Isabella Tobias (born August 23, 1991) is an American-born Israeli

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 ...

who competes with

Ilia Tkachenko Ilia Alexeyevich Tkachenko (russian: Илья Алексеевич Ткаченко, born 26 December 1986) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. Skating for Russia with Ekaterina Riazanova, he became the 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard silve ...

. Together they have won four medals on the

ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. E ...

. Earlier in her career, Tobias skated with

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 ...

for

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and with

Deividas Stagniūnas Deividas Stagniūnas (born 28 April 1985) is a Lithuanian former ice dancer. With Isabella Tobias, he is the 2011 Skate America bronze medalist and placed in the top ten at two European Championships. They represented Lithuania at the 2014 Wi ...

for

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. With Stagniūnas, she won the bronze medal at the 2011 Skate America, placed in the top ten at two European Championships, and represented

Lithuania at the 2014 Winter Olympics Lithuania competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. The team consists of nine athletes competing in five different sports. The nine Athlete, athletes mark the most athletes the country has ever qualified for ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Personal life

Isabella Tobias was born August 23, 1991, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She and her family are Jewish. She is the daughter of Stephen Tobias, president and co-founder of I.A. Englander & Co., one of the largest institutional equity derivatives brokers on the American stock exchange. After completing high school, she briefly attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's School of General Studies. From 1999 to 2007 she attended the

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

School of American Ballet and performed with the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

. In October 2012, Tobias applied for Lithuanian citizenship. In December, she was interviewed by the Citizenship Commission and passed the Lithuanian language test; however, the application was denied by Lithuanian President

Dalia Grybauskaitė Dalia Grybauskaitė (; born 1 March 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who served as the eighth President of Lithuania from 2009 until 2019. She is the first woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Lithuania to be ...

on January 7, 2013. It was granted on December 5, 2013. Tobias married Samuel Lites in June 2017. In 2019, Lites decided to finish her degree at Southern Methodist University. She was a member of

Kappa Kappa Gamma Kappa Kappa Gamma (), also known simply as Kappa or KKG, is a collegiate sorority founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, United States. It has a membership of more than 260,000 women, with 140 collegiate chapters in the United States a ...

sorority there, as well as

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and the Robert Stewart Hyer Society, and graduated with honors in May 2020.

Early career

Isabella Tobias started skating in 1998 at the age of seven. She took up ice dancing at age 10 and competed with Kurt Lingenfelter on the intermediate level and with James Warren in novice. In 2003, she decided to leave skating to focus on ballet. Tobias returned to skating in September 2007 and teamed up with

to compete for

. They appeared together on the junior level during the 2007–08 season, placing 14th at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

Partnership with Stagniūnas

In spring 2010, Tobias teamed up with Lithuanian ice dancer

. They initially trained under

Igor Shpilband Igor Yuryevich Shpilband (russian: Игорь Юрьевич Шпильбанд, born July 14, 1964) is an American ice dancing coach and former competitor for the Soviet Union. He is the 1983 World Junior champion with former partner Tatiana G ...

and

Marina Zueva Marina Olegovna Zoueva or Zueva (russian: Марина Олеговна Зуева; born 9 April 1956) is a Russian figure skating coach, choreographer, and former competitor in ice dancing. Representing the Soviet Union with Andrei Vitman, she ...

Canton, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

2010–2011 season

Tobias/Stagniūnas made their debut at the 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy, where they placed 11th, and won their first international medal, bronze, at the 2010 NRW Trophy. At their first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

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, ...

, they placed 12th and 14th respectively.

2011–2012 season

Tobias/Stagniūnas won bronze at a Grand Prix event, the 2011 Skate America. They finished 9th at the 2012 European Championships and 18th at the 2012 World Championships.

2012–2013 season

In June 2012, Tobias/Stagniūnas moved from

Novi, Michigan Novi ( ) is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,243, an increase of 20% from the 2010 census. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Novi is located about northwest of the city of D ...

, following coach

. According to

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

rules, Olympic competitors must be citizens of the country they are representing. In order to allow the team to compete at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, Tobias submitted an application for Lithuanian citizenship in October 2012. It was denied on January 7, 2013. Tobias/Stagniūnas withdrew from the 2013 European Championships as a result of Stagniūnas' back problem. By finishing 15th at the 2013 World Championships in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, they qualified a spot for Lithuania in the Olympic ice dancing event.

2013–2014 season

Tobias was granted Lithuanian citizenship in December 2013. Tobias/Stagniūnas placed ninth at the 2014 European Championships in January in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, 17th at the

in February in

, and then 15th at the 2014 World Championships in March in Saitama. In early May 2014, Stagniūnas announced his competitive retirement due to recurring injuries.

Partnership with Tkachenko

Formation

Tobias and Russia's

teamed up in the summer of 2014 to represent Israel. They had skated together previously for six months in 2008.

2015–2016 season

Tobias/Tkachenko began the season on the Challenger Series (CS), winning silver medals at the

Finlandia Trophy The Finlandia Trophy is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Since 1995, it is held annually in Finland in Greater Helsinki region, including Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014� ...

and

Mordovian Ornament The Mordovian Ornament is a senior international figure skating competition. The inaugural edition took place on 15–18 October 2015 at the Palace of Sports in Saransk, Russia. In some years, the event is part of the ISU Challenger Series. Medal ...

. They placed 10th at the 2016 European Championships in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, Slovakia, and 12th at the 2016 World Championships in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, United States. They were coached by

and Adrienne Lenda in

2016–2017 season

Tobias/Tkachenko ranked 4th at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International in Canada before making their Grand Prix debut as a team. After placing 6th at the

2016 Skate America The 2016 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois, on October 21–23. Medals we ...

and 5th at the

2016 Trophée de France The 2016 Trophée de France was the fourth event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris on November 11–13. Medals we ...

, they won silver behind

Elena Ilinykh Elena Ruslanovna Ilinykh (russian: Елена Руслановна Ильиных; born 25 April 1994) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. With partner Ruslan Zhiganshin, she is the 2015 Russian national champion. With former partner ...

/ Ruslan Zhiganshin at the 2016 CS Tallinn Trophy. The two placed 12th at the 2017 World Championships 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. Due to their result, Israel qualified a spot in the ice dancing event at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, South Korea. They were coached by Shpilband and Lenda in Novi, Michigan. On 12 April 2017, Tobias/Tkachenko announced a coaching change, having decided to join Marina Zoueva, Oleg Epstein,

Massimo Scali Massimo Scali (born 11 December 1979) is an Italian former competitive ice dancer. With partner Federica Faiella, he is the 2010 World bronze medalist, a two-time ( 2009– 2010) European silver medalist, and a six-time (2003–2005, 2007–200 ...

, and Johnny Johns at the Arctic Edge in

2017–2018 season

Tobias/Tkachenko withdrew from both of their Grand Prix assignments – the 2017 NHK Trophy and 2017 Skate America. Due to Tkachenko's unsuccessful application for Israeli citizenship, they were not included in Israel's team to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Programs

With Tkachenko

With Stagniūnas

With Japaridze

Results

''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 ...

; CS: Challenger Series; 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 Tkachenko for Israel

With Stagniūnas for Lithuania

With Japaridze for Georgia

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tobias, Isabella 1991 births Living people Israeli female ice dancers Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Lithuanian female ice dancers Lithuanian people of American descent Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Naturalized citizens of Lithuania Olympic figure skaters of Lithuania Sportspeople from New York City Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Southern Methodist University alumni