Galit Chait (, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists.

Personal life

Chait was born in Israel. Her family moved to

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

when she was young, and she first skated at age 8. Her father, Boris Chait, has been president of the Israeli Ice Skating Federation since 2002. On August 23, 2008, Chait married former Italian military policeman Francesco Moracci in

and then on September 13, 2008, they had a second wedding in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy. The two had met at the 2006 Olympic Games in

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy, where Moracci was a member of the security detail assigned to protect the Israeli team. They have two daughters, Raffaella, born in 2009, and Gabriella, born in 2011. They also have a son named Matteo. Chait has been a resident of

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

Career

She first tried

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

in the 1990s when she traveled to Russia with her father, who was teaching there at a sports camp. She competed with Max Sevostianov at the U.S. Nationals in 1992 and 1994. They were involved in a collision with Renée Roca at the 1994 U.S. Championships. In 1994, the pair placed 6th at the U.S. Nationals and 28th at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(representing Israel). Chait met Sergei Sakhnovski while they were both students at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

. Partnered since 1995, they trained initially in Russia with Ludmila Buytskova and Elena Maslenikova before moving to

Monsey, New York Monsey (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The village of Kaser is surrounded by ...

. They rose steadily in the international rankings. The highlight of their career was winning the bronze medal at the 2002 World championships. Sergei Sakhnovski suffered a foot injury that forced the pair to miss the entire 2006–2007 season, and they subsequently announced their retirement. Their coaches included

Natalia Dubova Natalia Ilinichna Dubova (; born 31 March 1948) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer. Career Competing as Natalia Bakh with partner Vladimir Pavlikhin, she won the bronze medal at the 1965 Soviet Championships. I ...

, Tatiana Tarasova,

Evgeni Platov Evgeni Arkadievich Platov (Ukrainian to English: Ev'heni Arkadievich Platov) (; born August 7, 1967; Ukrainian: Євген Аркадійович Платов) is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. He is best known for his partnership with ...

, Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov. Chait was the

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

for Israel at the 2002 and

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

. Chait is an ISU Technical Specialist.

Coaching career

After her retirement as a competitive skater, Chait began coaching

. She was the head coach of the Israeli brother-and-sister team

Alexandra Zaretsky Alexandra "Sasha" Zaretsky (, , , ) (born December 23, 1987) is an Israeli retired ice dancer. With her brother Roman Zaretsky, she is the 2009 Skate America bronze medalist, 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, a three-time Nebelhorn Trophy me ...

and

Roman Zaretsky Roman Zaretsky (, , ; born December 4, 1983) is an Israeli retired ice dancer. With his sister, Alexandra Zaretsky, he is the 2009 Skate America bronze medalist, 2009 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, a three-time Nebelhorn Trophy medalist, and ...

, and of Tamar Katz as well. In October 2008, Chait and the Zaretskys filed a lawsuit against the Ice House training rink in

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, claiming that officials at the rink discriminated against them on the basis of their Israeli nationality, denying them prime skating time and threatening to ban them from the rink. The Zaretskys, under her coaching, won the gold medal at the 24th Winter Universiade Games in Harbin China, the bronze medal at Skate America 2009 and they qualified for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver Canada. Chait has also coached: *

Cathy Reed is a retired American-born Japanese ice dancer. With her brother Chris Reed, she is a seven-time Japanese national champion (2008–2011, 2013-2015). Personal life Reed was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her mother is Japanese and her father ...

/ Chris Reed * Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Alexander Shakalov *

Allison Reed Allison Lynn Reed (born June 8, 1994) is a Lithuanian-American ice dancer who currently competes for Lithuania with Saulius Ambrulevičius. They are the European Figure Skating Championships, 2024 European bronze medalists, three-time ISU Grand ...

/ Otar Japaridze *

Ekaterina Bugrov Ekaterina is a Russian feminine given name, and an alternative transliteration of the Russian Yekaterina. Katya and Katyusha are common diminutive forms of Ekaterina. Its Western counterpart is Catherine (Katherine). Notable people with the name ...

/ Vasili Rogov * Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Dmitri Dun *Anna Bolshem / Ronald Zilberberg * Adel Tankova/ Ronald Zilberberg As of 2010, Chait was the head coach of the Israeli figure skating team.

Programs

(with Sakhnovski)

Competitive highlights

''GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix''

With Sakhnovski

With Sevostianov

References

External links

*
Official homepage – Chait / Sakhnovski
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chait, Galit 1975 births Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Israeli female ice dancers Living people Olympic figure skaters for Israel Sportspeople from Kfar Saba Sportspeople from Paramus, New Jersey World Figure Skating Championships medalists People from Monsey, New York Goodwill Games medalists in figure skating Jewish Israeli sportspeople Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games