Marika Kilius

Marika Kilius (German pronunciation: [maˈʁiːkaː ˈkiːli̯ʊs] ⓘ; born 24 March 1943) is a German former pair skater. With Hans-Jürgen Bäumler, she is a two-time Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World champion, and a six-time European champion. Earlier in her career, she competed with Franz Ningel.

Marika Kilius
Kilius in 1964
Born (1943-03-24) 24 March 1943
Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, nazi Germany
Figure skating career
Country West Germany
Retired1964
Medal record
Figure skating: Pairs
Representing  Germany
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1964 Innsbruck Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1960 Squaw Valley Pairs
Representing  West Germany
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1964 Dortmund Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1963 Cortina d'Ampezzo Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Vancouver Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1959 Colorado Springs Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1957 Colorado Springs Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 1956 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1964 Grenoble Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1963 Budapest Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1962 Geneva Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1961 West Berlin Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1960 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1959 Davos Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 1957 Vienna Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 1956 Paris Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 1955 Budapest Pairs

Personal life

Marika Kilius, the daughter of a hairdresser, was born on 24 March 1943 in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen.[1] In 1964, she married Werner Zahn, the son of a factory owner from Frankfurt am Main. The couple divorced, and Kilius also divorced her second husband. She has two children, Sascha and Melanie Schäfer, and as of May 2005, two grandchildren.

Career

Kilius began as a singles skater but picked up pairs very early. Her first partner was Franz Ningel. They placed fourth at the 1956 Olympics and won the silver medal at the 1957 World Championships. Kilius was still a child when she was paired with Ningel, who was more than six years her senior. By 1957 she had grown to be taller than her partner,[2] which caused problems on their lifts, so the team split up.[3]

For a time following her split with Ningel, Kilius competed in artistic roller skating as a singles skater. She was the World Roller ladies' champion in 1958.[3]

Meanwhile, in 1957, Kilius began skating with Hans-Jürgen Bäumler under the tutelage of Erich Zeller. Between 1958 and 1964, they won the German Championships four times, European Championships six times and the World Championships two times. Their first World title, in 1963, followed cancellation of the 1961 event due to the crash of Sabena Flight 548 and a collision during their performance at the 1962 World Figure Skating Championships that forced them to withdraw.[3]

Kilius and Baumler also captured the silver medal at the Olympics twice, in 1960 and 1964.[4] The skaters had signed professional contracts and skated as professionals with Holiday on Ice before the 1964 Olympics, a violation of their amateur status and strict IOC rules.[5][6][7] In 1966, because the team had signed a professional skating contract before the 1964 Winter Olympics – against the rules at the time – they were stripped of the medal.[5][6] As the New York Times reported, "prodded by two German members, the IOC "quietly re-awarded the West Germans their silver medals in 1987, 23 years after the Innsbruck Games, at an executive board meeting in Istanbul. The couple was deemed 'rehabilitated.'"[8][9][10]

Kilius was voted the German female athlete of the year in 1959.

Results

Pairs with Franz Ningel
Event 1954 1955 1956 1957
Winter Olympics4th
World Championships7th3rd2nd
European Championships3rd3rd3rd
German Championships2nd1st1st1st

Pairs with Hans-Jürgen Bäumler
Event 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
Winter Olympics2nd2nd
World Championships6th2nd3rd1st1st
European Championships5th1st1st1st1st1st1st
German Championships1st1st2nd2nd2nd1st1st

References
  1. "Marika Kilius" (in German). Munzinger.de.
  2. "EISKUNSTLAUF: Sie schwimmen (siehe Titelbild)" [Figure skating]. Der Spiegel (in German). 24 February 1960.
  3. Champions of the World, Skating magazine, June 1963
  4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Marika Kilius". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  5. Schiller, Kay; Young, Chris (3 August 2010). The 1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany. ISBN 9780520947580.
  6. Lawrence, Kelli (10 January 2014). Skating on Air. ISBN 9780786485444.
  7. "Pair finally recognized as bronze medal skaters – 50 years after Olympic win". News-Record.com.
  8. Kestnbaum, Ellyn (2003). Culture on Ice: Figure Skating & Cultural Meaning. Wesleyan University Press. pp. 77–. ISBN 978-0-8195-6642-3.
  9. Wallechinsky, David; Loucky, Jaime (2009). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics. ISBN 9781553655022.
  10. Rosewater, Amy (14 December 2013). "1964 Olympic Skating Pair Only Now Discovering Their Place". The New York Times.
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