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Tamar Katz
Tamar Katz
Born	September 26, 1988 (age 36); Dallas, Texas, United States
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Israel
Skating club	Metula FSC
Began skating	1999
Retired	2010

Tamar Katz (Hebrew: תמר כץ, born September 26, 1988^[1]^[2]^[3]) is an Israeli-American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2005, 2007, and 2008 Israeli national champion.

Personal life

Katz was born September 26, 1988, in Dallas, Texas.^[4]^[1]^[2]^[3] The daughter of Leora and Yirmi Katz, she was raised with two brothers, Eyal and Ronen.^[5] Due to her father's work as a diplomat at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., she resided in Maryland from the age of seven, before settling in Metula, Israel when she was 13.^[6] At age 15, she returned to the United States for training opportunities.^[7] She began college studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010.

In September 2010, her brother, Ronen, was killed in a hit and run accident in New York City.^[8]

Career

Katz began skating as an extracurricular activity at the age of 9 and became more serious about skating a year later.^[9]^[10] She trained in Rockville, Maryland, until she was 13, followed by Metula, Israel until age 15, and then in the United States again.^[6]^[7]

Katz's best season was 2006–07. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Golden Spin of Zagreb, finished a career-best 13th at the 2007 European Championships, and qualified for the free skate at the 2007 World Championships.

In 2008, Katz was 16th at the Europeans and 22nd at Worlds. She sustained a stress fracture to her right foot and a broken hand in December 2008 and missed the 2009 European Championships. She finished 25th at the 2009 World Championships. She was coached by Peter Burrows in Monsey, New York.^[11]

Katz qualified a spot for Israel in ladies' figure skating at the 2010 Olympics with her 12th-place finish at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy;^[12] she was the first Israeli ladies' single skater to qualify for an Olympics.^[7] However, suffering from a virus, she had a poor showing at the 2010 European Championships, failing to meet the Israeli Olympic committee's criterion of finishing in the top 14 at the event.^[7] Katz appealed this decision with the support of the Israeli Ice Skating Federation, but was unsuccessful. The Israeli Olympic Committee ceded the Olympic spot to the alternate, Australian skater Cheltzie Lee.^[12]^[13] Katz stated that "The Israeli Olympic Committee said that they want medals and that I can compete in 2014. What they don't understand is that if they want me to medal at 2014, the crucial exposure and experience that this Olympics would have given me has been taken away."^[12] She competed at the 2010 World Championships, but did not qualify for the free skate. During the 2009–10 season, she was coached by Burrows, Mary-Lynn Gelderman, and Galit Chait at Sport-o-Rama in Monsey, New York^[4]^[7] and then by Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson in Boston, Massachusetts.^[14]

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating
2010–2011 ^[15]	Leyenda by Vanessa-Mae choreo. by Jamie Isley	Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov choreo. by Mark Mitchell
2009–2010 ^[15]^[14]	Gone with the Wind by Max Steiner	Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin choreo. by Lea Ann Miller
2008–2009 ^[15]^[11]	Gone With the Wind by Max Steiner	Concerto in F by George Gershwin choreo. by Lea Ann Miller
2007–2008 ^[15]^[16]	Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona	Schindler's List by John Williams choreo. by Nikolai Morozov
2006–2007 ^[15]^[17]	Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona	The Wizard of Oz Papa, Can You Hear Me? by Michel Legrand choreo. by Nina Petrenko
2005–2006 ^[18]	Spanish medley	Doctor Zhivago by Maurice Jarre performed by German Philharmonic Orchestra
2004–2005 ^[1]	Romeo and Juliet Ouverture by P. I. Tchaikovsky	Doctor Zhivago by Maurice Jarre performed by German Philharmonic Orchestra
2003–2004 ^[3]	Most Lazy Girl in the World by Eugen Doga	Doctor Zhivago by Maurice Jarre performed by German Philharmonic Orchestra
2002–2003 ^[2]	My Affectionate and Tender Beast by Eugen Doga	Doctor Zhivago by Maurice Jarre

Competitive highlights

JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International^[19]
Event	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Worlds			16th QR		23rd	22nd	25th	27th
Europeans					13th	16th		21st
Nebelhorn								12th
Golden Spin					2nd			5th
Karl Schäfer							4th
Merano Cup								4th
Skate Israel				4th
International: Junior^[19]
Junior Worlds			22nd
JGP Bulgaria						9th
JGP Croatia						16th
JGP Germany	10th		12th
JGP Japan				12th
JGP Romania			8th
EYOF			9th
National^[19]
Israeli Champ.	2nd J.		1st
J. = Junior level; QR = Qualifying round

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Tamar KATZ: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 3, 2005.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Tamar KATZ: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 29, 2003.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Tamar KATZ: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 8, 2004.
^ ^a ^b "Tamar KATZ: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010.
^ "Profile". Official site of Tamar Katz. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Soul on ice". israel21c.org. October 19, 2003. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Siegel, Masada (January 29, 2010). "An Olympic Qualifier, but Not in Israel's Eyes". The New York Times.
^ Moynihan, Colin; Schweber, Nate (September 20, 2010). "Two Lives Intersect in Fatal Manhattan Crash". The New York Times.
^ Golinsky, Reut (2009). "Let us introduce: Tamar Katz, Part I". AbsoluteSkating.com. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
^ Golinsky, Reut (2009). "Let us introduce: Tamar Katz, Part II". AbsoluteSkating.com. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Tamar KATZ: 2008/2009". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 9, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rutherford, Lynn (February 1, 2010). "Israel cedes Olympic ladies spot to Australia". icenetwork.com. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
^ Siegel, Masada (February 2, 2010). "Australian Figure Skater Is Helped by Israel's Rules". The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b "Tamar KATZ: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 16, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Programs". Official site of Tamar Katz. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015.
^ "Tamar KATZ: 2007/2008". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 4, 2008.
^ "Tamar KATZ: 2006/2007". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007.
^ "Tamar KATZ: 2005/2006". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Competition Results: Tamar KATZ". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012.