Galit Chait
Galit Chait (Hebrew: גלית חייט, Galit Hayat; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists.
 Chait (left) and Sakhnovski (right) at the 2003 Skate Canada International | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | גלית חייט | |||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Galit Chait Moracci[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | January 29, 1975 Kfar Saba, Israel | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.58 m (5 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Israel | |||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | Bat Yam Club | |||||||||||||||||
| Began skating | 1984 | |||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2007 | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Galit Chait (Hebrew: גלית חייט, Galit Hayat; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists.
Personal life
[edit]Chait was born in Israel. Her family moved to New Jersey when she was young, and she first skated at age 8.[2]
Her father, Boris Chait, has been president of the Israeli Ice Skating Federation[3] since 2002.
On August 23, 2008, Chait married former Italian military policeman Francesco Moracci in New Jersey and then on September 13, 2008, they had a second wedding in Florence, Italy.[4][5] The two had met at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, where Moracci was a member of the security detail assigned to protect the Israeli team.[6] They have two daughters, Raffaella, born in 2009, and Gabriella, born in 2011.[7] They also have a son named Matteo.[citation needed]
Chait has been a resident of Paramus, New Jersey.[8]
Career
[edit]She first tried ice dancing in the 1990s when she traveled to Russia with her father, who was teaching there at a sports camp.[9]
She competed with Max Sevostianov at the U.S. Nationals in 1992 and 1994.[9] They were involved in a collision with Renée Roca at the 1994 U.S. Championships.[10] In 1994, the pair placed 6th at the U.S. Nationals and 28th at the World Championships (representing Israel).[9]
Chait met Sergei Sakhnovski while they were both students at the University of Delaware.[9] Partnered since 1995, they trained initially in Russia with Ludmila Buytskova and Elena Maslenikova before moving to Monsey, New York.[2] They rose steadily in the international rankings. The highlight of their career was winning the bronze medal at the 2002 World championships. Sergei Sakhnovski suffered a foot injury that forced the pair to miss the entire 2006–2007 season, and they subsequently announced their retirement. Their coaches included Natalia Dubova, Tatiana Tarasova, Evgeni Platov, Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov.[11]
Chait was the flag bearer for Israel at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics.
Chait is an ISU Technical Specialist.[7]
Coaching career
[edit]After her retirement as a competitive skater, Chait began coaching ice dancing. She was the head coach of the Israeli brother-and-sister team Alexandra Zaretsky and Roman Zaretsky, and of Tamar Katz as well.[3] In October 2008, Chait and the Zaretskys filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in Hackensack, New Jersey, claiming that officials at the rink discriminated against them on the basis of their Israeli nationality, denying them prime skating time and threatening to ban them from the rink.[12] The Zaretskys, under her coaching, won the gold medal at the 24th Winter Universiade Games in Harbin China, the bronze medal at Skate America 2009 and they qualified for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver Canada.
Chait has also coached:
- Cathy Reed / Chris Reed[13]
- Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Alexander Shakalov[14]
- Allison Reed / Otar Japaridze[15]
- Ekaterina Bugrov / Vasili Rogov[1]
- Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Dmitri Dun[16]
- Anna Bolshem / Ronald Zilberberg
- Adel Tankova/ Ronald Zilberberg
As of 2010, Chait was the head coach of the Israeli figure skating team.[17]
Programs
[edit](with Sakhnovski)
| Season | Original dance | Free dance | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–2006 [18] |
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| 2004–2005 [19] |
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| 2003–2004 [20][21] |
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| 2002–2003 [21][22][23] |
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| 2001–2002 [21][24] |
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| 2000–2001 [21][25] |
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| 1999–2000 [21] |
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| 1998–1999 [21] |
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| 1997–1998 [21] |
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| 1996–1997 [21] |
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| 1995–1996 [21] |
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Competitive highlights
[edit]GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix
With Sakhnovski
[edit]| International[26] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 95–96 | 96–97 | 97–98 | 98–99 | 99–00 | 00–01 | 01–02 | 02–03 | 03–04 | 04–05 | 05–06 |
| Olympics | 14th | 6th | 8th | ||||||||
| Worlds | 23rd | 18th | 14th | 13th | 5th | 6th | 3rd | 6th | 7th | 6th | 6th |
| Europeans | 14th | 12th | 10th | 6th | 5th | 5th | 6th | 5th | 4th | 5th | |
| GP Final | 4th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 4th | ||||||
| GP Cup of China | 2nd | 2nd | |||||||||
| GP Cup of Russia | 7th | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | ||||||
| GP Lalique | 5th | 6th | |||||||||
| GP Nations/Bofrost | 7th | 5th | 2nd | ||||||||
| GP NHK Trophy | 7th | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | |||||||
| GP Skate America | 4th | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | |||||||
| GP Skate Canada | 2nd | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | |||||||
| Goodwill Games | 2nd | ||||||||||
| Nebelhorn Trophy | 9th | ||||||||||
| Skate Israel | 6th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||
| Vienna Cup | 3rd | ||||||||||
| Lysiane Lauret | 1st | ||||||||||
| National[26] | |||||||||||
| Israeli Champ. | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
With Sevostianov
[edit]| International[27] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | 1994–95 |
| World Championships | 28th | ||
| Karl Schäfer Memorial | 7th | ||
| Nebelhorn Trophy | 10th | ||
| National | |||
| U.S. Championships | 12th | 6th | |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "Ekaterina BUGROV / Vasili ROGOV". International Skating Union.
- ^ a b Mittan, J. Barry (1998) [1996]. "Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky". Updated. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012.
- ^ a b McGrath, Charles (January 19, 2010). "Israel's Winter Athletes Come to U.S. Seeking Ice and Medals". The New York Times.
- ^ "Wedding". Israel Ice Skating Federation. August 2008. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012.
- ^ "Le nozze "italiane" di Galit Chait". ArtOnIce.it (in Italian). September 3, 2008.
- ^ Elfman, Lois (September 8, 2008). "Famous ice dancer Chait marries Olympic sweetheart". Icenetwork.
- ^ a b Golinsky, Reut (November 11, 2011). "Galit Chait: "My dream is to have a big school"". Absolute Skating.
- ^ Wilner, Barry (January 12, 1992). "Boundaries melt as skating pair unites". Rocky Mountain News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
Galit Chait, a 16-year-old from Paramus, N.J., and Maxim Sevostianov of Cheljabinsk, Russia, weren't close to the best dancers at the event. They were among the most intriguing.
- ^ a b c d "Chait, Galit". Jews in Sports. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
- ^ Longman, Jere (January 6, 1994). "OLYMPICS; Roca, Ice Dancer, Breaks Arm But Comes Back to Skate On". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ "Galit Chait". ice-dance.com. December 2004. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007.
- ^ Ben-Ali, Russell (October 30, 2008). "Skaters, coach sue Hackensack rink". New Jersey Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ "Cathy REED / Chris REED". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2010-05-02.
- ^ "Siobhan HEEKIN-CANEDY / Alexander SHAKALOV". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2011-11-02.
- ^ "Allison REED / Otar JAPARIDZE". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2010-05-07.
- ^ "Siobhan HEEKIN-CANEDY / Dmitri DUN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19.
- ^ Yofis, Andrey (January 21, 2017). "Galit Chait: "Every day I look forward to the next training session"". Absolute Skating.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2005/2006". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 23, 2005.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Programs". Official website of Chait & Sakhnovski at ice-dance.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2012.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 18, 2003.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on December 16, 2002.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 2, 2002.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 18, 2001.
- ^ a b "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017.
- ^ "Galit CHAIT / Maxim SEVOSTIANOV". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
External links
[edit]
- Galit Chait at the International Skating Union
- Galit Chait at Olympics.com
- Galit Chait at Olympedia
- Official homepage – Chait / Sakhnovski (archived)
