Tanja Szewczenko facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tanja Szewczenko |
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Szewczenko in 2007
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented | Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 26 July 1977 Düsseldorf, West Germany |
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| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Tanja Szewczenko (born on July 26, 1977) is a talented German former figure skater. She won a bronze medal at the World Championships in 1994. She also earned a silver medal at the Champions Series Final in 1997. In 1998, she took home a bronze medal at the European Championships. Before that, she won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in 1993.
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Early Life and Family
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Tanja Szewczenko was born in Düsseldorf, West Germany. Her mother, Vera Küke, was an ethnic German who moved from the Soviet Union. Tanja's father, who was Ukrainian, left the family when she was two years old.
Skating Career Highlights
Junior Success
Tanja started her competitive skating career strong. She won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in 1993. This was a big achievement for a young skater.
Breaking Through
In 1993, when she was just 16, Tanja won her first big international competition. This was the Nations Cup in Germany. She even beat the world champion at the time, Oksana Baiul. A few weeks later, she won her first national title in Germany. She defeated former Olympic champion Katarina Witt.
Tanja competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. During a practice session, she had a small accident. She bumped into Oksana Baiul, which caused a bruise on her hip. Despite this, she finished 6th at the Olympics. Later that year, she won a bronze medal at the World Championships.
Facing Challenges and Comeback
After finishing 6th at the World Championships in 1996, Tanja faced a tough time. She got sick with viral infections that made her very tired. She would sleep for about 18 hours a day.
She made a great comeback in late 1997. She won the 1997 Sparkassen Cup on Ice in Germany. She also won the 1997 NHK Trophy in Japan. These wins helped her qualify for the 1997–98 Champions Series Final in Munich, Germany. There, she won a silver medal, coming in second to American skater Tara Lipinski.
Final Competitive Years
In 1998, Tanja won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Milan, Italy. She got a severe flu at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and had to withdraw from the event. A month later, she finished 9th at the World Championships.
Tanja Szewczenko stopped competitive figure skating in 2000. She wanted to focus on other interests like modeling and acting. She was the last German ladies' singles skater to win a medal at a major international skating championship.
Life After Skating
After retiring from skating, Tanja explored new careers. She posed for a well-known German magazine in 1999 and 2007.
Beginning in 2002, she started acting in a German soap opera called Unter uns. She played the character Katinka "Kati" Ritter. Her last episode on that show was in December 2005.
From 2006 to 2009, Tanja appeared in another German soap opera called Alles was zählt. She played Diana Sommer, a character who was an inline courier and trained as a figure skater. Norman Jeschke played her skating partner in the show. In January 2009, Tanja left the series to return to show skating. She joined the Holiday on Ice show with Norman Jeschke.
Personal Life Today
Tanja Szewczenko and Norman Jeschke are a couple. They have a daughter who was born in February 2011. They also welcomed twin sons in April 2021.
Images for kids
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Szewczenko in 2007
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Szewczenko in 1993
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Szewczenko in 2014
