Elaine Zayak
Elaine Zayak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Elaine Kathryn Zayak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Paramus, New Jersey | April 4, 1965||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Figure skating career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Skating club | Skating Club of New York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 1984, 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Elaine Kathryn Zayak (born April 4, 1965) is an American former
Personal life
Zayak was born and raised in Paramus, New Jersey.[1] At age two, she lost three toes on her left foot as a result of a lawn mower accident.[2] On the advice of her doctors, she began figure skating as physical therapy. Her left boot was stabilized with a wood mold to compensate for the irregularity in the shape of her left foot. Zayak attended Paramus High School[3] and was awarded the Dial Award for the national high-school scholar-athlete of the year in 1982.
Career
Zayak was coached jointly by Peter Burrows and Marylynn Gelderman throughout her amateur and professional career. She won gold at the 1979 World Junior Championships. The next season, she began competing on the senior international level. Zayak stood atop the podium at the 1979 Skate Canada and Prague Skate and then appeared at her first senior World Championships. She was included in the first trip to China by American skaters, in 1980.
Zayak was the first woman to consistently land many triple jumps in her programs. At the 1982 World Championships, she landed six triple jumps to win the title, although four of them were triple toe loops. While she also had triple salchows and loops in her repertoire, they were less consistent. Zayak's skating contributed to the creation of what became informally known as the Zayak rule,[2] enacted at the 1982 ISU Congress, which states that a skater may not perform the same kind of triple jump more than twice, and for it to be given full credit on both occasions, one of the two triples must be incorporated into a combination or sequence. The rule encouraged skaters to display a greater variety of skills.
After her World title in 1982, Zayak's placements suffered from generally poor performances in the then-prevalent
Zayak won the bronze medal at the
In 1993, Zayak was the only U.S. female singles skater to reinstate to eligible status in an attempt to make the
Zayak was inducted into the
Zayak teaches figure skating at the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey, and is a spokeswoman for U.S. Figure Skating. Among her current and former students are Joelle Forte and Amelia Xu.[5][6]
Competitive highlights
International | |||||||
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Event | 1978–79 | 1979–80 | 1980–81 | 1981–82 | 1982–83 | 1983–84 | 1993–94 |
Winter Olympics | 6th | ||||||
World Champ. | 11th | 2nd | 1st | WD | 3rd | ||
Skate America | 2nd | ||||||
Skate Canada | 1st | ||||||
St. Ivel International | 1st | ||||||
Prague Skate | 1st | ||||||
International Challenge Cup | 2nd | 2nd | |||||
Goodwill Games | 8th | ||||||
International: Junior | |||||||
Junior Worlds | 1st | ||||||
National | |||||||
U.S. Championships |
4th | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
WD = Withdrew |
References
- ^ Bondy, Filip (May 16, 1993). "FIGURE SKATING; Zayak's Biggest Jump: A Leap Into the Past". The New York Times.
Her father, Richard Zayak, would drive from their home in Paramus, N.J., to her New York practice rinks in Farmingdale or Monsey and offer his daughter $1 per perfect jump.
- ^ a b c Castronovo Fusco, Mary Ann (December 19, 1999). "A Different Strategy For Going for the Gold". The New York Times.
- ^ "Miss Zayak Happy to Be Back in School; Miss Zayak Has Fun In School Impressed by Her Conduct". The New York Times. March 11, 1981. pp. A19.
- ^ "Keselowski, Dombrowski and Zayak honored by Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame". National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. Yahoo News. March 26, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11.
- ^ Rutherford, Lynn (January 18, 2009). "Zayak makes national coaching debut". IceNetwork.
- ^ "Video interview conducted March 27, 2010". Lifeskate.com.
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Elaine Zayak". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-01-25.