Italy’s Berton and Hotarek gain ground

Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek drew attention this season by winning the first ever Grand Prix medal for an Italian pair skating team at the 2011 Cup of Russia. They also came close to the podium at the European Figure Skating Championships in the past two years, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.


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Wonderful article! I love this pair & am really looking forward to seeing them develop!

“Since January, we both are members of the Italian police, like Carolina Kostner for example, and we get a salary,” Berton revealed.

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Does anyone know more about this? I had never heard about Kostner being apart of the police before. Is it some sort of honorary thing or something?

What is Carolina going to do chase the criminals on her skates?

claphappy said:

Does anyone know more about this? I had never heard about Kostner being apart of the police before. Is it some sort of honorary thing or something?

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Yes, Carolina is part of the "Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre" which is some kind of sports club from the police supporting professional athletes financially in their careers. A lot of famous Italian athletes are part of it, especially in athletics. I think you get some kind of monthly salary or something.

I know some other countries in Europe have a similar thing, in Austria and Germany for example it is not offered by the police but by the army. Young athletes join the sports club of the army and receive a substantial amount of money, kind of like a monthly salary. It's the way how these states support their athletes, especially in the beginning of their careers.

However, athletes are hardly ever involved in any police/army matters. They represent their sports club, but that's about it. Carolina has been part of it for several years now and I have only once seen a photo of her at some kind of public police event.

I think this is a good move for Stefania and Ondrej. I wish them all the best, they are so sweet and have improved tremendously. I would love to see them on the podium at Euros next year.

Thank you, jiggs!

I was hoping after S/S and K/S dropped out of Euros they would make it on the podium but they made too many mistakes. I'm hoping they do well this season. They are a great pair!

mousepotato said:

I was hoping after S/S and K/S dropped out of Euros they would make it on the podium but they made too many mistakes. I'm hoping they do well this season. They are a great pair!

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Me too...But they were facing severe physical problems in that period, Ondrej in particular....They were close to dropping out of the competition too...

I guess the Italians being part of the police is like Russian CSKA sports club which used to come from the military. It was called the Central Sport Club of the Army.

Thank you, as always, so much for the lovely article, Tatjana! :thumbsup:

I fell in love with this Italian pair last season (2010-11), with their SP Astor Piazzolla's Tango Four Seasons and LP Romeo and Juliet!

Yes, yes, they may have some technical inferiority, such as twist lifts, but I admire their efforts to bring touch of ice dance into pair skating. Also, I love 3T-2T-2T in their LP!; how many pair teams will go for 3-jump combo???

Stefania/Ondrej and Narumi/Mervin are two favorite pair teams I am currently rooting for!
These teams do NOT have ordinally, typical, boring pair programs just going for element after element while skating to a sort of background music.
I hope both teams will be able to improve their shortcomings; twist lifts for Stefania/Ondrej, and SBS jumps for Narumi/Mervin of course, and will get onto the podium many times in the future. :yes: