Galit Chait

Galit Chait
Chait (left) and Sakhnovski (right) at the 2003 Skate Canada International
Full name	Galit Chait Moracci[1]
Born	(1975-01-29) January 29, 1975 (age 49) Kfar Saba, Israel
Height	1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Israel
Skating club	Bat Yam Club
Began skating	1984
Retired	2007
Medal record Figure skating Ice dancing Representing  Israel World Championships 2002 Nagano Ice dancing

Galit Chait (Hebrew: גלית חייט, Galit Hayat; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists.

Personal life

Chait was born in Israel. Her family moved to New Jersey when she was young, and she first skated at age 8.^[2]

Her father, Boris Chait, has been president of the Israeli Ice Skating Federation^[3] since 2002.

On August 23, 2008, Chait married former Italian military policeman Francesco Moracci in New Jersey and then on September 13, 2008, they had a second wedding in Florence, Italy.^[4][5] The two had met at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, where Moracci was a member of the security detail assigned to protect the Israeli team.^[6] They have two daughters, Raffaella, born in 2009, and Gabriella, born in 2011.^[7] They also have a son named Matteo.^{[citation needed]}

Chait has been a resident of Paramus, New Jersey.^[8]

Career

She first tried ice dancing in the 1990s when she traveled to Russia with her father, who was teaching there at a sports camp.^[9]

She competed with Max Sevostianov at the U.S. Nationals in 1992 and 1994.^[9] They were involved in a collision with Renée Roca at the 1994 U.S. Championships.^[10] In 1994, the pair placed 6th at the U.S. Nationals and 28th at the World Championships (representing Israel).^[9]

Chait met Sergei Sakhnovski while they were both students at the University of Delaware.^[9] Partnered since 1995, they trained initially in Russia with Ludmila Buytskova and Elena Maslenikova before moving to Monsey, New York.^[2] They rose steadily in the international rankings. The highlight of their career was winning the bronze medal at the 2002 World championships. Sergei Sakhnovski suffered a foot injury that forced the pair to miss the entire 2006–2007 season, and they subsequently announced their retirement. Their coaches included Natalia Dubova, Tatiana Tarasova, Evgeni Platov, Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov.^[11]

Chait was the flag bearer for Israel at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics.

Chait is an ISU Technical Specialist.^[7]

Coaching career

After her retirement as a competitive skater, Chait began coaching ice dancing. She was the head coach of the Israeli brother-and-sister team Alexandra Zaretsky and Roman Zaretsky, and of Tamar Katz as well.^[3] In October 2008, Chait and the Zaretskys filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in Hackensack, New Jersey, claiming that officials at the rink discriminated against them on the basis of their Israeli nationality, denying them prime skating time and threatening to ban them from the rink.^[12] The Zaretskys, under her coaching, won the gold medal at the 24th Winter Universiade Games in Harbin China, the bronze medal at Skate America 2009 and they qualified for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver Canada.

Chait has also coached:

• Cathy Reed / Chris Reed^[13]
• Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Alexander Shakalov^[14]
• Allison Reed / Otar Japaridze^[15]
• Ekaterina Bugrov / Vasili Rogov^[1]
• Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Dmitri Dun^[16]
• Anna Bolshem / Ronald Zilberberg
• Adel Tankova/ Ronald Zilberberg

As of 2010, Chait was the head coach of the Israeli figure skating team.^[17]

Programs

(with Sakhnovski)

Season	Original dance	Free dance	Exhibition
2005–2006 [18]	Cha Cha by Manhattan Transfer Rhumba by Mambo Kings Samba by Crazy Brazilians	Bolero by Maurice Ravel
2004–2005 [19]	Quickstep: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman Slow Foxtrot: Smile by Nat King Cole Quickstep: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman	Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
2003–2004 [20][21]	Rock'n Roll: Keep Knocking by Little Richard Blues: Minnie the Moocher by Nino Rota Rock'n Roll: Keep Knocking by Little Richard	Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo Federico Fellini films	Gipsy Kings
2002–2003 [21][22][23]	March: Radetzky March op. 228 by Johann Strauss I Waltz by Dmitri Shostakovich Polka from the Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana Polka from the Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana Waltz by Dmitri Shostakovich Polka from the Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana	Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Andrew Lloyd Webber Lord of the Rings by Howard Shore Lord of the Dance by Ronan Hardiman	Stranger in My House by Tamia
2001–2002 [21][24]	Flamenco Paso Doble: Malaguena by Antonio Carrera Tango: El Tango de Roxanne (from Moulin Rouge!) by Jose Feliciano	Hava Nagila	Unforgettable by Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole
2000–2001 [21][25]	Quickstep: "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Louis Prima Foxtrot: "Bei mir bist du schön" by James Hopiner	Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Andrew Lloyd Webber	Unforgettable by Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole
1999–2000 [21]	Samba by Ricky Martin	1492: Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis
1998–1999 [21]	Waltz	Russian folk
1997–1998 [21]	Hey Boy Hey Girl by Louis Prima	Jewish music
1996–1997 [21]	Tango	My Sweet and Tender Beast by Eugen Doga
1995–1996 [21]	Paso Doble	The Godfather by Nino Rota

Competitive highlights

GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix

With Sakhnovski

International[26]
Event	95–96	96–97	97–98	98–99	99–00	00–01	01–02	02–03	03–04	04–05	05–06
Olympics			14th				6th				8th
Worlds	23rd	18th	14th	13th	5th	6th	3rd	6th	7th	6th	6th
Europeans		14th	12th	10th	6th	5th	5th	6th	5th	4th	5th
GP Final						4th	5th	5th		4th	4th
GP Cup of China										2nd	2nd
GP Cup of Russia		7th				3rd	2nd		3rd		2nd
GP Lalique				5th	6th
GP Nations/Bofrost			7th	5th				2nd
GP NHK Trophy			7th		5th			3rd	3rd
GP Skate America						4th	2nd	4th		2nd
GP Skate Canada						2nd	2nd		4th	3rd
Goodwill Games							2nd
Nebelhorn Trophy	9th
Skate Israel	6th	2nd	1st	1st	1st				1st		1st
Vienna Cup			3rd
Lysiane Lauret			1st
National[26]
Israeli Champ.	1st	1st	1st		1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st

With Sevostianov

International[27]
Event	1992–93	1993–94	1994–95
World Championships		28th
Karl Schäfer Memorial			7th
Nebelhorn Trophy			10th
National
U.S. Championships	12th	6th

See also

• List of select Jewish figure skaters

References

1. "Ekaterina BUGROV / Vasili ROGOV". International Skating Union.
2. Mittan, J. Barry (1998) [1996]. "Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky". Updated. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012.
3. McGrath, Charles (January 19, 2010). "Israel's Winter Athletes Come to U.S. Seeking Ice and Medals". The New York Times.
4. "Wedding". Israel Ice Skating Federation. August 2008. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012.
5. "Le nozze "italiane" di Galit Chait". ArtOnIce.it (in Italian). September 3, 2008.
6. Elfman, Lois (September 8, 2008). "Famous ice dancer Chait marries Olympic sweetheart". Icenetwork.
7. Golinsky, Reut (November 11, 2011). "Galit Chait: "My dream is to have a big school"". Absolute Skating.
8. Wilner, Barry (January 12, 1992). "Boundaries melt as skating pair unites". Rocky Mountain News. Associated Press. Retrieved February 8, 2011. Galit Chait, a 16-year-old from Paramus, N.J., and Maxim Sevostianov of Cheljabinsk, Russia, weren't close to the best dancers at the event. They were among the most intriguing.
9. "Chait, Galit". Jews in Sports. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
10. Longman, Jere (January 6, 1994). "OLYMPICS; Roca, Ice Dancer, Breaks Arm But Comes Back to Skate On". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
11. "Galit Chait". ice-dance.com. December 2004. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007.
12. Ben-Ali, Russell (October 30, 2008). "Skaters, coach sue Hackensack rink". New Jersey Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
13. "Cathy REED / Chris REED". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2010-05-02.
14. "Siobhan HEEKIN-CANEDY / Alexander SHAKALOV". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2011-11-02.
15. "Allison REED / Otar JAPARIDZE". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2010-05-07.
16. "Siobhan HEEKIN-CANEDY / Dmitri DUN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19.
17. Yofis, Andrey (January 21, 2017). "Galit Chait: "Every day I look forward to the next training session"". Absolute Skating.
18. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2005/2006". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007.
19. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 23, 2005.
20. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004.
21. "Programs". Official website of Chait & Sakhnovski at ice-dance.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2012.
22. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 18, 2003.
23. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on December 16, 2002.
24. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 2, 2002.
25. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 18, 2001.
26. "Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017.
27. "Galit CHAIT / Maxim SEVOSTIANOV". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.

External links

• Galit Chait at the International Skating Union
• Galit Chait at Olympics.com
• Galit Chait at Olympedia
• Official homepage – Chait / Sakhnovski (archived)