Ice Troubleshooting – Israeli Version

By Elena Magalina

The Vesti, April 7th, 2009

The Israeli ice dance duo finished 13th at recent World Championships in Los Angeles. By the criteria of the International Olympic Committee, this placement is good enough to get them to the Olympics next year. But the Israel Olympic Committee has tougher qualification barriers! We, the proud Israelis, need a placement not lower than 12th to go to the Olympics.

I've written quite a lot about this criteria discrepancy in the past not being able to comprehend what "divine essence" the sports officials pursue by making the Olympic qualification criteria harder to attain. It's not a mistake or misunderstanding – the Israeli "passing grade" to the Olympics is much higher than that of the International Olympic Committee! Then why are higher demands placed on Israeli athletes than on their counterparts in the countries where sports are much better developed than here? Has it ever come to the minds of "chefs de sports" how our athletes are able to show high-level results in the training conditions they have in their own country? Hardly so. These officials are often not aware of the reality of our sports life. And that's why it happens (unfortunately, quite often) that the much-coveted results are achieved by the Israelis not thanks to the training conditions but contrary to them. How many high-class athletes and coaches has the Jewish State already lost? Dozens. These losses can turn into a chain reaction if it is not stopped on time.

The only ice rink in Metulla is concerned only with profits. Tourists are being persistently lured to the ice rink placed against the poetic backdrop of blooming cherries in the local gardens. An impressive hundreds of thousands of dollars have been plunged into the renovation of the lobby and the spa of the Canada Centre. Sure, tourist flow is vital for Israel. However, the ice itself is sub-par, while the ice rink boards are fungus-stricken and chipped just like garbage cans in a garbage collection area. No time or will was found to paint them. "Pure" sport does not seem to bring the Canada Centre much money and, therefore, gets little attention. To say that there is a world-class ice rink in Israel is a lie at best.

After training in such conditions, Israeli athletes go to European and World Championships, where nobody cares what kind of preparation they have had, and only the result matters. Because there's no minimally good ice in Israel, our world-class skaters are forced to train abroad, in the US and other countries, for example.

I met with Boris Chait, the president of the Israel Ice Skating Federation and asked him what’s happening with our skaters before the Olympics and what's going on in the organization headed by him. I was shocked by what he told me. And not because I'm oversensitive. Not at all. Just what he told me is on the verge of the unbearable.
-The Israel Ice Skating Federation has existed in Israel for 18 years. I've been heading it since 2002. The first president, Yossi Goldberg, was terminally ill when he asked me to take over. He was afraid that it would fall apart. At that time I went to the annual ISU Congress and there I got the news that Yossi died. Since 2002 I've been taking care of the federation. It was the same year Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky brought the first medal from World Championships – bronze from Nagano, Japan.
There was a time when figure skating was the sport of Russian immigrants. It's a fact. They came from the country, which was a trend-setter in this sport. In the hot land of Israel winter sports meant skiing on Mount Hermon. In the past few years local kids have joined Russians in the training. But developing this sport needs at least an ice rink. What do we have in Israel? There's s only one ice rink in the small town of Metulla on the northern border. How many talented kids can be selected for figure skating in a town with scanty population?

A few years ago it was suggested opening a boarding school there, so that young skaters would be able to train every day. Now that I have more knowledge on what's going on in Israeli sports, I understand that this is pure fiction. The management of the Canada Centre doesn't care about sports projects under its roof. Therefore, if we want to bring a local skater to the world-class level, he or she has to go abroad to get the standard training conditions. This means, at least, (you do the count) decent board and lodging, coach's fees, training camps, ballet classes, massage and medical services. And, of course, the appropriate ice conditions. Can you imagine how much it all costs?

It is impossible to prepare a world-class skater in Metulla's ice rink. The preparation is partly financed by the federation, which gets funds from the Elite Sports Department. Brother and sister Zaretsky train abroad and are fully funded by the federation: housing, food, medical insurance, ballet classes, and, of course, costumes, which are indispensable for making the right impression on the judges and the audience. If you would like to know, only this year the costumes for the Zaretsky cost us USD 12,000. But it's Israel's only Olympic duo, and only they are funded by the country.

Meanwhile, the development of figure skating in Israel and fostering the next generation of athletes is in a disastrous state! I keep on saying that we don't have a long list of substitute skaters. The parents of young skaters have to pay for training camps abroad. How many of them can bear this financial burden during the year? And without such training camps you can't prepare a solid athlete.

-Boris, but until recently skaters have been training in Metulla, haven't they?
-Oh, this is an interesting story, - says Boris with bitter irony in his voice. -We have been buying ice from the Canada Centre. Until now we have been paying for the factual use of ice time – depending on the amount of time our kids spent on the ice. But the text of the new contract has come as a surprise to us, to put it mildly. For example, take the clause about the quality of the ice. Standard ice thickness should not exceed 3 centimeters. The ice in the Metulla rink is uneven and can reach 11 centimeters in some places! Or the clause about the temperature of the ice. It has to be -8-10 degrees Centigrade. In the Metulla ice rink there are pools of water in the rink! It's a straight road to injuries – how can you perform jumps with several rotations on such ice? Another condition is the humidity level. A veil of misty fog is often hanging over the ice rink there. And the way they resurface the ice is sheer nonsense! There ice resurfacing machine, the Zamboni, has been in use for more than 20 years without proper maintenance. Nobody there is planning to spend any money on buying a new machine, which costs USD 50,000 on average. Tourists often come to Metulla for ice skating outings. Can you imagine what holes and grooves are left in the ice after mass skating of, say, 400 tourists?

There's also short-track skating in Israel, which is not financed by the government. Even if short- track skaters started training on such ice, they would be speeding into injuries going at 60 km per hour.
I could tell you a lot more about the ice in Metulla, but I will only say that we will not sign the contract in the way it was given to us. The management of the Canada Centre drew up a very "peculiar" contract. We are ready to buy ice for specific purposes, but they are refusing it to us while they're selling ice time to the skating clubs there.
There're talented skaters in Israel and good coaches who currently have to work on the edge of enthusiasm. In any kind of sport a flow of funds is needed to get solid results. Who cares about it?

-I would also like to get an answer. But let's get back to the problem with the ice. There was a lot of talk about building an ice rink in Bat Yam. It could solve the major problems of ice skating in Israel. What's the situation with this project now?
-Yes, an ice rink was supposed to be built in Bat Yam. A year has passed. The Ministry of the Interior authorized the construction a few weeks ago. It was decided to bring a building module from Canada, where it is assembled as easily as a Lego toy. With the right quality too. But the project has skidded.

-But probably figure skating is not so popular in our hot country and it doesn’t need a rink like that?

-You know, the company that went into the construction project, had previously conducted a public opinion poll precisely on the same subject: "Do we need an ice rink in the centre of Israel?" It turned out that there's huge interest to this sport and many parents would be happy to get their kids to learn figure skating. Also school and sports clubs were interested. 700,000 thousand Russian immigrants live in the centre of the country, quite close to the rink location – just count how many kids would be brought to the rink. By the way, do you remember the marketing campaign of a mobile phone company? The company mounted a small ice rink in Tel Aviv. Visitors were waiting in a queue for hours to get to the ice. This answers your question on how popular the sport is.

When Boris and I parted after this far- from-happy talk, it seemed to me that the president of the Israel Ice Skating Federation is about to make an important decision. I sensed that he is tired of fighting and doesn't believe anymore in the better future of one of the most popular sports in the world. I hope my impression was wrong…

Boris Chait is a serious businessman and only he knows how much of his own money, energy, and time has been spent on solving the problems of figure skating in Israel. The federation does not pay him any salary. He's obsessed in the best sense of the word, and his leadership of the federation is good luck for it. I want to believe that it only seemed to me that he is tired to the point of leaving because if he leaves, it will mean the end of figure skating for our children and grandchildren. However, if this happens, the sports official won't even wink at it. One of them will take over. This person will not be able to tell ice dance from pair skating but will be going to every international competition. And in any case, the sports officials from the government will go to the Olympics even if our Olympic duo doesn't get there. The officials do not have to qualify for the Games and they will always get the money for travelling there.