Maria Jelinek (birth name Maria Jelínková; born November 16, 1942) is a Canadian former
pair skater
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...
. With her brother
Otto
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded fro ...
, she is the 1962
World champion
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, ...
, the 1961
North American champion, and 1961–1962
Canadian national champion. They represented
Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics, where they placed 4th.
Personal life
The Jelinek family fled to Canada from
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in 1948 at the beginning of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
.
[ The Czechoslovak government withdrew their citizenship in 1961.][
Maria Jelinek currently resides in ]Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton. At its Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census population of 213,759, it is List of tow ...
.
Career
The Jelineks trained at the Oakville Skating Club. In 1955, they became the Canadian national champions at the junior level and took silver at the senior level the following year. In 1957, the pair won the silver medal at the North American Championships and the first of their four World Championship medals, a bronze. After taking bronze again in 1958, they finished just off the World podium in 1959 and then won silver in 1960. They placed fourth at the 1960 Winter Olympics
The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...
held at Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe, California. Preparing for the Olympic competition, the Jelineks put together a complex and difficult routine involving several lifts, lasting five minutes. Shortly before their trip to Squaw Valley, they still struggled to complete their routine. Their coaches asked for help from Wilfrid Shute, MD, cardiologist and prominent advocate for vitamin E nutrition. Dr. Shute's daughter also trained at the Oakville Skating Club and had the same coaches as did the Jelineks. Dr. Shute prescribed 1600 international units of vitamin E daily for the Jelineks. That enabled them to complete their routine easily and perform it at Squaw Valley — at elevation— without resorting to oxygen masks.[Shute, Wilfrid, M.D. ''Your Child and Vitamin E''. Keats Publishing, 1979, p. 110.]
After placing second four times, the Jelineks won their first Canadian senior title in 1961. The pair had a bad fall a day before the North American Championships, resulting in a concussion to Otto and a large gash in Maria's thigh, however, they competed and won gold.[ They decided to compete at the 1961 World Championships to be hosted by ]Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, despite the risk to citizens who had fled. After the International Skating Union threatened to change the host, the Czechoslovak government resolved the dispute by stripping the pair's citizenship.[ The competition, however, was cancelled due to the ]Sabena Flight 548
Sabena Flight 548 was a Boeing 707-329 flight operated by Sabena that crashed en route from New York City to Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, 1961. The flight, which had originated at Idlewild International Airport, crashed on approach to Bru ...
crash which killed the entire U.S. team. The Jelineks had planned to travel with the Americans to Prague but missed the flight because they were waiting for their coach, Bruce Hyland, whose wife was about to give birth.[
The Jelineks won the national title again in 1962 and went on to win gold at the 1962 World Championships in their city of birth.
Although Maria Jelinek was tall for a pair skater, at 5' 7",][ they were the first pair to perform lifts with several rotations. They also performed side-by-side double jumps.
The Jelineks retired from competition later in 1962, and toured professionally with ]Ice Capades
The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...
.[ They were inducted into ]Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...
in 1962 and into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame The Skate Canada Hall of Fame is the sports hall of fame for figure skating maintained by Skate Canada. It was established in 1990 as the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame. The members are inducted into one of four categories that best represents ...
in 1994.[
]
Results
with Otto Jelinek
Otto John Jelinek (Czech: Otakar Jelínek; born May 20, 1940) is a businessman, former figure skater, and Canadian politician. Jelinek's family fled to Switzerland, then to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1948, following the Communist coup d'é ...
References
* Beverley Smith, ''Figure Skating: A Celebration''. .
External links
* "Otto & Maria Jelinek - Ice Capades of 1965," vide
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jelinek, Maria
1942 births
Living people
Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada
Canadian people of Czech descent
Canadian female pair skaters
Olympic figure skaters of Canada
Figure skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics
Figure skaters from Prague
World Figure Skating Championships medalists