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 name	Friederike Burger
Country represented	Austria
Born	(1910-06-06)6 June 1910 Vienna, Austria
Died	16 February 1999(1999-02-16) (aged 88) Portland, Maine, United States
Medal record Representing  Austria Figure skating: Ladies' singles Olympic Games 1932 Lake Placid Ladies' singles 1928 St. Moritz Ladies' singles World Championships 1929 Budapest Ladies' singles 1932 Montreal Ladies' singles 1928 London Ladies' singles 1931 Berlin Ladies' singles European Championships 1930 Vienna Ladies' singles 1932 Paris Ladies' singles 1931 St. Moritz Ladies' singles 1933 London Ladies' 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 Olympics		2nd				2nd
World Championships		3rd	2nd		3rd	2nd
European Championships				1st	2nd	2nd	3rd
National
Austrian Championships	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd		3rd

See also

• List of select Jewish figure skaters

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.

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

Book

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

Navigation