Sonya Klopfer(married name:Dunfield,born December 26, 1934) is an American former competitivefigure skaterand coach. She is a two-time World medalist (bronze in 1951,silver in 1952) and the 1951U.S. national champion.
| Sonya Klopfer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Klopfer, circa 1953 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Sonya Dunfield | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | December 26, 1934 New York City,United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1952 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal life
editKlopfer was born inNew York Cityand was named afterSonja Henie.[1]She married Canadian figure skaterPeter Dunfield,with whom she had two sons.[2]
Career
editKlopfer won silver on the senior level at the 1950U.S. Championships.She was then sent toWembley,England to compete at her firstWorld Championshipsand finished fifth.
In 1951, Klopfer was awarded the gold medal at the U.S. Championships. Having won at age 15, she was the youngest U.S. senior ladies' champion untilTara Lipinskiwon in1997at age 14.[3]Klopfer obtained the bronze medal inMilanat the1951 World Championships,standing on the podium withJeannette AltweggandJacqueline du Bief.
In February 1952, Klopfer competed at theWinter OlympicsinOslo,Norway and finished fourth at the event. Her final competition was the1952 World Championshipsin Paris, France. She won silver behind du Bief and then retired from competition.
From the early 1960s, Klopfer coached with her husband in New York City at the Sky Rink.[4]When the rink closed around 1983, they moved to theGloucester Skating ClubinOrleans, Ontario.[5]Her students includedDorothy Hamill,Elizabeth Manley,[4]Scott Smith,andCharlene Wong(from 1986 to 1990).[6]She was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2001[7]and into the Professional Skaters Association' Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005.[8]
Results
edit| International | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 |
| Winter Olympics | 4th | ||
| World Championships | 5th | 3rd | 2nd |
| North American Championships | 1st | ||
| National | |||
| U.S. Championships | 2nd | 1st | |
References
edit- ^"Sport: Olympic Figures".Time.December 31, 1951. Archived fromthe originalon September 30, 2007.
- ^"Skating community saddened by the death of Peter Dunfield".Skate Canada.May 27, 2014.
- ^Swift, E.M. (February 24, 1997)."Kid Stuff".Sports Illustrated.Archived fromthe originalon March 25, 2010.RetrievedNovember 1,2011.
- ^abElfman, Lois (May 29, 2014)."Dunfield remembered as teacher, motivator".IceNetwork.
- ^Rosewater, Amy (February 14, 2010)."Manley says" she feels like a million dollars "".IceNetwork.
- ^Elfman, Lois (January 31, 2008)."Behind the scenes of figure skating – Jan. 31".IceNetwork.
- ^"Skate Canada Hall of Fame: Honoured Members 2001".Skate Canada.RetrievedMay 30,2014.
- ^"Hall-Of-Fame".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-03-08.Retrieved2015-01-05.