Fritzi Burger

Friederike "Fritzi" Burger (6 June 1910 – 16 February 1999) was an Austrian figure skater. She was a two-time Olympic silver medalist (1928, 1932), a four-time World medalist (silver in 1929 and 1932, bronze in 1928 and 1931), the 1930 European champion, and a four-time Austrian national champion (1928–1931).

Fritzi Burger
Personal information
Full nameFriederike Burger
Country representedAustria
Born(1910-06-06)6 June 1910
Vienna, Austria
Died16 February 1999(1999-02-16) (aged 88)
Portland, Maine, United States
Retired1934
Medal record
Representing  Austria
Figure skating: Ladies' singles
Olympic Games
1932 Lake PlacidLadies' singles
1928 St. MoritzLadies' singles
World Championships
1929 BudapestLadies' singles
1932 MontrealLadies' singles
1928 LondonLadies' singles
1931 BerlinLadies' singles
European Championships
1930 ViennaLadies' singles
1932 ParisLadies' singles
1931 St. MoritzLadies' singles
1933 LondonLadies' singles

Life and career

Burger was born on 6 June 1910 in Vienna.[1] Her family was Jewish.[2]

She won the first-ever contested European Championships, held in 1930. Sonja Henie, who held a monopoly in women's figure skating at the time, was not present at this championship and Burger never defeated her in competition. She placed second behind Henie at the 1928 and 1932 Winter Olympics, and in the 1929 and 1932 World Championships.

After the 1932 Olympics, Burger ended her skating career and went to London, where in 1935 she married Shinkichi Nishikawa, a grandson of the Japanese pearl tycoon Kōkichi Mikimoto.[3] She returned with her husband to Vienna, where she gave birth to her son in the summer of 1937, just before the Anschluss (annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany).

In the 1990s, living in the United States, Burger was interviewed for several documentaries on the history of figure skating. She joked in a 1994 interview, "I had two husbands. [Sonja Henie] even beat me at that. She had three."[4] She died on 16 February 1999 in Bad Gastein, Austria.[1]

Results
International
Event 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934
Winter Olympics2nd2nd
World Championships3rd2nd3rd2nd
European Championships1st2nd2nd3rd
National
Austrian Championships3rd1st1st1st1st2nd3rd

See also

References
  1. "Fritzi Burger". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017.
  2. Taylor, Paul (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics : with a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medallists. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900871.
  3. "Milestones, Aug. 19, 1935". Time. August 19, 1935. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  4. "1928 sports history". ESPN. Retrieved July 20, 2006.

Book
  • Carol Bergman (1999). Searching for Fritzi. Mediacs. ISBN 0-9673134-0-6.
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