Marika Kilius

Kilius in 1964
Personal information
Born	(1943-03-24)24 March 1943 (age 82) Frankfurt am Main,Hessen,Germany
Figure skating career
Country	West Germany
Retired	1964
Medal record Figure skating:Pairs Representing Germany Olympic Games 1964 Innsbruck Pairs 1960 Squaw Valley Pairs Representing West Germany World Championships 1964 Dortmund Pairs 1963 Cortina d'Ampezzo Pairs 1960 Vancouver Pairs 1959 Colorado Springs Pairs 1957 Colorado Springs Pairs 1956 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs European Championships 1964 Grenoble Pairs 1963 Budapest Pairs 1962 Geneva Pairs 1961 West Berlin Pairs 1960 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs 1959 Davos Pairs 1957 Vienna Pairs 1956 Paris Pairs 1955 Budapest Pairs

Marika Kilius (German pronunciation:[maˈʁiːkaːˈkiːli̯ʊs]^ⓘ; born 24 March 1943) is a German formerpair skater. WithHans-Jürgen Bäumler, she is a two-time Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World champion, and a six-time European champion. Earlier in her career, she competed withFranz Ningel.

Marika Kilius, the daughter of a hairdresser, was born on 24 March 1943 inFrankfurt am Main,Hessen.^[1] In 1964, she married Werner Zahn, the son of a factory owner from Frankfurt am Main. The couple divorced thirteen years later, and Kilius also divorced her second husband after four years.^[2] She has two children, Sascha and Melanie Schäfer, and as of May 2005, two grandchildren.

Kilius began as a singles skater but picked up pairs very early. Her first partner wasFranz Ningel. They placed fourth at the 1956 Olympics and won the silver medal at the 1957 World Championships. Kilius was still a child when she was paired with Ningel, who was more than six years her senior. By 1957 she had grown to be taller than her partner,^[3] which caused problems on theirlifts, so the team split up.^[4]

For a time following her split with Ningel, Kilius competed inartistic roller skating as a singles skater. She was the World Roller ladies' champion in 1958.^[4]

Afterward, Kilius began skating withHans-Jürgen Bäumler under the tutelage ofErich Zeller. They won theGerman Championships after being paired together for only six weeks.^[2] Between 1958 and 1964, they won the German Championships four times, European Championships six times and the World Championships two times. Their first World title, in 1963, followed the cancellation of the 1961 event due to the crash ofSabena Flight 548 and a collision during their performance at the1962 World Figure Skating Championships that forced them to withdraw because part of Kilius's skate broke off.^[2][4]

Kilius and Bäumler also captured the silver medal at the Olympics twice, in1960 and1964.^[5] Their silver medal at the 1964 Olympics caused controversy at the time, as many of the spectators were German and felt that the pair were marked unfairly low, though they had not skated as well as usual at either that competition or the preceding 1964 German Championships. Threatening letters were sent to the event officials, withSuzanne Morrow Francis a particular target due to the low marks she gave the couple, although they were in line with other scores she gave during the competition.^[2]

After their loss at the Olympics, the pair considered not competing at the1964 World Championships, but they were persuaded to do so by Kilius's friendThomas Fritsch. They created a new free skate for the competition; for the middle part, they copied the program of the Olympic gold medalists,Ludmila Belousova andOleg Protopopov. The pair won the competition and retired from competitive skating to turn professional.^[2]

Both skaters had signed professional contracts and skated as professionals withHoliday on Ice before the 1964 Olympics, a violation of their amateur status and strict IOC rules.^[6][7][8] In 1966, because the team had signed a professional skating contract before the 1964 Winter Olympics – against the rules at the time – they werestripped of the medal.^[6][7] As theNew York Times reported, "prodded by two German members, the IOC "quietly re-awarded the West Germans their silver medals in 1987, 23 years after the Innsbruck Games, at an executive board meeting in Istanbul. The couple was deemed 'rehabilitated.'"^[9][10][11]

Kilius was voted the German femaleathlete of the year in 1959.

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Awards
Preceded by Marianne Werner	German Sportswoman of the Year 1959	Succeeded by Ingrid Krämer

• 1943 births
• Living people
• German female pair skaters
• Olympic figure skaters for the United Team of Germany
• Olympic silver medalists for the United Team of Germany
• Olympic medalists in figure skating
• Figure skaters at the 1956 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics
• Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics
• Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists
• European Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Sportspeople from Frankfurt
• 20th-century German sportswomen

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