Young Israelis to compete at Skate America
By Lois Elfman

HARTFORD-When figure skating’s Grand Prix circuit kicks off Oct. 26-29 at the Hartford Civic Center, among the competitors in the ice dance event will be a rising young team from Israel, Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky. This week also marks an anniversary for the sister and brother-15 years since they and their parents immigrated to Israel from Belarus.
Their mother, Yelena, a former skater, put her children on the ice at a young age. In the early 1990s, Israel’s only full-sized rink opened in the city of Metulla, so the family settled there. In 1995, she decided her daughter and son would be an ice dancing team. That was the year three-time Olympians Galit Chait and Sergey Sakhnovsky began skating together. Roman recalls how he looked up to Sergey.
This past February, the Zaretskys joined Chait and Sakhnovsky on the Israeli team at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.
“It was the most memorable two weeks of my life,” said Roman, who recently received his discharge from the Israeli army.
Making the Olympics all the more sweet was the fact that they did not expect to compete. Although Israel had two berths for ice dancing, the Olympic Committee of Israel did not want to send the Zaretskys because it was only their first season in senior competition after a stellar career on the international junior circuit (including fourth place at the 2005 World Junior Championships). They had to place in the top 15 at the 2006 European Championships in order to earn the trip to Turin.
“Our first year in seniors, we got 15th place, which for us was amazing, and we went to Olympics,” said Roman. “The Opening Ceremonies were the greatest moment. We couldn’t stop smiling. We were so happy. We were there to show that there are Zaretskys. We couldn’t do much about skating, because we were the youngest, although we performed pretty well.” Their parents were able to see their performances live on Israeli television. Yelena Zaretsky still coaches at the Canada Centre in Metulla.
Alexandra, 18, and Roman, 22, finished 22nd of 24 teams. In March, they placed 20th at the World Championships. Their 2006-07 season began earlier this month with an impressive third-place finish at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Since January 2005, the duo have trained in New Jersey with two-time Olympic Ice Dance Champion Evgeny Platov. When Platov was invited to appear in a Russian version of Skating With Celebrities, his students accompanied him to Moscow for two months and trained at the Olympic Center.
“It was very hard training, like I did when I competed,” said Platov. “They saw how different teams worked and fueled their Olympic spirit. They want to win. After the bronze medal in Oberstdorf, they got the idea they can get somewhere.”
Although Chait and Sakhnovsky had decided to compete one more year, a foot injury to Sakhnovsky has put their season in doubt. The Zaretskys are prepared to be the standard bearers for their homeland. Although they shy away from the Jewish music that Chait and Sakhnovsky often used, Roman Zaretsky makes in abundantly clear that they are proud Jews.
“We are everywhere in skating,” he said, noting that one partner in each of the three U.S. ice dance teams at the Olympics was Jewish: Benjamin Agosto, Melissa Gregory and Jamie Silverstein, as well as two U.S. women’s skaters, Sasha Cohen and Emily Hughes.
“Maybe we’re not showing it too much, but we’re supporting each other. There is a Jewish connection everywhere. I can’t explain it, but there is.”
Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky are hoping to move up in the world rankings this year. The time in Russia followed by the bronze medal in Germany showed them the tangible reward of diligent hard work. Their second stop on the Grand Prix circuit will be Cup of China Nov. 9-12.

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Melissa Gregory, 25, and partner/husband Denis Petukhov, 28, will also be competing at Skate America. It’s a bit of a homecoming for them, as they lived and trained in Hartford for three years. At the end of last season, they decided to change coaches and moved to Newark, Delaware to train with 1980 Olympic Ice Dance Champions Natalie Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov (Karponosov was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2001).
Gregory and Petukhov placed 14th at the Olympics and ninth at the World Championships. The Olympic experience fuels them to improve. They also carry the Olympic spirit into community service. They were recently named athlete ambassadors for Right to Play, an athlete-driven humanitarian organization that uses sport and play as a tool for development of young people in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.

ITAL: Tickets for Skate America are on sale at the Hartford Civic Center Box Office as well as all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone, (860) 525-4500.


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ZARETSKY2:

Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky.

Photo by J. Barry Mittan


Gregory photo:
Photo by Michelle/Paul Harvath, courtesy U.S. Figure Skating