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Eva Pawlik was an Austrian Figure skating|figure
skater (European  Champion, Olympic Games|Olympic
Silver medal|Silver Medalist), a show star, an
actor|actress and the first female sportscaster in
the German language|German speaking countries.

Born in 1927, Eva 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. In her teens
she would get up at four 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|Germany's Anschluss|absorption of
Austria in 1938 and the 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 Olympic Games, 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. 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.

In 1947, Pawlik was rated best European skater and
number 2 in the world.  This did not help, as
Austrian skaters were barred from entering
European and World Figure Skating
Championships|World competitions (a throwback to
the war). In 1948 she won 3 silver medals, at the
European's, at the 1948_Winter_Olympics|Olympics
and at the World's. It is remarkable that at the
1948 European's she was the best ranked European
lady figure skater. Nevertheless, she only got the
silver medal because the title was awarded to the
non-European Barbara Ann Scott from Canada. That
was unusual because, in many sports, European
championships are restricted to European
competitors.

In 1948 Pawlik did a lot of exhibition skating in
the USA. She was also asked to appear in a movie
starring Gene Kelly. He wanted to combine his
dancing with her skating. She declined, turning
professional would have excluded her from the 1949
championships. 

In 1949, despite suffering acute appendicitis,
Pawlik beat her rival Alena Vrzanova in Milan to
become European Champion. In the World Figure
Skating Championships|World Championships held in
Paris, Pawlik was lying a close second behind
Vrzanova when one of the heels on her Ice
skate|skates broke. Sabotage was suspected, but
never proved. The judges did not allow her to
continue with borrowed skates and Vrzanova went on
to win. Though having good chances to win the
World title one year later, Pawlik decided to turn
professional because her parents needed financial
support.           

She joined the Vienna Ice Revue and performed a
program that was considered by many journalists
and figure skating experts to be technically and
artistically superior to anything produced by
World Champion Vrzanova. Pawlik also played major
parts in the productions of two movies featuring
the Revue, Spring on the Ice(Frühling auf dem
Eis), 1950, and Revue of dreams (Traumrevue),
1959. The first is said to have inspired the later
double Olympic champion, Ludmilla Belousova, to
take up skating. Pawlik was considered Europe's
best show star on the ice since the thrice Olympic
Champion Sonja Henie. Besides, she and her husband
Rudi Seeliger who had won the Austrian title in
the 1950 pairs event had become one of the world's
best professional couples on the ice.

In 1961, Pawlik retired from skating and became
the first female sportscaster of the ORF|Austrian
Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). In 1973 she began
her third profession as a teacher of German and
English at a Viennese secondary school (pupils
from 10 to 18). In 1954 she had earned her
doctorate in German and English at the University
of Vienna. In 1979 Pawlik became severely ill and
died in 1983, four months after her husband, who
had died from a sudden heart attack.

lived|b=1927|d=1983|key=Pawlik, Eva