Melissa Mary Militano (

married name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...

: Warkmeister; born April 26, 1955 in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census. Histo ...

) is an American 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 ...

who competed as a

single skater Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested ...

and

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 ...

. As a pair skater, she won the

U.S. Figure Skating Championships The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is ofte ...

three times, in 1973 with her brother Mark Militano and in 1974 and 1975 with Johnny Johns. Their coaches included

Peter Dunfield Peter Dunfield (c. 1931 – May 25, 2014) was a Canadian figure skater and coach. He competed in four skating, winning the 1949 North American silver medal, and single skating. He is best known for coaching Elizabeth Manley to the 1988 Olympi ...

and

Ron Ludington Ronald Ludington (September 4, 1934 – May 14, 2020) was an American figure skating coach and pair skater. With Nancy Rouillard Ludington, he was the 1960 Olympic bronze medalist, 1959 World bronze medalist, and a four-time U.S. national cha ...

. Melissa and Mark Militano represented the United States at the 1972 Winter Olympics where they placed 7th. Militano was also a talented singles skater. At the 1970 United States Figure Skating Championships, she became one of the first female skaters to successfully perform a triple toe loop jump in competition, in a performance that won her the bronze medal in the junior ladies division. At the 1971

, she won the junior ladies title, again landing a clean triple toe loop."Nationals", ''Skating'' magazine, Apr 1971 She later gave up competing in singles skating to focus on pairs. Militano and Johns retired from competitive skating in 1975 and toured 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 ...

. After her marriage in 1979, she had little involvement with skating for many years, but currently works as a part-time coach in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Competitive highlights

Ladies' singles

Pairs with Johnny Johns

Pairs with Mark Militano

References

* "Militano Warkmeister finds bliss in desert", ''Skating'', Aug/Sept 2008. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Militano, Melissa American female pair skaters American female single skaters Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the United States 1955 births Living people People from Rockville Centre, New York