Petra Burka

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Olympic medal record
Women's Figure Skating
Bronze 1964 Innsbruck Singles

Petra Burka (born 17 November 1946) is a former world champion figure skater and now coach.

[edit] Biography

Burka was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 17 November 1946, the daughter of Ellen Burka, and came to Canada with her parents in 1951. In 1961, she was the Junior Canadian Skating Champion and the Senior Canadian Champion between 1964-1966. In 1965 she won the World Figure Skating Championships, the first Canadian to win the event since Barbara Ann Scott in 1947. She represented Canada at the 1964 Olympics and won the bronze medal. She was also two times bronze medallist at the World Championships.

Burka is credited as being the first woman to land a triple jump, a triple salchow at the 1965 Canadian Championships.

Her other achievements were winning Canada's Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 1964 and twice winning Canada's Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year in 1964 and 1965. Since her retirement she took on coaching as well as being a commentator on figure skating events for CBC and CBS for Olympic, World, European and Canadian championships.

[edit] Competitive highlights

Event/Season 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966
Canadian Championships 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st
North American Championships - 2nd - 1st -
World Championships - - 3rd 1st 3rd
Winter Olympics - - 3rd - -

[edit] Navigation

Awards
Preceded by
Roger Jackson & George Hungerford
Lou Marsh Trophy winner
1965
Succeeded by
Elaine Tanner