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
[edit] References
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