Trixi Schuba
Template:Short description Template:Infobox figure skater
Beatrix "Trixi" Schuba (born 15 April 1951) is an Austrian former competitive figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She is a six-time Austrian national champion (1967–1972), a two-time European champion (1971 and 1972), a two-time World champion (1971 and 1972), and 1972 Olympic champion.<ref name=sr-schuba/>
She is considered to be one of the best compulsory figure skaters ever.<ref name=DH1983/><ref name=steps1996/><ref name=sivo2000/>
Early life
Schuba was born in Vienna. After her father died when she was thirteen, she went to trade school and eventually took over the bookkeeping of her family's lumber business in Vienna; mornings were given to skating and afternoons to work.<ref name=CoVbio/>
Competitive career
Schuba's interest in figure skating began as a young child in 1955 when she happened to see an American competition on the television bought by her parents to watch performances of the Vienna State Opera and the Burgtheater.<ref name=biographie/> She was coached by Helmut Seibt from 1955 to 1962,<ref name=EKEbioHS/> and then by Leopold Linhart.<ref name=sr-schuba/>
Her first major success was winning the ladies' singles portion of the Austrian Championships at the age of sixteen in 1967; she would go on to defend her title five straight times. Schuba steadily improved throughout the end of the 1960s and the early 1970s, placing in the top five several times and eventually taking first twice each at the European Championships and the World Championships in 1971 and 1972.<ref name=sr-schuba/>
Schuba's greatest success came in 1972 at the Winter Olympics at Sapporo when she won the gold medal.<ref name=AP720207/> She is the first Austrian lady since Herma Szabo in 1924 to win gold and is the most recent.<ref name=biographie/> Schuba, the dominant compulsory figures skater, placed first in the figures and Janet Lynn of the United States, the top free skater, placed first after the free skate. As the scoring system used at the time placed more weight on figures, Schuba won the gold medal and Lynn won the bronze behind silver medalist Karen Magnussen of Canada.<ref name=sr-sapporo/>
The International Skating Union, the governing body of the sport, would over the ensuing years decrease the weight given to the figures portion before finally eliminating it in 1990.<ref name=NYT880609/> Scuba, considered one of the best compulsory figure skaters ever, was also considered weak in free skating.<ref name=DH1983/><ref name=steps1996/><ref name=sivo2000/><ref name="hines-62"/>
After winning gold at Sapporo, Schuba did the same the next month at the World Championships, successfully defending against silver medalist Magnussen and bronze medalist Lynn.<ref name=CP720313/> At the end of the year, sportswriters named her Athlete of the Year for 1972.<ref name=AP721222/>
Later career
Retiring from amateur skating, Schuba appeared over the succeeding six years in the professional shows Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice, after which she began a career in the insurance industry which she continues to the present.<ref name=biographie/><ref name=DS060202/>
In addition to her career in insurance, Schuba is involved in various sports organizations in Austria. She is a former president of the Austrian Ice Skating Association, the first woman to hold that position, and she sat on the board of the Austrian Olympic Committee from 2004 to 2009.<ref name=erfolge/> Schuba has served as president of the International Panathlon Club Wien since 2007, on the board of the Austrian Paralympic Committee since 2009, and as vice president of the Graz Skating Association since 2010.<ref name=erfolge/>
Results
| International | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 |
| Winter Olympics | 5th | 1st | ||||
| World Championships | 9th | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st |
| European Championships | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 1st |
| Richmond Trophy | 2nd | |||||
| National | ||||||
| Austrian Championships | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
References
External links
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Template:Austrian Sportsperson of the Year Template:NavigationOlympicChampionsFigureSkatingLadies Template:NavigationWorldChampionsFigureSkatingLadies Template:NavigationEuropeanChampionsFigureSkatingLadies Template:NavigationAustrianChampionsFigureSkatingLadies
- Pages with broken file links
- 1951 births
- Austrian female single skaters
- Olympic figure skaters for Austria
- Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for Austria
- Figure skaters from Vienna
- Living people
- Olympic medalists in figure skating
- World Figure Skating Championships medalists
- European Figure Skating Championships medalists
- Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics