Maria Jelinek

Maria Jelinek
nation	Canada
birthday	November 16, 1942
place of birth	Prague
Career
discipline	Pair skating
Partner	Otto Jelinek
society	Oakville Skating Club
status	resigned
Medal table
World Cup medals 1 × 1 × 2 ×
World figure skating championships bronze Colorado Springs 1957 Couples bronze Paris 1958 Couples silver Vancouver 1960 Couples gold Prague 1962 Couples

Maria Jelinek (born November 16, 1942 in Prague ) is a former Canadian figure skater who started in pair skating .

In 1948 her parents emigrated with her and her brother Otto from Czechoslovakia and came to Oakville , Ontario via Switzerland .

Maria Jelinek and brother Otto Jelinek had been Canadian runners-up in pair skating behind Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul four times since 1956 , before they finally became Canadian champions after their resignation in 1961 and 1962. When they made their world championship debut in 1957 in Colorado Springs , they won the bronze medal, which they defended in Paris the following year . In 1959 they missed another medal with fourth place just behind the Americans Nancy and Ronald Ludington . At their only Olympic Games in 1960 in Squaw Valley , like at the World Cup last year, they finished fourth, but this time even closer to the Ludingtons. In 1960 in Vancouver the Jelineks were runner-up behind their compatriots Wagner and Paul, whose victories they had already placed on the podium in 1957 and 1958. Maria and Otto Jelinek gained fame when they flew to their real home in Prague for the 1962 World Cup and won the gold medal in pair skating there, despite having been warned not to return to Czechoslovakia. You were the first to do multi-turn lifts.

After the end of their amateur career, the Jelineks switched to the professionals in 1962 and appeared in the ice revue The Ice Capades until 1969 . After that, both of them quit professional ice skating.

Results

Pair skating

(with Otto Jelinek )

Competition / year	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962
winter Olympics					4th
World championships		3.	3.	4th	2.		1.
Canadian Championships	2.	2.	2.		2.	1.	1.

Web links

• Maria Jelinek in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )