Ice dream begins in Bozeman

By JOE WILHELM Jr. Chronicle Sports Writer

A passion was sparked as a 7-year-old girl from Mongolia peered out the window of an Alderson Street home toward Southside Park four years ago.

Since then, Onyuka Chinbat has collected 31 medals during U.S. Figure Skating competitions as Mongolia's only competing figure skater. Her abilities have also earned her an invitation to perform for the Hong Kong Skating Union at the Asian Novice Figure Skating Championship in March.

Onyuka continues to prove her abilities in figure skating, but her parents weren't sure about their daughter's new hobby when she started.

But they weren't too quick to let her onto the ice at first.

"We were hesitant to let her skate because we knew little about it," said her mother Ariunbolor, whose nickname is Bobo. "We had seen it on television before and we knew it was very beautiful. That's all we knew about it though."

The Chinbats thought the urge would pass, but Onyuka, who turns 11 soon, kept watching those ice skaters across the street and wouldn't give up.

"She was so passionate, so we finally gave in," Bobo said.

So the family went to a thrift store and bought skates for $6.

"They were way too big and they had a rip in the top," Onyuka recalled.

Onyuka had skates, but she didn't have a teacher.

Growing up in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, there was only one outdoor rink near her home, and it was usually full of hockey players or recreational skaters.

Enter the family's host in Bozeman, Mara-Gia Katz.

Katz had grown up near a pond just outside of Boston and learned to skate with her brothers.

"Onyuka would stand by the front window staring out at the ice rink and she would ask me questions about skating," Katz remembered. "So when her parents decided to let her try it I took her out and taught her how to skate. Frontwards, backwards and a spiral."

A spiral is where the skater extends a free leg behind during a long glide to demonstrate flexibility and fluidity.

"She took to it like no one I had ever seen before," Katz said. "I

taught her some of the moves, but she made it look beautiful. I didn't have anything to do with that."

Onyuka spent three to four hours a day out on the ice during the

winter of 2001-02. Her previous training in ballet and contortionism gave her the balance and body control she needed to perform difficult moves effortlessly. She would quit only when called in by her parents.

That was the first of many winters the Chinbats would spend in Bozeman.

Bobo and her husband, Chinbat, were hired as guides by Bozeman-based Boojum Expeditions in 1997. The company had an increased need for tour guides because of a solar eclipse that year. Bobo taught english in Mongolia and was quickly hired. She now helps with trip planning and sales. Her husband Chinbat is a logistics manager and helps make sure trips run smoothly. A few years after they were hired to work in the Mongolian office they started spending the off season, November-May, in Bozeman for business training.

While her parents worked, Onyuka skated.

Nnow, Bobo and Chinbat have immersed themselves in skating as much as their daughter. They drive her twice a week to 5 a.m. sessions at the Ice Garden, and take her to competitions in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming on the weekends.

"All of their time and resources have gone into taking Onyuka to skating practices and competitions," Katz said."They give up a lot for her to do this, but I don't think they regret one minute."

Her parents have even built a simple Web site to let the world know of their child's accomplishments(www.skatemongolia.com).

Traveling is made possible through friendships they have made through the Bozeman Figure Skating Club and their own resourcefulness.

Once, in Sun Valley, Idaho, they had to camp.

"It was July, so it was OK," Bobo said.

Onyuka competes in freestyle and compulsory events. Freestyle

routines are set to music and use the entire surface; compulsory uses

half the ice and no music.

Her current goal is to perfect a single axel.

Onyuka recently met Olympian Elvis Stojko, the featured attraction at a local Christmas show. He signed her skates, and they are the only funcational pair of she won't use.

"I want to get to the Olympics one day," Onyuka said.

Onyuka has set high goals, but she has a unique perspective on competition.

"I don't get upset if i don't get first place," she said. "I'm just out

there to have fun, so I'm never nervous when I go out on the ice. I'm just happy to be there."

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