Zuzana Babiaková, née Paurová, (born 21 April 1978) is a Slovak 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 ...

. She is the

2003 Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2003 Golden Spin of Zagreb was the 36th edition of an annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held between November 12 and 15, 2003. Figure skaters competed in the disciplines of men's sin ...

champion, a two-time Ondrej Nepela Memorial champion (1998–99), and a nine-time Slovak national champion. She qualified for the free skate at seven

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, four World Championships, and the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, where she placed 21st.

Personal life

Zuzana Paurová was born on 21 April 1978 in

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. After her marriage, she changed her surname to Babiaková. She gave birth to a son, Marian, on 19 June 2000. and daughter, Alexandra, on 3 February 2006.

Career

In later 1993, Paurová competed at her first ISU Championship – the 1994 Junior Worlds in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

– but did not qualify for the short program. Paurová began the 1994–95 season on the junior level. In November 1994, she appeared at the 1995 World Junior Championships 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 ...

but was eliminated after the qualifying round. Having won her first senior national title, she was sent to her first World Championships in March 1995. Ranked 14th in her qualifying group, she did not advance to the short program at the event in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. She was likewise unsuccessful at her first

, in January 1996. In November 1996, Paurová qualified for the free skate at the 1997 World Junior Championships in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea; she placed 22nd in the short program, 19th in the free skate, and 21st overall. In January 1997, she reached the free skate at the

in Paris and finished 24th overall. She won the Ondrej Nepela Memorial in 1998 and 1999. By the 2000–01 season, she was competing as Babiaková. In February 2002, she represented Slovakia at the Winter Olympics in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, Utah. She qualified for the free skate by placing 20th in the short program and went on to finish 21st overall. She finished a career-best 13th at the 2002 World Championships in

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

after placing 11th in her qualifying group, 9th in the short, and 13th in the free. In the 2003–04 season, Babiaková won the Golden Spin of Zagreb and her ninth national title. She achieved her best ISU Championship result, 9th, at the 2004 Europeans in Budapest. She reached the final segment at a total of seven European and four World Championships before retiring from competition in 2005. As of 2016, she is coaching at Krasokorčuliarsky klub Iskra in

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

Programs

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babiakova, Zuzana 1978 births Slovak female single skaters Sportspeople from Žilina Olympic figure skaters for Slovakia Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Living people