Petra Burka (; born November 17, 1946) is a Canadian 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 ...

and now

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. She won the 1964 Olympic bronze medal in women's figure skating and the 1965 World championship in the sport.

Personal life

Petra Burka was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Netherlands on November 17, 1946, the daughter of Dutch figure skater and coach

Ellen Burka Ellen Burka (née Danby; August 11, 1921 – September 12, 2016) was a Canadian-Dutch figure skater and coach. She became Member of the Order of Canada in 1978 and was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Personal life Ellen Da ...

and a Czech-born artist, Jan Burka. The family moved to Canada in 1951. Her parents divorced in the mid-1950s. Raised as Christians, Petra and her sister, Astra, were in their late teens when their mother told them about her background as a

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivor.

Career

Petra Burka began skating lessons at the age of 10 or 11. Her mother, also her coach, was advised by Osborne Colson of her talent. At the 1962 Canadian Championships, Burka became the first woman to land a triple Salchow and came away with the silver medal. She finished 4th in her World Championship debut in

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 ...

in the same year. The father of one of Ellen Burka's students, Stafford Smythe, arranged for Petra – who was in need of extra ice time – to train at

Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...

at 7 a.m. every day before the hockey players arrived at 9:30. Burka won the first of her three consecutive senior national titles in 1964 and represented Canada at the

1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both: *The 1964 Winter Olympics, which were held in Innsbruck, Austria *The 1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held fro ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

, winning the bronze medal. Unaware that she was expected to skate an exhibition, she was brought back to the rink in a police car just before she was called onto the ice. Burka became the first Canadian skater to perform in the Soviet Union when she appeared in a two-week tour in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

. Burka won bronze at the 1964 World Championships 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 ...

. She was the gold medalist at the 1965 World Championships 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 ...

, becoming the first Canadian woman to win Worlds since

Barbara Ann Scott Barbara Ann Scott (May 9, 1928 – September 30, 2012) was a Canadian figure skater. She was the 1948 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1947–1948), and a four-time Canadian national champion (1944–46, 48) in ladies' singles. Kn ...

in 1947. At the event, she also became the first woman to complete the triple Salchow at a World Championships. Her other achievements were winning Canada's Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 1964 and twice winning Canada's Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year in 1964 and 1965. In 1965 she was also inducted to the

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 Canada ...

. Burka took bronze at the 1966 World Championships and retired from competition. She signed with

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 ...

, skating with the tour until 1969. Burka then took on

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

as well as being a commentator on figure skating events for CBC and CBS for Olympic, World, European and Canadian championships. Petra Burka was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burka, Petra 1946 births Living people Canadian female single skaters Canadian people of Dutch-Jewish descent Dutch emigrants to Canada Figure skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Lou Marsh Trophy winners World Figure Skating Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic figure skaters of Canada Olympic medalists in figure skating Sportspeople from Amsterdam Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Dutch female single skaters Canadian people of Czech descent

Personal life

Career

Results

See also

References

External links