DIVÍN Karol

foto - 10x15 cm,

Karol Divín (born February 22, 1936, Budapest, Hungary) is a former Chechoslovak figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is the 1960 Winter Olympics silver medalist, 1958-1959 European champion and the 1962 World silver medalist. Shortly after finishing his competitive skating, he married a fellow Czech pair skater Olga Reinisova. They have a son, Peter, who with his wife Outi and four children live in Surrey, BC, Canada.

His mother was Czech and father was Hungarian of German descent. He grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia. At young age he showed interest in ball games, soccer and tennis, but his father led and kept him to figure skating. His father was his coach since childhood. Since 1959 Karol started to work under coach Ivan Mauer.

For many years, he was coaching figure skating in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. In the late 1960's his best student there was Doug Leigh, who later coached World Champions Brian Orser and Elvis Stojko. Karol, as an expert in compulsory figures, was helping Brian Orser from 1983 to 1987 to win his World title. In 1984, Karol married his second wife Mirka. He also has two stepdaughters, Renata and Jana.