Pavel Roman Memorial
The Pavel Roman Memorial an annual ice dance competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union, organized and hosted by the Czech Figure Skating Association and the Olomouc Figure Skating Club at the Zimní stadion Olomouc in Olomouc, Czech Republic. The competition debuted in 1992 and is named in honor of Pavel Roman, who competed internationally in pair skating and ice dance for Czechoslovakia.
Medals may be awarded at the senior, junior, and novice levels, although competition at every level may not be held every year due to a lack of entrants.
History
The Pavel Roman Memorial is named in honor of Pavel Roman, who competed internationally in pair skating and ice dance for Czechoslovakia. With his sister Eva Romanová, they were four-time World Championship gold medalists in ice dance, two-time European Championship gold medalists in ice dance, and seven-time Czechoslovak national championships in ice dance. After retiring from competitive skating, Romanová and Roman toured with Holiday on Ice. Roman died in a motorcycle crash in 1972.The Pavel Roman Memorial was first held in 1992 in Olomouc, in what was then Czechoslovakia. It was a continuation of the November 17th Cup, an earlier figure skating competition which dated back to 1968. It had been thirty years since Romanová and Roman won their first World Championship title, and twenty years since Roman's death. Barbara Fusar-Poli and Alberto Reani of Italy won the competition.
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia occurred on 31 December 1992, leading to the creation of two independent nations: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The 1993 Pavel Roman Memorial was the first to be held in the newly independent Czech Republic. Bérangère Nau and Luc Monéger of France were the winners.
No competition was held from 1997 to 1999 after the Zimní stadion Olomouc was damaged during the 1997 Central European flood.