Michael Shmerkin
| Michael Shmerkin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 February 1970 Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) |
| Figure skating career | |
| Country | Israel |
| Skating club | Canada Centre, Metulla, ISR |
| Retired | 2002 |
Michael "Misha" Shmerkin (born 5 February 1970) is an Israeli former competitive figure skater.[1]
Career
Early in his career, Shmerkin competed internationally for the Soviet Union, most notably at the 1990 World Junior Championships.
As he advanced, he felt that the fact that he is Jewish[2] was being held against him. Consequently, his family moved to Israel in 1991,[3] and Shmerkin began representing his new country in international competition.[4]
At the 1994 Winter Olympics, where he placed 16th, Shmerkin became the first skater to represent Israel at the Olympic Games.[4][5] He placed 18th at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
In the late 1990s he skated to Jewish songs and had a tallis and menorah embroidered on his costume.[3]
He retired from competitive skating following the 2001/2002 season.[5]
Shmerkin currently coaches in New York.
Competitive highlights
| International | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1990–91 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | 1994–95 | 1995–96 | 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999-00 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 |
| Olympics | 16th | 18th | |||||||||
| Worlds | 19th | 14th | 11th | 11th | 15th | 15th | 35th | 33rd | |||
| Europeans | 14th | 13th | 19th | 20th | 25th | ||||||
| CS Nations Cup | 5th | 6th | 8th | ||||||||
| CS NHK Trophy | 5th | 10th | |||||||||
| CS Skate Canada | 2nd | 2nd | |||||||||
| CS Skate America | 7th | ||||||||||
| Golden Spin | 8th | 5th | |||||||||
| Moscow News | 2nd | ||||||||||
| Ondrej Nepela | 1st | ||||||||||
| Skate Israel | 1st | 2nd | 8th | 3rd | |||||||
| National | |||||||||||
| Israeli Champ. | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | |||||
| CS = Became part of Champions Series in 1995–96 season (later renamed Grand Prix) | |||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ Inside figure skating — Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ Day by day in Jewish sports history — Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ a b "Author Battling Antisemitism at the Ice Rink –". Forward.com. 3 October 2003. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ a b . 17 February 1994 http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB2A5C4B643758F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b "Jewish athletes in the Olympics — then and now | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California". Jweekly.com. 9 February 2006. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
External links
- Skatabase: 1990s Olympics
- Skatabase: 1990s Europeans
- Skatabase: 1990s Worlds
- Skatabase: 2000–2002 Europeans
- bio
- Jews in Sports bio