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Júlia Sebestyén (; born 14 May 1981) is a Hungarian 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, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...
. She is the 2004 European Champion and 2002–2010 Hungarian national champion. At the
2004 European Figure Skating Championships The 2004 European Figure Skating Championships was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2003–04 season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The event w ...
, she became the first Hungarian woman to win the European title. She is also a four-time Hungarian Olympic team member, and was Hungary's flag-bearer at the 2010 Olympics.


Personal life

Júlia Sebestyén was born on 14 May 1981 in
Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...
, Hungary. Her full name in Hungarian is Gór-Sebestyén Júlia.


Career

Júlia Sebestyén began skating at the age of three, practicing on the outdoor ice rink in
Tiszaújváros Tiszaújváros (; ) is an industrial town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, south-east of Miskolc, near the river Tisza. History The town was built up on the outskirts of the old village Tiszaszederkény. In legal terms the ol ...
. When she was 13, she moved to
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
where she had better training conditions. Her coach was András Száraz. Sebestyén began competing on the senior international level in 1995. She made her senior ISU Championship debut at the 1995 European Championships, where she placed 15th. She competed at the
1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...
and placed 15th. In the 1998–1999 post-Olympic season, Sebestyen competed on both the Junior Grand Prix and at senior ISU championships. She made her senior Grand Prix debut in the 1999–2000 season. During summers, she trained in Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, England and the United States due to lack of ice time in Hungary. In 2000, the Budapest ice rink burned down, forcing her to train at an outdoor rink in a city park. Sebestyén competed at the
2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...
and placed 8th; she was also 8th at that season's Worlds. The next season, she earned her first
European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...
medal, a bronze. In 2004, she won the
2004 European Figure Skating Championships The 2004 European Figure Skating Championships was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2003–04 season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The event w ...
, becoming the first Hungarian woman to win that competition. She later finished 6th at the 2004 Worlds, which would prove to be her best result in that event. Sebestyén competed at the
2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...
, where she placed 18th. She changed coaches to
Gurgen Vardanjan Gurgen Vardanjan (, , born 18 October 1963) is an Armenian figure skating coach and former competitor for the Soviet Union. He is the 1983 Grand Prix International St. Gervais silver medalist and a two-time Prague Skate bronze medalist (1981, 19 ...
shortly after the 2005–2006 season. Her 2006–2007 season got off to a good start; she won the 2006 Cup of China and was the silver medalist at the 2006 Cup of Russia. This qualified Sebestyén for the 2006-2007 Grand Prix Final, where she placed 6th. She was 9th at the 2007 Europeans and 12th at the 2007 Worlds. Sebestyén suffered a foot injury toward the end of the 2008–09 season, and was unable to compete at 2009 Worlds. As a result, she had to qualify for the Olympics via the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, which she was able to accomplish with a fourth-place showing. At the
2009 Skate America The 2009 Skate America was the fifth event of six in the 2009–10 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, on 12–15 November. ...
, she earned her first Grand Prix medal since 2006, a bronze. Sebestyén, now in her fourth Olympics, was chosen to be Hungary's
flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...
at the opening ceremony. She finished in 17th place at the
Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...
, with a total score of 151.26. The final event of Sebestyén's competitive career was the 2010 Worlds, where she placed 15th. Sebestyén continued to skate in shows and other events, such as the 2010 Japan Open. She is an international technical specialist for Hungary and coaches in Budapest. As of 2014, she is the coach of Ivett Tóth.


Programs


Results


References


External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebestyen, Julia 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Miskolc Hungarian female single skaters Olympic figure skaters for Hungary Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics European Figure Skating Championships medalists Hungarian figure skating coaches Competitors at the 2001 Winter Universiade 21st-century Hungarian sportswomen