Oľga Beständigová (born 2 May 1979) is a Slovak former competitive pair skater. With her brother, Jozef Beständig, she won nine senior international medals and eight Slovak national titles. They competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, five World Championships, and seven European Championships, placing as high as 7th (2001 Europeans).

Oľga Beständigová
Beständigová/Beständig at the 2005 European Championships
Born (1979-05-02) 2 May 1979 (age 44)
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Height1.54 m (5 ft 1 in)
Figure skating career
CountrySlovakia
Turkey (2013–15)
Began skating1984
Retired2015

Beständigová competed with her boyfriend İlhan Mansız for Turkey from 2013 to 2015.

Career edit

Partnership with Beständig edit

Beständigová competed for Slovakia with her brother, Jozef Beständig. Their first ISU Championship was the 1997 Europeans in Paris; they finished last (17th). The following season, they placed 12th at the 1998 Europeans in Milan and 18th at the 1998 Worlds in Minneapolis.

Beständigová/Beständig achieved their highest ISU Championship result, 7th, at the 2001 Europeans in Bratislava. They would go on to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they finished 17th.

Beständigová retired from competition following the 2001–02 season but returned to compete with her brother again for the 2004–05 season. The pair placed 8th at the 2005 European Championships in Turin and 15th at the 2005 World Championships in Moscow. They then ended their partnership.

Later career edit

Beständigová competed briefly with Vladimir Futáš in 2005 and then decided to perform in ice shows. She participated in the Turkish show Buzda Dans in the winters of 2006–07 and 2007–08. She won the second edition of the show with her partner, İlhan Mansız.[1] In 2010, Beständigová and Mansız began training in an attempt to qualify for the pairs' event at the 2014 Winter Olympics. They initially trained in Oberstdorf and Garmisch with coaches Alexander König and Stefan Zins, and later with Doug Ladret, Don Baldwin, and Tiffany Vise in Scottsdale, Arizona.[1][2] Beständigová/Mansız made their competitive debut together at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, which was also the final qualifying opportunity for the Olympics. It was Beständigová's first international competition in eight years.[3] The pair finished 19th and last in the pairs event,[4] ending their hope of skating at the Olympic Games. Their partnership ended in 2015.[5]

Programs edit

With Mansız edit

Season Short program Free skating
2013–2014
[2]

With Beständig edit

Season Short program Free skating
2004–2005
[6]
2001–2002
[7]
  • The Fifth Element
    by Éric Serra
2000–2001
[8]
  • Slowly to the Sun
    by This is Kevin
  • The Fifth Element
    by Éric Serra

Results edit

GP: Champions Series/Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series

With Mansız for Turkey edit

 
Beständigová and Mansız in 2013
International[9]
Event 2013–14 2014–15
CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 9th
CS Ice Challenge 8th
Nebelhorn Trophy 19th
Ondrej Nepela Memorial 5th
Toruń Cup 5th

With Futáš for Slovakia edit

International[10]
Event 2005–06
Karl Schäfer Memorial 11th

With Beständig for Slovakia edit

International[11]
Event 95–96 96–97 97–98 98–99 99–00 00–01 01–02 04–05
Olympics 17th
Worlds 18th 17th 18th 22nd 15th
Europeans 17th 12th 10th 12th 7th 13th 8th
GP Skate America 8th
GP Sparkassen 9th
GP Trophée Lalique 7th
Czech Skate 4th
Golden Spin 2nd 2nd 6th
Karl Schäfer 10th 3rd
Nebelhorn Trophy 8th 9th
Ondrej Nepela 4th 2nd 2nd 1st
Skate Israel 3rd 3rd
Tallinn Cup 3rd
Grand Prize SNP 3rd J.
National[11]
Slovak Champ. 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
J. = Junior level

References edit

  1. ^ a b Bőd, Titanilla (9 October 2011). "Olga Beständigová and Ilhan Mansiz - a crazy dream about Sochi, Part 1". Absolute Skating.; "Part 2".; "Part 3".
  2. ^ a b "Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Ilhan MANSIZ: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014.
  3. ^ Bőd, Titanilla (4 October 2013). "Returning guests and Olympic dreams in Oberstdorf". Absolute Skating.
  4. ^ 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy pairs result
  5. ^ Gressner, Igor (1 November 2015). "Každá telenovela sa raz skončí..." [Every telenovela eventually comes to an end]. Denník Šport (in Slovak). aktuality.sk.
  6. ^ "Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Jozef BESTANDIG: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 25 November 2005.
  7. ^ "Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Jozef BESTANDIG: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002.
  8. ^ "Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Jozef BESTANDIG: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 19 April 2001.
  9. ^ "Competition Results: Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Ilhan MANSIZ". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Olga BESTANDIGOVA / Vladimir FUTAS: 2005/2006". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 22 January 2014.
  11. ^ a b "BESTANDIGOVA Olga / BESTANDIG Jozef SVK Slovakia". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016.

External links edit