Eva Pawlik
| Eva Pawlik | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eva Pawlik starring in the Vienna Ice Revue
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |
 Austria
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| Born |
4 October 1927 Vienna |
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| Died | 31 July 1983 (aged 55) Vienna |
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| Skating club | Vienna Skating Club, Vienna | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Olympic medal record | ||
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| Women's figure skating | ||
| Representing Austria
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1948 St. Moritz | Singles |
Eva Pawlik (4 October 1927 in Vienna – 31 July 1983 in Vienna) was an Austrian figure skater (European Champion, Olympic silver medalist), a show star, an actress and the first European figure skater to be a TV figure skating commentator (sportscaster on TV).
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. Before WW II, she was considered an "exceptionally promising 9-year-old Viennese" figure skater in the United States. In Europe, she was starring in "The Fairy Tale Of The Steady Tin Soldier" together with World Champion Felix Kaspar. This legendary vaudeville number was internationally highly successful, being performed in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Munich, Bern, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lyon, Paris and London. Pawlik was called the "Shirley Temple on ice". In her teens she would get up at 4 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. In addition to that, they became the 1942 Austrian Pairs Champions (that were called Ostmark Champions at that time due to the fact that Austria did not exist from 1938 to 1945). 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.
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