Ria Baran (; 2 November 1922 in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

– 12 November 1986) was a German

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 ...

. She skated together with

Paul Falk Paul Falk (; 21 December 1921 – 20 May 2017) was a German pair skater. Born in Dortmund, Germany, he skated with Ria Baran and became two-time World champion and 1952 Olympic champion. Baran and Falk married during their active international ...

and twice became

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

champion and in 1952 Olympic champion. She was one of the oldest female figure skating Olympic champions. Ria Baran married Paul Falk during her active international figure skating. Therefore she is sometime listed as Ria Baran-Falk or Ria Falk. The pair skated for the club

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

er EG and had no coach. Until 1951 Ria Baran and Paul Falk were not able to participate in international competitions because Germany was excluded from the international sport after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. They were the first couple which performed side by side double jumps and they also invented the Lasso-Lift. Baran and Falk were never defeated in amateur competition. Between 1950 and 1952 Ria Baran was voted 3 times running as the female athlete of the year in Germany. After winning the Olympics in 1952 they turned pro and worked for

Holiday on Ice Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany. History Holiday on Ice originated in the United States in Decem ...

. Baran later worked as a

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

Results

(pairs with

)

References

* 1922 births 1986 deaths German female pair skaters Figure skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Germany Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1952 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Dortmund 20th-century German women {{Germany-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub