Aimee Buchanan

Aimee Buchanan (Hebrew: איימי ביוקנן; born June 11, 1993)^[1] is an American-Israeli former competitive figure skater who competed in ladies' singles for Israel.^[2][3] She is a two-time Israeli national champion and competed in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Aimee Buchanan
Aimee Buchanan at the 2018 European Figure Skating Championships
Native name	איימי ביוקנן
Born	(1993-06-11) June 11, 1993 (age 32)
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Figure skating career
Country	Israel
Coach	Peter and Darlene Cain
Skating club	Team Cain
Began skating	1997
Retired	June 16, 2019

Early life

Buchanan was born and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Lexington, Massachusetts, and Euless, Texas.^[1][4][5][6] Buchanan's mother Wendy is Jewish and is from Israel, as are both of her maternal grandparents, and Buchanan is and also identifies as Jewish.^[7][6] She attended synagogue on the High Holidays and Hebrew school for a few years, before sports became too demanding.^[6] She attended Endicott College and the United States Sports Academy, studying for a B.S. in Strength and Conditioning.^[8][9] In 2014, she became a dual American-Israeli citizen.^[10][2]

Skating career

Buchanan began figure skating at age 4, but she did not start seriously training until age 19.^[11] While she lived in Boston, she trained at the Colonial Figure Skating Club in Boxborough, Massachusetts, with coaches Julie Graham-Eavzan and Chad Brennan, while her programs were choreographed by former Olympian Sheryl Franks.^[12][9] In November 2013, she came in second at the New England Regional Figure Skating Championships Newington, Connecticut.^[9]

She relocated to Texas to train with figure skating coaches Peter and Darlene Cain.^[7][13]

Buchanan has represented Israel three times at the European Figure Skating Championships, and was the Israeli national ladies champion in 2016.^[14] In August 2017, she had foot surgery to remove a bursa sac.^[14][10] She was not able to enter the Olympics single women's qualifier competition in Germany in 2017, because the qualifier was scheduled to take place on Yom Kippur.^[15]

She competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in team figure skating in Pyeongchang, South Korea.^[13] Buchanan placed 10th in the woman's short program of the team event with a score of 46.30, an improvement of 1.23 points as compared to her personal best before that program.^[16][17] Israel finished in 8th place, ahead of South Korea and France, and did not qualify for the finals of the team event.^[16][17]

Buchanan announced her retirement from competitive skating in June 2019 after having three ankle surgeries and two injections to help with injuries. Doctors subsequently advised her against further training at a competitive level.^[18]

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating
2017–2018 [1]	Only Hope by Mandy Moore	Romantic Rhapsody by Alain Lefèvre
2016–2017 [19]	It's All Coming Back to Me Now performed by Celine Dion	Mi Mancherai performed by Josh Groban Illuminations by Secret Garden
2015–2016 [20]	One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston	Wind Beneath My Wings performed by Charice Wind Beneath My Wings performed by Bette Middler
2014–2015 [21]	Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo	Phantasia by Andrew Lloyd Webber Music of the Night Think of Me by Andrew Lloyd Webber performed by Jackie Evancho

Results

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

For Israel

International[22]
Event	14–15	15–16	16–17	17–18
Europeans		31st	31st	38th
CS Finlandia			16th
CS Golden Spin			13th
CS Ice Challenge		11th
CS U.S. Classic		13th	8th	10th
CS Volvo Open	19th		15th
Bavarian Open			18th
Hellmut Seibt			14th
Int. Challenge Cup			15th
Nebelhorn Trophy	16th
Philadelphia		10th		12th
Tallinn Trophy	11th
Toruń Cup		13th
Volvo Open Cup			15th
National[22]
Israeli Champ.	3rd	2nd	1st	1st
Team events
Olympics				8th T 10th P
T = Team result; P = Personal result. Medals awarded for team result only.

For the United States

National
Event	2011–12
U.S. Championships	19th

Detailed results

Results in the 2017–18 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Aug 3–6, 2017	2017 Philadelphia Summer International	13	42.81	13	68.21	12	111.02
Sep 13–17, 2017	2017 CS U.S. International Classic	10	33.71	9	74.07	10	107.78
Sep 27–30, 2017	2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	30	32.42	–	–	WD	–
Jan 15–21, 2018	2018 European Championships	38	33.87	–	–	38	33.87
Feb 9–12, 2018	2018 Winter Olympics (Team event)	10	46.40	–	–	8	–

Results in the 2016–17 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 14–18, 2016	2016 CS U.S. International Classic	10	37.82	7	84.70	8	122.52
Oct 6–9, 2016	2016 CS Finlandia Trophy	15	40.86	17	69.55	16	110.41
Nov 9–13, 2016	2016 Volvo Open Cup	17	40.78	12	79.71	15	120.49
Dec 7–10, 2016	2016 Golden Spin of Zagreb	17	42.87	13	85.68	13	128.55
Feb 9–12, 2017	2017 European Championships	31	38.49	–	–	31	38.49
Feb 14–19, 2017	2017 Bavarian Open	25	34.81	15	78.89	18	113.70
Feb 23–26, 2017	2017 Challenge Cup	16	42.16	16	75.21	15	117.37

Results in the 2015–16 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Jul 16–19, 2015	2015 Philadelphia Summer International	8	37.56	11	49.20	10	86.76
Sep 16–20, 2015	2015 CS U.S. International Classic	13	42.89	14	73.17	13	116.06
Oct 27–31, 2015	2015 Ice Challenge	11	45.07	13	77.76	11	112.83
Jan 6–10, 2015	Mentor Toruń Cup	10	44.20	14	78.15	13	122.35
Jan 25–29, 2016	2017 European Championships	31	38.49	–	–	31	38.49
Feb 17–21, 2016	2016 Bavarian Open	9	43.40	–	–	WD	–
Feb 23–27, 2016	2016 Hellmut Seibt Memorial	11	45.17	16	71.89	14	117.06

Results in the 2014–15 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 24–27, 2015	2014 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	16	34.47	15	60.66	16	95.13
Nov 5–9, 2014	2014 CS Volvo Open Cup	18	37.61	18	59.60	19	97.21
Dec 3–7, 2014	2014 Tallinn Trophy	10	40.35	11	72.66	11	113.01

For the United States

Results in the 2011–12 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Jan 22–29, 2012	2012 U.S. Championships	19	37.77	19	64.12	19	101.89