Figure Skating History, Rules and How to Play Figure Skating Game?

Figure skating, sport in which ice skaters, singly or in pairs, perform freestyle movements of jumps, spins, lifts, and footwork in a graceful manner. Its title derives from the patterns (or figures) skaters make on the ice, an element that was a major part of the game until recently. There are various kinds of figure skating, including freestyle, pairs, ice dance, and synchronized team skating. The fashion of competition, in addition to the moves and techniques of the skaters, varies for each kind of skating. Figure skating has grown into among the most well-known sports of the Winter Olympics.

Figure Skating history

Pioneers of the game

A Treatise on Skating (1772) by Robert Jones, an Englishman, is apparently the very first consideration of figure skating game. The game had a cramped and formal style until American Jackson Haines introduced his free and expressive techniques based on dancing motion in the mid-1860s. Though popular in Europe, Haines's design (known as the International style) did not catch on in the USA until long after he had died at age 35.

In the early 20th century, Americans Irving Brokaw and George H. Browne helped formalize the design made by Haines by demonstrating to American audiences. Brokaw, the first American to represent the country at international competitions, engaged in the 1908 Olympics, where he finished sixth. Browne, who organized the first U.S. championships in 1914 for men, girls, and pairs, wrote two major books on skating and has been involved in the institution of a national skating business.

Canadian Louis Rubenstein, a former student of Jackson Haines, was also instrumental in the development of figure skating. 

He led the effort to formalize contests and evaluations by establishing governing bodies for ice hockey in the United States and Canada. He helped organize the Amateur Skating Association of Canada (now called Skate Canada) and the National Amateur Skating Association of the United States. The latter organization as well as the International Skating Union of America (founded in 1914), that had Canadian and American members, were the predecessors of the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA), founded in 1921. Launched with just seven skating clubs across the nation, by the 21st century it oversaw over 400 clubs with some 100,000 members.

The International Skating Union (ISU), founded in the Netherlands in 1892, was created to oversee skating globally. It sanctions speed skating in addition to figure skating and patrons the world championships held yearly since 1896. With more than 50 member countries, the ISU establishes rules regarding the behavior of skating and skating contests.

Also notable for their important contributions to the game of figure skating are Axel Paulsen, Ulrich Salchow, and Alois Lutz. Each man produced a leap that is currently named after him. Paulsen, a Norwegian both expert in speed and figure skating, introduced his leap in Vienna in 1882 at what's generally regarded as the first international championship. Salchow of Sweden first performed his trademark jump (the"salchow") in competition in 1909. In London in 1908 he won the first Olympic gold medal awarded for figure skating. Lutz, an Austrian, devised his jump (the"lutz") in 1913.

Though the English diarist Samuel Pepys claimed to have danced on the ice during London's hard winter of 1662, modern ice dancing most likely created from the Vienna Skating Club's version of the waltz from the 1880s. The game grew quickly in popularity during and after the 1930s. Although the first U.S. national championship for ice dance was held in 1914, it did not become an Olympic sport until 1976.

20th-century winners

Figure skating now contains more female than male participants, but that hasn't always been the situation. In the first world championships, held in St. Petersburg in 1896, just a men's event was skated. Pairs were not introduced before 1908 and ice dance not till 1952. Because the rules didn't define the gender of participants, Syers entered the world championships held in London, and she finished second just to Salchow, who provided her his gold medal because he believed she should have won the event. The next year the ISU rules were altered to define that women could not enter the event, but another women's group, that Syers won for its first two years, was finally created three years after.

Twenty-one decades after Sonja Henie emerged as the first important female hockey star. Winning her first world title at the age of 14, she was the youngest winner until Tara Lipinski won the entire tournament in 1997 at an age two weeks younger than Henie. Lipinski also dethroned Henie as the youngest female Olympic champion by winning the gold medal in 1998 when she was 15. Canadian Barbara Ann Scott, the first non-European to win a championship, became an expert skater, as did Henie and Lipinski, after she won an Olympic gold medal in 1948.

Dick Button was the first great American male star of the 20th century. Button also finished a double axel in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first skater to land such a jump in competition. While Button's success paved the way for the development of more multirevolution jumps in figure skating, other man skaters developed different elements of the sport. Karl Schäfer, for instance, introduced new elements into rotation by creating a"blur spin," or scrape spin, where the skater immediately spins on one foot at an upright position.

The U.S. figure skating game community has been devastated in 1961 by a plane crash which killed the total U.S. team. The group was on its way to Prague to the world championships once the airplane crashed on approach to Brussels. The championships were canceled. Fleming followed in the footsteps of these great American Olympic champions as Tenley Albright (1956) and Carol Heiss (1960). Janet Lynn, an Olympic bronze medalist in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan, and Dorothy Hamill, an Olympic gold medalist in 1976 at Innsbruck, Austria, were part of the ascension of women's skating in the United States. New coaches who went into the United States included Carlo Fassi, an Italian singles champion in the 1940s and'50s. He coached Americans Fleming and Hamill in Addition to British Olympic champions John Curry and Robin Cousins.

American Scott Hamilton (see Sidebar: Scott Hamilton: Training for Olympic Gold) won four world championships (1981--84) in addition to an Olympic gold medal in 1984. Before, American brothers Hayes and David Jenkins had won consecutive Olympic gold medals at the 1956 and 1960 Games.

Even though the United States continued to produce singles champions, the Soviet Union was the master of pairs. French pairs skaters Andrée and Pierre Brunet won Olympic gold medals in both 1928 and 1932, but the dominance of the Soviet Union became apparent in the 1960s and lasted to the 21st century. This dominance continued into the 1980s when Yelena Valova and Oleg Vassilyev won the gold in 1984 (Sarajevo). The 2002 Olympic gold medal was shared with two pairs due to a judging controversy--Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia and Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada.

Ice dance was introduced as an Olympic event in 1976, and Soviet teams dominated the sport.

Theories vary on the Reason Behind the dominance of the former Soviet Union. 1 school of thought says the cultural and political forces from the country emphasized group achievements over individual achievement. The cultural emphasis on dancing and ballet may also have been a factor, as well as the inclination of pairs and dance clubs to stay together, because athletes were rewarded under the Soviet regime. What's more, the top singles coaches resided not in Russia but also in western Europe and the USA. 

With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, lots of Russian trainers and their skaters moved into the United States to benefit from its exceptional training centers. American and european currencies and dance teams profited from Russian instruction, and the difference between Russia and the rest of the world started to close. At the exact same time, the Russians began to produce better singles skaters, partially because of access to American centers and coaching and partially because they employed different training techniques, which set them apart.

Recent trends and changes

During the Cold War (1947--89), judges tended to vote at East-West blocs, a clinic that influenced the outcomes of some close competitions. Even the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria often voted as a unit, while the United States of America, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, and Italy frequently showed support for athletes in their own countries. However, not all of the judging that has been alleged to have been politically motivated was always so; some preferences were merely a matter of preference. For example, judges in the eastern bloc countries have long displayed a taste for classical music along with balletic choreography over music and dance that comprised more pop-cultural themes. Though this scenario has moderated since the early 1990s, some votes along cultural and political lines proceeds.

The development of increasingly difficult jumps continues to be a hallmark of the sport. Triple jumps, by way of example, became significant for women and men from the 1980s, and quadruple jumps became increasingly more important for men in the 1990s. The triple axel, the most difficult triple jump, was initially landed in contest by Canadian Vern Taylor at the 1978 World Championships in Ottawa. Eleven years later, at the world championships in Paris, Midori Ito of Japan became the first woman to complete the jump. Canadian Kurt Browning, the first person to complete a quadruple leap, landed a quad toe loop at the 1988 World Championships in Budapest. Elvis Stojko, plus a Canadian, holds two records with respect to the quad; he was the first to land a quad in combination with a double toe loop (in the 1991 World Championships in Munich) and using a triple toe loop (at the 1997 Champions Series final in Munich). Timothy Goebel, an American, finished the initial quad salchow in 1998 at the Junior Grand Prix finals. He also was the first to land three quads in one program, two quad salchows and one quad toe loop in the 2001 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston.

The 1990s were a tumultuous decade for figure skating. The elimination of mandatory figures from competition in 1991 gave an advantage to the athletic freestyle skaters. Until the late 1980s, skaters who had been good at figures could win competitions with no strong freestyle-skating techniques, because compulsory figures were the most significant part the sport. They constituted 60 percent of their total score in national and global championships held at the 1960s but was reduced to 50 percent by 1968. The brief program was introduced in 1973, and at that time figures were decreased to 40% of their score. On the next 17 decades, the ISU continued to reduce the burden of figures before they were eliminated completely from international competitions following the 1990 World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Proponents of figures stated they developed fine edge control, balance, and footwork, while critics believed them dull and dull, compared with all the athleticism and attractiveness of freestyle skating.

Another fiddle gone occurred in the 1990s gone the rules dividing professionals and amateurs. Since along with the ISU has allowed amateurs, even at the demean levels of novice and junior, to earn keep from endorsements and in ISU-sanctioned behavior. The ISU created an additional system of eligibility: skaters who were eligible for ISU-sanctioned comings and goings, including worlds and the Olympics, and those who were not (ineligible). Ineligible skaters, buoyed by high television ratings, entered professional competitions taking into account prize child support and starred in their own professional ice shows.

Television became utterly significant for skating. Nowhere was that more evident than in 1994 behind skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed upon the kneecap by an spacious-minded of Kerrigans competitor Tonya Harding at the U.S. nationals in Detroit. International merger in the issue translated into high television ratings at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The womens unexpected program was watched by millions of listeners as Harding competed adjacent-door to Kerrigan, the eventual Olympic silver-medal winner.

As figure skating entered the 21st century, the level of athleticism continued to rise, bearing in mind more men performing arts quad jumps in both the quick and long programs. Increasingly, the world-level womens champions were usual to have triple-triple hop combinations (two consecutive triple jumps) in their long programs. However, the summit skaters achieved execution unaccompanied by combining hard jumps taking into account artistic and elegant skating.

Some agreement to that, following the growing emphasis upon jumps, pleasing skating is declining. Compulsory figures provided excellent training in edge do its stuff and put in, and the agonized of figures made it cutting edge for skaters to confrontation occurring speedily through the levels of skating. Today, totally few skaters practice figures; a typical eligible skater can make public awkward compared as well as the best ineligible performers, even while he or she may have fused jumping skills.

Although there have always been teenager competitors, the believe to be changes encouraged younger females to concern taking place the ranks faster, since tiny girls can achieve triples unexpectedly, thanks to their narrow hips and lightweight bodies. Lipinski, the youngest ever to win an Olympic gold medal, was by yourself the start of this trend, which 16-year-pass American Sarah Hughes continued by winning the Olympic gold medal at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Although American Michelle Kwan moved happening to the senior level at age 12, she did not win her first world championship until 1996, considering she was 16. Older skaters such as Kwan and Maria Butyrskaya (who at age 27 won a gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki) now compete adjoining younger skaters because the immense equalizer, compulsory figures, is amid. Wider hips and heavier bodies are harder to rule in the flavor, but what the older women may nonappearance in athleticism they can often make going on in elegance and overall skating and competitive experience.