Nov. 30, 2003
Bronze again for ice dancers Chait and Sakhnovsky
By LIONEL GAFFEN

Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky made an incredible comeback in the Free Dance to capture their second bronze medal in as many weeks.

Last week, they finished third at the International Skating Union Grand Prix event in Moscow, and the top Israeli ice dancing duo repeated the feat at the final ISU GP event of the year, the NHK Trophy in Asahikawa, Japan.

After the Compulsory Dance, Chait/Sakhnovsky's were in fourth place, right on the heels of eventual winners Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria, Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine, who took second place, and Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse of Germany.

Chait and Sakhnovsky then performed a dynamic rock 'n roll and blues number in the Original Dance, to Keep Knocking by Little Richard and Nino Rota's Minnie the Moocher, but lost a great deal of ground, but still in fourth place.

In a dramatic Free Dance showdown, which counts for 50% of the total score, Chait and Sakhnovsky skated wonderfully to Rugerro Leoncavallo's Pagliacci to finish with a combined overall score of 194.08 to Winkler/Lohse's 193.01, giving them the bronze and $10,000 in prize money.

Judith Javor, general secretary of the Israel Ice Skating Federation, spoke to the The Jerusalem Post after hearing from the president of the IISF, Boris Chait (Galit's father), who is in Japan.

"We're delighted with the fact that Galit and Sergei skated so brilliantly in the Free Dance and managed to overtake the German couple," she said.

"However, Boris explained to me that the spotter deliberately downgraded the level of part of their Skate Line Sequence in the Original Dance from a level two to a level one, which lowered their overall score drastically, and put them in a position of having to fight just to take third place, instead of having a real chance at second or even first."

Owing to their highly controversial, fourth-place finish at Skate Canada, where a formal complaint has been registered with the ISU by the Israel Ice Skating Federation, charging judging improprieties, specifically with regard to the spotter, Chait and Sakhnovsky have not accumulated enough points to qualify for the GP Finals.

They will be the first alternates, however, should any of the first six couples not be able to participate.