Skaters From Mediterranean Islands

As you know, for the past couple of years, I have been championing the Cypriot figure skaters. But, recently, a few things have happened:

1. Rafael Nadal, the tennis legend from Majorca, won the French Open in June.
   
   
2. Jorge Lorenzo, the 5-time motorcycle racing World Champion from Majorca, was really struggling this season after switching to Ducati machinery, but has been doing better since Ducati introduced it’s new aero-fairing after the summer break.
   
   
3. Joan Mir, a young motorcycle racer also from Majorca, is convincingly leading the Moto3 World Championship.
   
   
4. Destiny Chukunyere, the 2015 Junior Eurovision champion from Malta, got to the Semi-Finals of Britain’s Got Talent in May.
   
   
5. I had a discussion with Crossover in the music thread about Alizée Jacotey, a singer from Corsica.

And these have started me wondering about whether there are figure skaters from Mediterranean islands other than Cyprus.

If we are using the strict definition of “from”, I can’t think of anybody apart from the Cypriot skaters.

If we use a looser definition, which takes into consideration their family backgrounds, we can tick off two more islands:

• Gabriella Papadakis (FRA) has a Dad from Crete (GRC)
• Giorgia Isabella Sechi (CYP) has a Dad from Sardinia (ITA)

But, that’s as far as I can take it. All the French, Italian and Spanish skaters that I am familiar with are from the mainland. That is apart from Spanish skaters Sonia Lafuente (who is from Gran Canaria, an island off the west coast of Africa), and Valentina Matos (who is from the Dominican Republic, part of an island in the Caribbean). But, their islands are not in the Mediterranean.

For the Greek skaters, apart from a couple of older skaters who are from the mainland, most of the skaters that I can find results for are too young to have where they are from up on the internet. So, I have no idea whether they are from the mainland or from the islands

And it is the same situation for these skaters from other countries who have typically Greek names:

• Panagiotis Polizoakis (DEU)
• Themistocles Leftheris (USA / KOR)
• Vasilisa Davankova (RUS)*

As for skaters with Italian names, there are so many that it would take forever to find out their family histories!

Have there ever been any figure skaters from Malta? Because I haven’t been able to find any.

So, can anybody else think of any other skaters who are from Mediterranean islands?

CaroLiza_fan

Do Polina Tsurskaya and Vladimir Samoylov have Greek heritage?

The reason I ask is that I watched a couple of videos about the nicknames of Russian skaters earlier (for more, see this thread), and one of the things that was down for both of them was “Гречка”. Although this is normally the Russian word for buckwheat, it can also be used to describe something as being Greek (it was the Greeks that introduced buckwheat to Russia, so that is why buckwheat got the name “Grechka”).

And if they do, does anybody know if their families fall into the remit of this thread?

CaroLiza_fan

Don't take it as a general rule but, as far as Greek skaters are concerned, people with a family name ending in -akis (such as Papadakis) usually are from Crete or have Cretan roots. Unlike family names ending in -poulos who are usually from the mainland/Peloponnese.

Georgia Glastris (but I'm fairly sure she's retired now).

lappo said:

Don't take it as a general rule but, as far as Greek skaters are concerned, people with a family name ending in -akis (such as Papadakis) usually are from Crete or have Cretan roots. Unlike family names ending in -poulos who are usually from the mainland/Peloponnese.

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Funnily enough, one of our Greek members said the same thing when I first posted about my surprise at finding out that Gabriella's family was from Crete. Unfortunately, I'm having bother finding that conversation again, so I can't link to it. :disapp:

Ic3Rabbit said:

Georgia Glastris (but I'm fairly sure she's retired now).

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Looking at her Rink Results page, I think you're right. There is nothing after November 2013.

Have to admit, I had never come across her before. But, it's not surprising, since most of her competitions were Junior competitions or Senior B's, which I never watched back then. The only chance I might have got to see her was her sole appearance at Worlds in 2010, but given that she finished 44[SUP]th[/SUP] in the SP, I doubt if Eurosport showed her.

When searching for her, I came across her wee sisters Carina (Ice Dance) and Celia (Singles). But, I can't find anything for them beyond the 2013-14 season either.

So, I guess they have all retired.

Any idea where their roots lie, i.e if they are islanders?

CaroLiza_fan