Lily Kronberger
Lily Kronberger, born in Budapest in 1887, was one of the worlds’ best figure skaters of her time, winning four consecutive world championships between 1908 and 1911. Kronberger died in 1974 and was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1997.
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Ice-skating champion Lily Kronberger was born in 1887 in Budapest, Hungary, where the participation of Jews in ice-skating was more the result of emulating the Hungarian nobility than of any other factor. At the first official world championships in 1906 Kronberger finished third. The following year she again took third place. Thereafter, she was ranked first until her retirement from competition.
In 1908 Lily Kronberger became the Hungarian champion and retained the title for two consecutive years. During the same year she also captured the world championship held in Tropau and remained the world’s best figure skater for three more years (1909 Budapest, 1910 Berlin, and 1911 Vienna). Kronberger also significantly influenced the future course of ice-skating. It is said that she was the first figure skater to successfully complete an entire program with musical accompaniment.
Kronberger died in 1974 and was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1997.
“Lili Kronberger.” International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, n.d. http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/LiliKronberger.htm.
Matthews, Peter and Ian Morrison. The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Enfield, UK: Guinness, 1987.
“World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.” World Figure Skating Museum, n.d. http://www.worldskatingmuseum.org/WorldHallOfFame.html.
