Eszter Jurek

Eszter Jurek learned to ski at the age of three due to whooping cough, where her path to the ice rink led her. Her talent was immediately recognized, and at the age of four Jurek was recommended to the attention of one of the iconic figures of skating, Elemér Terták. Between 1946 and 1949 she skated for BKE, between 1949 and 1956 for Csepeli Vasas and Csepel SC, and between 1956 and 1958 for FTC.

Jurek competed in singles and pairs and won the Hungarian championship three times. At the international level she competed at the 1952 Oslo Olympics at the age of 15, where she finished 23rd. She participated in numerous World and European championships, achieving her best result at the 1957 European Championships in Wein where she finished 11th. She was forced to end her career when her pairs partner was persuaded to continue in the Hungarian Ice Revue. She no longer wanted to continue in individual skating, so in 1958 Jurek also joined the Revue.

Jurek did not want to be a coach but, after being approached by Budapesti Spartacus, her husband persuaded her to try it out for at least three months to see if she liked the job and could use her experience in this field. She trained a total of 47 Hungarian champions, with Tamara Téglássy qualifying for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Her greatest success came in 2004 when Júlia Sebestyén won the European Championships. Jurek also supervised coaching for years, teaching at the Hungarian Figure Skating Federation for over 40 years, meaning anyone who chose to become a coach had to have contact with her. Her sister Edina Jurek also competed in figure skating.