Alexandra Zaretsky

Alexandra "Sasha" Zaretsky (Hebrew: אלכסנדרה זרצקי‎‎, Russian: Александра Зарецкая, Alexandra Zaretskaya, Belarusian: Аляксандра Зарэцкая) (born December 23, 1987) is an Israeli ice dancer. With her brother Roman Zaretsky, she is the 2009 Skate America bronze medalist, 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, a three-time Nebelhorn Trophy medalist, and a three-time Israeli national champion. They finished as high as 6th at the World Championships and competed twice at the Winter Olympics, finishing 10th in 2010.

Alexandra Zaretsky was born in Minsk, Belarus SSR, Soviet Union. The Zaretsky family was Jewish and made aliyah soon after this was made possible. Alexandra, who was three years old at the time, was raised in Metula, Israel where her parents work as coaches. She speaks fluent Hebrew, Russian, and English.

In October 2008, the Zaretskys and their coach Galit Chait filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in Hackensack, New Jersey, alleging that rink officials discriminated against them on the basis of their Israeli nationality by denying them prime training time and threatening to ban them from the rink.

The Zaretskys perform their Hava Nagila original dance in 2009

Alexandra Zaretsky began skating at the age of 6, after starting out in rhythmic gymnastics. She originally skated as a single skater, winning age group medals. When older brother Roman wanted to switch to ice dancing, his sister was the only girl at the rink he could partner, so their parents put them together. She was seven and he was 11 when they switched to ice dancing.

The Zaretskys were originally coached by their parents. They were later coached by Irina Romanova and Igor Yaroshenko in Wilmington, Delaware, before switching to Evgeni Platov in January 2005. They temporarily went back to being coached by their parents when Roman's army service kept them in Israel. In the summer of 2006, the Zaretskys briefly trained in Moscow because Platov was taking part in a skating reality show and then returned to the U.S. with Platov. They eventually switched coaches to Galit Chait and trained at the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey.

The Zaretskys are the first Israelis to medal at the Junior Winter Olympics as well as the first Israeli figure skaters to medal internationally on the junior level. In the 2005–2006 season, the Zaretskys debuted on the senior level, and were required to finish at least 15th at the 2006 European Championships in order to be sent to the Olympics as Israel's second team. They accomplished this and were sent to Torino, where they placed 22nd.

After the 2005–2006 season, Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski retired, and the Zaretskys became the top Israeli ice dancing team. They won the bronze medal at the 2006 Nebelhorn Trophy, a senior "B" international, and finished just off the podium at the 2006 Cup of China. They finished 11th at the 2007 Europeans and 14th at the 2007 World Championships.

The Zaretskys competed at the 2007 Skate America and 2007 Cup of China Grand Prix competitions, repeating their 4th-place finish in China. They finished 8th at the 2008 Europeans and 9th at the 2008 World Championships, setting a new personal best score. They then had an up and down season in 2008–2009, winning their first international event, the 2009 Universiade, but placing lower at both the 2009 Europeans and 2009 World Championships than they had the previous year.

The Zaretskys rebounded in 2009–2010. After a 5th-place finish at the 2009 Cup of China, the team won their first Grand Prix medal at the 2009 Skate America, where they were second in the free dance, and were named alternates for the Grand Prix Final. The Zaretskys won their next event, the Golden Spin in Zagreb, and skated to a 7th-place finish at the 2010 Europeans, their best result yet at that event.

Based on their top-ten finish at the Europeans, the Zaretskys met their national criterion for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. There, in February 2010 they performed to music from Schindler's List in the free dance, having chosen the music in part to honor 27 family members who died in Minsk during the Holocaust. They finished tenth, setting new personal best scores in the free dance and overall. They went on to finish 6th at 2010 Worlds, again setting personal bests in the free dance and overall.

The Zaretskys announced their retirement from competitive skating in June 2010, citing a lack of support from their federation as the reason. They intend to pursue coaching careers.

The Zaretskys with the other medalists at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy.

(with Zaretsky)