Ice Skating. I INTRODUCTION Ice Skating, gliding across an expanse of ice while balancing on steel runners that have been affixed to the bottom of special boots designed specifically for skating. People skate on artificially created ice at indoor and outdoor rinks and on frozen lakes, ponds, rivers, or streams. Recreational ice skating is most prevalent in countries with long, cold winters, although the growing number of indoor rinks has made ice skating popular in warmer regions as well. As a competitive sport, ice skating takes two main forms. Figure skating blends athletic and artistic skills, requiring physical stamina and imagination. Speed skating denotes racing on ice skates around an oval track. The sport of ice hockey also requires skillful ice skating. This article covers figure skating and speed skating only; for information on ice hockey, see Ice Hockey. II FUNDAMENTALS Proficiency in ice skating requires an understanding of basic techniques, proper equipment and clothing, and attention to safety issues. A Techniques Figure skating begins with proper posture for good balance: chin up, body upright, and knees slightly bent. A skater moves across the ice by a side-to-side maneuver called stroking, which involves pushing forward on one foot, then gliding, then pushing and gliding with the other foot. Stroking backwards, a somewhat trickier move, starts with pushing one leg out and to the side while gliding on the other leg; more advanced skaters are able to push and glide one foot at a time. To stop, a skater may use one of several methods. The snowplow, performed while moving forward, entails pushing the heels outward and the toes inward. In the T-stop, the skater glides forward on one skate while placing the other skate at a right angle to it, coming to a stop with the feet in a T formation. In a hockey stop, a skater turns both feet sideways and bends the knees, pushing down and bending the knees to come to a standstill quickly. Turns are important for changing direction while maintaining or increasing speed. In a crossover, a skater alternately crosses and uncrosses the feet while stroking through a turn. To turn to the right, for example, a skater crosses the left foot over the right. The crossover is a basic figure skating skill. Blade edges are the basis of almost every figure skating maneuver. Since figure skating blades are concave on the bottom, each blade has an inside edge and an outside edge. The takeoffs for various jumps and spins originate with specific parts of these edges, which are designated right forward outside (RFO), right forward inside (RFI), right back outside (RBO), right back inside (RBI), and similarly for the left foot. Jumps are distinguished by their takeoff, which may be forward or backward. The most difficult is the axel, named for its inventor, Axel Paulsen, a Norwegian speed skater. In a typical single axel, a skater initiates the jump facing forward, launches the jump from the left forward outside edge, completes 1y rotations in the air, and lands traveling backward on the right backward outside edge. In a salchow, named after Swedish skater Ulrich Salchow, a skater begins while traveling backwards, takes off from the back inside edge, turns in the air, and lands on the back outside edge of the other skate. The lutz, invented by Austrian skater Alois Lutz, is similar to the salchow in rotation and landing, but the skater travels backwards on an outside edge (rather than an inside edge), uses the toe of the opposite foot to help launch the jump, and rotates clockwise in the air. A loop jump begins on the right back outside edge and finishes on the same edge after the rotations are completed. Spins are centered on a single spot. The three basic spins are the upright spin, sit spin, and camel spin. In an upright spin, the skater stands and rotates on one foot; arm and torso positions vary. In a sit spin, the skater spins in a sitting position with one leg extended in front, parallel to the ice. In a camel spin, skaters extend one leg behind them, parallel to the ice, and extend their arms forward. Speed skating blades are flat rather than concave, which ensures that stroking is a more continuous motion. During a sprint (short race), the first few strides should be short and firm, enabling the skater to gain speed as quickly as possible. The skater increases the length of the glide during the race. For longer distances, skaters maintain a steady pace throughout the race, using a longer glide on each stroke than in a sprint. Speed skaters lean forward to reduce wind resistance and make longer strokes possible. Arm position is crucial to a speed skater's ability to gain speed, and varies according to distance. In a sprint, the arms move rapidly back and forth, crossing in front of the opposite knee in a wide swinging motion that both stabilizes the body and propels it forward. In longer distance speed skating the arms are kept behind the back, which helps conserve energy. Middle-distance skaters alternate between these techniques or swing only one arm. B Equipment The most important skating equipment is a pair of skates that fit properly and are appropriately equipped for the type of skating. Boots on figure skates are made of leather, have 1.5-in (3.8-cm) heels, and extend above the ankle to provide support. The blades, made of steel, are only a few millimeters wide, slightly curved on the bottom, and have toe picks (serrated teeth on the front of the blade) to assist skaters in certain spins and jumps. Speed skates must be as lightweight as possible for maximum acceleration. The boots are composed of light, flexible leather and are quite short, with virtually no ankle support. Blades are long and straight, made from lightweight steel, and are thinner than figure skate blades. Competitive speed skaters wear tight-fitting body suits to reduce wind resistance. Recreational skaters should dress for warmth and comfort, with a hat, gloves, and a sweater or jacket. To allow for freedom of movement, pants and tops should be loose, but not baggy enough to snag the toe pick or blade of a skate. Anything tight could be constricting. C Safety Skates that fit properly and have sharp blades are essential in avoiding injury. Stretches and warm-up exercises are also important. When skating in a public facility, use common sense: Skaters should look where they are going, move in the direction of the rest of the skaters, and learn to fall without injury and get up quickly. People should never skate alone outdoors because of the risk of falling through thin ice. III COMPETITIVE ICE SKATING Numerous international competitions, governed by the International Skating Union (ISU), are available to figure skaters and speed skaters. The World Championships, held annually, are among the most prestigious international competitions. The Winter Olympic Games, which began in 1924, are held every four years in a city with a cold climate. Competitors for these events are chosen from the best skaters in each participating country, usually through preliminary national competitions. Speed skaters also compete on a World Cup circuit, which pits the world's best skaters against one another during the year. A Figure Skating The major types of competitive figure skating are individual men's and women's competitions, pairs skating, ice dancing, and precision skating. In individual competitions a single skater performs required elements and is judged on how cleanly and artistically the motions are executed. Pairs skating consists of two skaters performing together. In ice dancing partners carry out the artistic motions of dance on skates. Precision skating, which is a highly structured activity, consists of a team of skaters who perform choreographed maneuvers. The costumes worn in competition allow skaters to express a certain mood or theme, often reflected in the choice of music. Competitors must comply with costuming rules set by the ISU. For example, bare midriffs are not allowed; excessive use of sequins, beads, or other decoration is forbidden; and men may not wear tights or sleeveless shirts. Safety factors also come under consideration in precision skating: To prevent accidental snagging on other skaters' costumes, team members may not wear beaded or sequined costumes. A1 Individual Skating Men's and women's individual competitions require skaters to perform a short program, formerly called the technical program, and a long program, also known as the free skate. In the short program, which counts for one-third of the total score, skaters must perform eight technical elements--including prescribed jumps and spins and a footwork sequence--within 2 minutes 40 seconds. The long program, which lasts 4 minutes for women and 4 minutes 30 seconds for men, incorporates both technical and artistic elements and accounts for the remaining two-thirds of the final score. There are few formal requirements in the long program. In the past, competitions included what were known as school figures or compulsory figures, based on the figure eight and its variations. Skaters traced identical patterns on the ice three times and were judged on their ability to replicate the exact figures in the same place. School figures were phased out of competition after the 1989-1990 season. Judges take many factors into consideration when scoring an individual's performance. The music should be appropriate for the choreography. In the choreography, the elements should be balanced and placed creatively within the program, the chosen movements should be complex, and the timing should be precise. Jumps and spins are judged on their speed, height, position, and level of difficulty. The marks used in scoring range from 0.0 (not skated) to 6.0 (perfect). Deductions are taken for omissions of required elements, for falls, and for a touch of a hand to the ice. Because there are no required elements in the long program, judges give the skater credit only for moves that are completed. A2 Pairs Skating Pairs skating involves elements similar to those in individual skating--jumps, spins, and footwork--but also incorporates overhead lifts and throw jumps. In addition, all elements should be performed in perfect unison. The death spiral, which is unique to pairs skating, is executed with the man in a pivot position with one toe anchored in the ice. From this position he swings the woman around him so that her body is extended in a horizontal position, with her head almost touching the ice. Required moves in competitions include the death spiral, overhead lifts, side-by-side jumps, spin combinations, and a footwork sequence. Pairs are judged on the basis of technical difficulty, artistic merit, and timing. A3 Ice Dancing Ice dancing developed from ballroom dancing, particularly the waltz, and was very popular in the early 1900s. It requires well-disciplined, precise footwork; conformity with each other's steps; and a keen sense of timing and rhythm. Ice dancing differs from pairs skating in that ice dancers are restricted to lifts no higher than the man's shoulders, and there are no jumps. One skate must be on the ice at all times. Ice dancing competitions consist of three principal parts: compulsories, original dance, and free dance. In compulsories, partners must perform two dances selected by the ISU, for example, waltz, tango, or polka. Compulsories involve set patterns in which dancers execute and repeat steps at certain points around the arena. Although the steps are predetermined, dancers are encouraged to interpret them for artistic appeal. Each compulsory dance counts for 10 percent of a pair's final score. The original dance, formerly known as the original set pattern dance, requires skaters to choreograph their own routine to their choice of music, set to a tempo and rhythm previously announced by the ISU. It counts for 30 percent of the final score, and skaters receive marks for composition and presentation. In the free dance, the partners perform a dance to music of their choice. They are given marks for presentation and style as well as for technical merit. This dance counts for 50 percent of the final score. A4 Precision Skating Precision skating consists of teams of skaters, numbering from 16 to 24 members, who perform movements, single jumps, and footwork in unison and in precise formations. In 1994 precision skating won ISU recognition as an official sport, but it has not yet been included in the Olympics. Two programs are skated in a competition. The short program, also called the technical program, involves five required elements: straight line, wheel, intersecting maneuver (one line of skaters crossing through a second line), circle, and block (four to six lines moving in a formation, such as a square or a pyramid). The short program lasts 2 minutes 40 seconds. Marks are given for composition and presentation. The long program, or free program, has no required elements, except for the inclusion of three changes in the rhythm and speed of the skaters. The free program lasts 4 minutes 30 seconds. To view the team and its maneuvers, the judges sit slightly above the ice (for other figure skating events, judges sit at the skaters' level). In both programs, judges look for accuracy of footwork, synchronized arm positions, orderly formations, spacing, and speed. In the long program, judges also reward originality, musical interpretation, intricacy of maneuvers, and, most important, synchronicity. B Speed Skating Speed skating is performed on an oval ice track. Ranking is based on the clock, so the goal is to achieve the best time of any participant. Races take place on either a long track or a short track. The long track measures 400 m (1,312 ft) in circumference and is usually outdoors. The track is divided into two lanes, with two skaters competing at the same time, one in each lane. Because the outer lane is longer than the inner lane, skaters switch lanes once in every lap. Race distances range from sprints of 500 meters and 1,000 meters to distances as great as 10,000 meters. Speeds can approach 50 km/h (30 mph) during sprints. Pack-style races typically consist of six to eight skaters who compete at the same time in a single lane. In these races, competitors may take advantage of wind drafting--following directly behind the leader to reduce wind resistance and conserve energy. Short-track racing is gaining in popularity compared to long-track competition. Individual, pack, and relay events take place on an oval track 111 m (364 ft) in circumference. A feature of the short track is the peloton race, in which four to six skaters compete simultaneously in each elimination heat. A variety of strategies are essential for passing other skaters, a move that can be quite dangerous. Short-track skaters wear protective clothing and equipment, including knee pads, shin pads, helmets, and thick gloves. Typical short-track races include the 500, 1,000, and 1,500 meters. Distance relays--3,000 meters for women and 5,000 meters for men--consist of four-member teams. IV HISTORY Skeletal remains with animal bone blades tied to the feet testify to skating's existence as early as 10,000 Scandinavia is called the mother of skating because of the sport's popularity there, beginning around AD BC. These remains were found in peat bogs in The Netherlands. 1000. Ice skating was primarily a means of transportation at first, although documents from The Netherlands indicate that speed races were held in towns as early as the 15th century. A Early Pioneers American athlete Jackson Haines is known as the father of modern figure skating. Haines was born in 1840 in New York City. After studying dance and ballet, he became a dancing master and applied his dancing techniques to figure skating. He performed around the world and became well known for his imaginative and artistic techniques. Haines's style was enthusiastically received in Europe and eventually became accepted internationally. The formation of national and international skating organizations began during the 1890s. In 1892 the International Skating Union (ISU) was established. Today the ISU defines the rules and sets performance standards for speed skating, figure skating, and ice dancing competitions. Also in the late 1800s the National Amateur Skating Association of the United States and the International Skating Union of America were founded. In 1921 national standards were set down for skating, and the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) was formed to govern the sport in the United States, superseding the earlier organizations. Speed skating in the United States is governed by the United States International Speed Skating Association and the Amateur Speedskating Union of the United States, both of which are affiliated with the ISU. The first official men's world speed skating championships were held in 1893. Women's world championship speed skating events first took place in 1947. The first men's world figure skating championships were held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1896, and in 1906 the first women's championships were held in Davos, Switzerland. Figure skating was included in the Summer Olympics of 1908 and 1920 and at the first Winter Olympics in 1924, where men's speed skating events were also held. Women's speed skating made its Olympic debut in the 1960 Olympic Games. Ice dancing was added to Olympic competition in 1976, and short-track speed skating was first included in the 1988 Games. B Figure Skaters Norway's Sonja Henie played a large role in popularizing figure skating during the 1920s and 1930s. On the strength of her athletic jumps, modern costumes, and inventive choreography she won gold medals at the Winter Olympic Games in 1928, 1932, and 1936. Henie later skated in ice shows and in motion pictures, inspiring many people to take up skating. American skater Dick Button, a five-time world champion (1948-1952) and two-time Olympic gold medalist (1948 and 1952), brought outstanding athleticism to skating. Along with inventing the flying camel sit spin, he was also the first skater to successfully complete a double axel and a triple jump in competition. Soviet skaters Oleg Protopopov and Liudmila Belousova transformed pairs skating in the 1960s with their elegant, balletlike movements. In the late 1960s American Peggy Fleming became the sport's leading star, winning a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics and later being featured in a number of televised skating shows. Following Fleming in this role was Dorothy Hamill of the United States, a gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics. Another Russian skater, Irina Rodnina, won three straight Olympic gold medals (1972, 1976, 1980) in the pairs event, with two different partners. In the 1980s the sport was led by American Scott Hamilton, who won four consecutive world titles (1981-1984) and the 1984 Olympic gold medal, and East Germany's Katarina Witt, who won gold at both the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. Brian Boitano of the United States won the 1988 Olympic men's gold medal. British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean dominated competition during the decade with innovative routines that broke away from ice dancing traditions, winning four world titles and an Olympic gold medal. In the late 1980s, Kurt Browning of Canada became the first skater to successfully land a quadruple jump in competition. In pairs skating, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov won two Olympic gold medals in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the 1990s women's skating was led by Americans Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, and Tara Lipinski, along with Oksana Baiul of Ukraine, all of whom won world championships. Yamaguchi, Lipinski, and Baiul also won Olympic gold medals. Top men's skaters included Browning, Canadian Elvis Stojko, American Todd Eldredge, and Russians Viktor Petrenko, Aleksi Urmanov, Ilia Kulik, and Alexei Yagudin. Figure skating experienced an ugly scandal in 1994 when a top American skater, Tonya Harding, was implicated in a physical attack on a rival, American Nancy Kerrigan. Associates of Harding, including her ex-husband, were arrested for the attack, which prevented Kerrigan from competing at the U.S. Championships. Harding was never directly connected to the crime but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was banned from the sport for life. Kerrigan recovered and went on to win the silver medal at the 1994 Olympic Games. A different kind of scandal erupted at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, one concerning the judging of the pairs event. After the judges gave the Russian team of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze a narrow victory and the gold medal over Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, a huge outcry went up over perceived inaccuracies. Then, the judge from France said she had been pressured by her own federation to vote for the Russians, leading to suspicions of voteswapping (the French would go on to win the gold medal in ice dancing). To stem the controversy, Olympic officials decided to award both the Russians and the Canadians gold medals. The incident damaged the image of the sport and prompted demands for reforms in the judging process. In the individual competitions at the 2002 Games, the gold medals were won by Yagudin and American Sarah Hughes. Yagudin also won the 2002 world championship, while fellow Russian Irina Slutskaya won her first women's world title. C Speed Skaters The development of modern speed skating is credited to Jaap Eden, a Dutch skater born in 1873. He set a world record in 1894, completing a 5,000-meter race in 8 minutes 37.6 seconds. Since then Eden's record has been broken many times and today the best skaters complete the same distance in a little over 6 minutes, primarily as a result of more sophisticated training methods. Other successful speed skaters include Eric Heiden of the United States, a three-time world champion who won five gold medals during the 1980 Winter Olympics; Norway's Johann Olav Koss, who set three new world records during the 1994 Winter Olympics; and Dan Jansen of the United States, who dominated speed skating for more than ten years from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, capping his success with a gold medal and a world record in the 1,000-meter long-track race at the 1994 Olympics. Successful female speed skaters include Germany's Gunda Niemann, who won seven all-around world championship titles between 1991 and 1998; Bonnie Blair of the United States, who won a total of five Olympic gold medals in the 1988, 1992, and 1994 Olympics; and Claudia Pechstein of Germany, who like Blair won the gold medal in the same event during three straight Olympics (5,000 meters at the 1994, 1998, and 2002 Games). Contributed By: Karen Goetze Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
