Aja Zanova, a world champion figure skater whose defection from Czechoslovakia as a teenager in 1950 made headlines around the world, died on Thursday in Manhattan. She was 84.
Her death, at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital, was from complications after a recent stroke, her stepdaughter, Carol Steindler Whitcomb, said.
A five-time Czech national champion from 1946 to 1950, Zanova won two world titles, in 1949 and 1950. On the ice, she was famous for her lithe grace (she was tall for a skater) and her physical prowess.
She is credited with being the first woman to land a double lutz in competition — the jump entails taking off from a back outside edge, executing two rotations and landing on the same edge — a feat she accomplished at the 1949 world championships, in Paris.