# Aimee Buchanan

Aimee Buchanan (born June 11, 1993) is an American-Israeli former competitive figure skater who competed in ladies' singles for Israel. She is a two-time Israeli national champion and competed in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

## Early life

Buchanan was born and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Lexington, Massachusetts, and Euless, Texas. 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. She attended synagogue on the High Holidays and Hebrew school for a few years, before sports became too demanding. She attended Endicott College and the United States Sports Academy, studying for a B.S. in Strength and Conditioning. In 2014, she became a dual American-Israeli citizen.

## Skating career

Buchanan began figure skating at age 4, but she did not start seriously training until age 19. 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. In November 2013, she came in second at the New England Regional Figure Skating Championships Newington, Connecticut.
She relocated to Texas to train with figure skating coaches Peter and Darlene Cain.
Buchanan has represented Israel three times at the European Figure Skating Championships, and was the Israeli national ladies champion in 2016. In August 2017, she had foot surgery to remove a bursa sac. 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.
She competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in team figure skating in Pyeongchang, South Korea. 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. Israel finished in 8th place, ahead of South Korea and France, and did not qualify for the finals of the team event.
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.

## Programs

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

## Results

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

### For Israel

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