Eva Pawlik

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Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Silver	1948 St. Moritz	Ladies' singles

Eva Pawlik was an Austrian figure skater (European Champion, Olympic silver medalist), a show star, an actress and the first female sportscaster in the German speaking countries.

Born in 1927, Pawlik was regarded as a child prodigy, able to jump a single axel and do a large number of spins at the age of four. In her teens she would get up at four a.m. daily to run to the Vienna ice rink (Wiener Eislaufverein), for practice before going to school. Austrian skaters were impeded in the 1930s and 40s by the fact that there were no indoor skating halls and they were restricted to practicing in winter.

Nazi Germany's absorption of Austria in 1938 and World War II destroyed sportsmen's lives and careers. Pawlik, for example, was due to compete (aged 12) in the singles, in the 1940 Winter Olympics, and in the pairs with her later husband Rudi Seeliger. However, they could only take part in domestic competitions, becoming German youth champions, both individually and as a couple. Drafted into the German Army, Rudi Seeliger was captured by the Red Army and had to work as a slave coal-miner until his return to Austria in 1949.

In 1947, Pawlik was rated best European skater and number 2 in the world. This did not help, as Austrian skaters were barred from entering European and World competitions (a throwback to the war). In 1948 she won 3 silver medals, at the European's, at the Olympics and at the World's. It is remarkable that at the 1948 European's she was the best ranked European lady figure skater. Nevertheless, she only got the silver medal because the title was awarded to the non-European Barbara Ann Scott from Canada. That was unusual because, in many sports, European championships are restricted to European competitors.

In 1948 Pawlik did a lot of exhibition skating in the United States. She was also asked to appear in a movie starring Gene Kelly. He wanted to combine his dancing with her skating. She declined, turning professional would have excluded her from the 1949 championships.

In 1949, despite suffering acute appendicitis, Pawlik beat her rival Aja Zanova in Milan to become European Champion. In the World Championships held in Paris, Pawlik was lying a close second behind Zanova when one of the heels on her skates broke. Sabotage was suspected, but never proved. The judges did not allow her to continue with borrowed skates and Zanova went on to win. Though having good chances to win the World title one year later, Pawlik decided to turn professional because her parents needed financial support.

She joined the Vienna Ice Revue and performed a program that was considered by many journalists and figure skating experts to be technically and artistically superior to anything produced by World Champion Vrzáňová. Pawlik also played major parts in the productions of two movies featuring the Revue, Spring on the Ice(Frühling auf dem Eis), 1950, and Revue of dreams (Traumrevue), 1959. The first is said to have inspired the later double Olympic champion, Ludmilla Belousova, to take up skating. Pawlik was considered Europe's best show star on the ice since the thrice Olympic Champion Sonja Henie. Besides, she and her husband Rudi Seeliger who had won the Austrian title in the 1950 pairs event had become one of the world's best professional couples on the ice.

In 1961, Pawlik retired from skating and became the first female sportscaster of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). In 1973 she began her third profession as a teacher of German and English at a Viennese secondary school (pupils from 10 to 18). In 1954 she had earned her doctorate in German and English at the University of Vienna. In 1979 Pawlik became severely ill and died in 1983, four months after her husband, who had died from a sudden heart attack.