Gheorghe Chiper (born 8 April 1978) is a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n former competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. He is an eight-time Romanian national champion and competed at two Olympic Games. He is the first Romanian skater to win a medal on the Grand Prix circuit and the first Romanian to land a quadruple toe loop in competition.

Career

Chiper competed at three World Junior Championships; his best result was 15th in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. Chiper made his senior World Championships debut in 1998, finishing 16th in the qualifying round. The following season, Chiper won his first senior national title. In the 2000–01 season, he was coached by Sylvia Holtes in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, Netherlands. In 2001–02, Sandra Schär became his coach in

Küsnacht Küsnacht is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. History Küsnacht is first mentioned in 1188 as ''de Cussenacho''. Earliest findings of settlement date back to the stone age. There are also findi ...

, Switzerland. Chiper competed at his first Olympics in 2002, placing 23rd. At the 2005 European Championships, Chiper achieved his best European result, 8th. In winning bronze at the 2005 Trophee Eric Bompard, Chiper became the first Romanian to ever medal on the

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. He placed 14th at his second Olympics 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. He competed for the final time at the 2006 World Championships where he also placed 14th, his career-best Worlds result. Since his competitive retirement, he has worked as a coach in Switzerland.

Personal life

Chiper was born on 8 April 1978 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. He speaks

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, Hungarian, English, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. He is of part-Hungarian descent. In 2000, he married Sandra Schär, with whom he has a daughter, Flora, born in May 2000 and a son, Aurel.

Programs

Results

''GP:

References

External links

Skate Academy

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiper, Gheorghe 1978 births Sportspeople from Miercurea Ciuc Romanian male single skaters Olympic figure skaters of Romania Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Living people Competitors at the 1997 Winter Universiade