Bio:
Born - April 6th, 1995
Started skating at the age of 9, took a long break and went back into training in the 2007/08 season
Coach – Clara Belousovsky
Occupation – school student, 8th grade
Hobbies – sports, computers

Competitive history
2007 Israel's Champion, novice men
2008 Israel's Champion, novice men

2008/09 music selections
SP – Georgy Sviridov, "Snow Storm"
LP – "Adagio" by T.Bardas

He wakes up at 5 in the morning to get his morning practice in and arrives at the practice rink when it is still closed. This is the only time his father can drop him off on his way to work and Ilan can practice his favourite spins for half an hour before school – an unusual sort of determination from a 13-year old. But if the goal is to take part in the 2014 Olympics, anything else just fades.

-Ilan, how many hours a day do you train?
- I train 4 to 5 hours a day, including off-ice practice. I take two practice sessions a day, with the evening session finishing at 11 pm.
-Unbelievable. Let me catch my breath. It leaves you with 5 hours of sleep a day. How can you live with it?
-I snatch some sleep in the afternoon hours, but it is important to me to do two practice sessions a day. I had a long break from training and have to catch up with many things.

-How did it start for you?
-My father brought me to the skating rink and I realized I belonged there. I just love this sport.
-And you are proving it all the way through. I wonder how many 13-year olds would be dragging themselves out of bed at 5 in the morning for a practice session before school. What feeds this kind of determination?
-I want to take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and I know I have to work hard for that. There are no shortcuts.
-Does your coach make music selections for your programmes or do you decide together what music to choose?
-We do it together. She often brings a music piece, we play it and decide if we like it or not.
-What are you looking forward to?
- I wan to improve my skating looking forward to the next competition.

Coach Clara Belousovksy comments:
-Ilan is a find for a coach – hardworking, mature, and disciplined. He is also able to produce a better performance in competition, which means he can handle the pressure. He went back into skating just a year ago, and he is now working on double jumps. At the beginning of June we were back from a 3-week skating camp in Odessa, where he was able to improve his general fitness and skating skills (for example, the double loop). He was also working on choreography with a leading ballet dancer of the Odessa Opera Theatre.