Friederike "Fritzi" Burger (6 June 1910, Vienna, Austria - 16 February 1999, Vienna, Austria) was an Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n figure skater

Figure skating

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 competitive in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She was Jewish.

Career

She won the first-ever contested European Championships

European Figure Skating Championships

The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...

, held in 1930. Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion . Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies figure skater...

, 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

1928 Winter Olympics

The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated February 11–19, 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The 1928 Games were the first true Winter Olympics held on its own as they were not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics...

 and 1932 Winter Olympics

1932 Winter Olympics

The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1932 in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. It would be the first winter olympics held in the United...

, and in the 1929 and 1932 World Championships

World Figure Skating Championships

The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...

.

After the 1932 Olympics, Burger ended her skating career and went to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, where in 1935 she married Shinkichi Nishikawa, a grandson of the Japanese pearl tycoon Kokichi Mikimoto

Kokichi Mikimoto

was a Japanese entrepreneur and adopter of the Mise/Nishikawa technique for production of synthetic cultured pearls.-Early life:Born as the first son of an udon shop owner in Toba, Shima Province , Mikimoto left school at the age of 13 and sold vegetables to support his family...

. She returned with her husband to Vienna where she gave birth to her son in the spring of 1938, just before Austria's annexation by Nazi Germany

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

.

In the 1990s, living in the United States, she was interviewed for several documentaries on the history of figure skating.

Results

Event	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934
Winter Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...		2nd				2nd
World Championships World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...		3rd	2nd		3rd	2nd
European Championships European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...				1st	2nd	2nd	3rd
Austrian Championships Austrian Figure Skating Championships The Austrian Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of Austria. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing....	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd		3rd

Quotes

• "I had two husbands. She even beat me at that. She had three." -- Fritzi Burger speaking of Sonja Henie, in a 1994 interview.

External links

• Picture of Fritzi Burger
• New York Times topics: In the Fading Light Of the Brilliant Henie
• Jews in sports - Burger, Fritzi
• Preface to "Searching for Fritzi"
• Reviews of "Searching for Fritzi," 1999

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