

, Evgeni Platov,

Natalia Linichuk Natalya Vladimirovna Linichuk (; born 6 February 1956) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer for the Soviet Union. With partner and husband Gennadi Karponosov, she is the 1980 Olympic champion and a two-time World cham ...

and

Gennadi Karponosov Gennadi Mikhailovich Karponosov (; born 21 November 1950) is an ice dancing coach and a former competitive ice dancer for the Soviet Union. With Natalia Linichuk, he is the 1980 Olympic champion and a two-time World champion. Competitive career ...

. Chait was the

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a f ...

for Israel at the 2002 and

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

. Chait is an ISU Technical Specialist.

Coaching career

After her retirement as a competitive skater, Chait began coaching

. She was the head coach of the Israeli brother-and-sister team

Alexandra Zaretsky Alexandra "Sasha" Zaretsky ( he, אלכסנדרה זרצקי, russian: Александра Зарецкая, , be, Аляксандра Зарэцкая) (born December 23, 1987) is an Israeli retired ice dancer. With her brother Roman Zaretsky ...

and

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 ...

, and of

Tamar Katz Tamar Katz ( he, תמר כץ, born September 26, 1989 ) is an Israeli-American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2005, 2007, and 2008 Israeli national champion. Personal life Tamar Katz was born September 26, 1989 in Dallas, Texas. Th ...

as well. In October 2008, Chait and the Zaretskys filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in Hackensack, New Jersey, claiming that officials at the rink discriminated against them on the basis of their Israeli nationality, denying them prime skating time and threatening to ban them from the rink. The Zaretskys, under her coaching, won the gold medal at the 24th Winter Universiade Games in Harbin China, the bronze medal at Skate America 2009 and they qualified for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver Canada. Chait has also coached: *

Cathy Reed Cathy Reed (born June 5, 1987) is a retired American-born Japanese ice dancer. With her brother Chris Reed, she is a seven-time Japanese national champion (2008–2011, 2013-2015). Personal life Reed was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her mot ...

/ Chris Reed * Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Alexander Shakalov * Allison Reed /

Otar Japaridze Otar Japaridze ( ka, ოთარ ჯაფარიძე, born December 23, 1987) is a Georgian former competitive ice dancer. With former partner Allison Reed, he represented Georgia at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He later skated with Angelina ...

* Ekaterina Bugrov / Vasili Rogov * Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Dmitri Dun *Anna Bolshem / Ronald Zilberberg *

Adel Tankova Adel Tankova (born 22 May 2000) is an Israeli Olympic figure skater. She competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics with Ronald Zilberberg in Figure Skating in ice dancing and a team event in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Early and persona ...

/ Ronald Zilberberg As of 2010, Chait was the head coach of the Israeli figure skating team.

Programs

(with Sakhnovski)

Competitive highlights

''GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix''

With Sakhnovski

With Sevostianov

References

External links

*
Official homepage – Chait / Sakhnovski
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chait, Galit 1975 births Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Israeli female ice dancers Living people Olympic figure skaters of Israel People from Kfar Saba People from Paramus, New Jersey World Figure Skating Championships medalists People from Monsey, New York Goodwill Games medalists in figure skating Jewish Israeli sportspeople Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games