Canada Centre’s ice dancers participating in the World Championships in March were invited to the home of Israel Ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon and Mrs. Anne Ayalon.

Two Israeli ice skating and dancing pairs, both of whom trained at The Canada Centre – The Israel National Centre for Winter Sports in northern Israel, have recently won bronze medals at international competitions, giving Israel its first-ever winter sports medals. In a surprise move that captured headlines in Israel, one of the pairs, ice dancers Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky, also have just been named Outstanding Sportsmen for 2002 by the National Olympic Committee of Israel. This marks the first time that athletes in the winter sports have won this special Israel national designation.

The Canada Centre in Metulla (the northern-most city in Israel) was established in 1990 by UIA Federations Canada (UIAFC), which remains its sponsor and official owner. Built by the Jewish Agency for Israel, it has the only Olympic-size ice skating rink in the Middle East, and serves as the training capital for Israel´s international athletes competing in figure skating, short track speed skating and hockey.

In January 2003, prominent Israeli businessman Avie Arenson accepted the chairmanship of the Canada Centre Board, with a mandate to broaden the base of funding for Israel´s only winter sports facility. (More on Mr. Arenson will appear in the next UIAFC E-News from Israel.) UIAFC recently allocated a sum of US$ 300,000 to help balance the 2002 budget of US$ 1,757,000. In addition, the Israel Skating Federation has committed US$ 120,000 per year plus coaching salaries to aid the Canada Centre budget situation. Canada Centre income has dropped some NIS 1 million per annum over the past two years because of the security situation in northern Israel and the downturn in tourism, and thus reduced gate receipts at the Centre.

Russian-born Israeli skaters Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky (ages 15 and 19) began skating at the Canada Centre more than five years ago. The sister/brother pair won the bronze medal for ice dancing at the sixth European Youth Olympic Festival, which was held in January in Bled, Slovenia. They narrowly missed taking the second spot by a split decision of the judges. They also captured bronze medals in two Junior Grand Prix events this past fall: in Belgrade and at Chemnitz. The Zaretskys now continue preparations for the World Junior Figure Skating Championships set to take place in February and March in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In January, they won the Israel Ice Skating Federation´s National Junior Championship, held at Canada Centre.

Medalists Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky at Canada Centre

Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky (both 27 years old) have been skating together since 1995, and consider Canada Centre their home. Galit was born in Israel, to parents who came from Moldova and later moved to the U.S. Sergei came on aliya to Israel from Moscow ten years ago. Last year, they won the bronze medal at the World Ice Skating Championships held in Nagano, Japan, and reached sixth place in the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics. In January, they competed in the European Figure Skating Championships in Malmo, Sweden.

During the Israel Ice Skating Federation Championships held in January, Chait and Sakhnovsky won the ice dancing competition for a breathtaking performance that included dramatic music from ‘Lord of the Rings´ and ‘Lord of the Dance´. In an unprecedented gesture of recognition, they were named Outstanding Sportsmen for 2002 by the National Olympic Committee of Israel.