Brian Anthony Boitano is an American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California. He is the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985–1988 U.S. National Champion.
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance; the four individual disciplines are also combined into a team event, which was first included in the Winter Olympics in 2014. The non-Olympic disciplines include synchronized skating, Theater on Ice, and four skating. From intermediate through senior-level competition, skaters generally perform two programs, which, depending on the discipline, may include spins, jumps, moves in the field, lifts, throw jumps, death spirals, and other elements or moves.
Figure skating jumps are an element of three competitive figure skating disciplines: men's singles, women's singles, and pair skating – but not ice dancing. Jumping in figure skating is "relatively recent". They were originally individual compulsory figures, and sometimes special figures; many jumps were named after the skaters who invented them or from the figures from which they were developed. It was not until the early part of the 20th century, well after the establishment of organized skating competitions, when jumps with the potential of being completed with multiple revolutions were invented and when jumps were formally categorized. In the 1920s Austrian skaters began to perform the first double jumps in practice. Skaters experimented with jumps, and by the end of the period, the modern repertoire of jumps had been developed. Jumps did not have a major role in free skating programs during international competitions until the 1930s. During the post-war period and into the 1950s and early 1960s, triple jumps became more common for both male and female skaters, and a full repertoire of two-revolution jumps had been fully developed. In the 1980s men were expected to complete four or five difficult triple jumps, and women had to perform the easier triples. By the 1990s, after compulsory figures were removed from competitions, multi-revolution jumps became more important in figure skating.
Katarina Witt is a German former figure skater. A two-time Olympic champion, Witt is regarded as one of the greatest ladies' singles figure skaters of all time. Her Laureus profile states that "she is remembered most for her overall athleticism, her charismatic appeal and her glamorous image on the ice."
Debra Janine Thomas is an American figure skater and physician. She is the 1986 World champion, the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, and a two-time U.S. national champion. Her rivalry with East Germany's Katarina Witt at the 1988 Calgary Olympics was known as the Battle of the Carmens.
Midori Ito is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 1989 World champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist. She is the first woman to land a triple-triple jump combination and a triple Axel in competition. At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, she became the first woman to land seven triple jumps in an Olympic free skating competition. She is widely recognised as one of the best figure skaters of all time.
Figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics took place at the Stampede Corral, the Olympic Saddledome and the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This was the last Olympic competition where compulsory figures were contested for the men's and ladies' events.
Elizabeth Ann Manley, CM is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. She is the 1988 Olympic silver medallist, the 1988 World silver medalist and a three-time Canadian national champion.
Janet Lynn Nowicki is an American figure skater. She is the 1972 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time world championships medalist, and a five-time senior Ladies U.S. national champion.
Rosalynn Diane Sumners is an American former competitive figure skater. She was the World Junior champion in 1980, the U.S. National champion in 1982, 1983 and 1984, World champion in 1983, and won a silver medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
The figure skating events at the 1972 Winter Olympics were held at the Makomanai Skating Rink and the Mikaho Indoor Skating Rink.
Linda Sue Fratianne is an American former figure skater known for winning two world-championship titles, four consecutive U.S. championships (1977–1980) and a silver medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Jill Ann Trenary is an American former figure skater. She is the 1990 World champion and a three-time U.S. national champion. She was inducted to the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2002.
Audrey Tiffany Chin is an American figure skating coach and former competitor. She is a two-time World bronze medalist (1985–1986), a two-time Skate America champion, and the 1985 U.S. national champion.
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating as compared with independent Single Skating". The ISU also states that a pairs team consists of "one Woman and one Man". Pair skating, along with men's and women's single skating, has been an Olympic discipline since figure skating, the oldest Winter Olympic sport, was introduced at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The ISU World Figure Skating Championships introduced pair skating in 1908.
The history of figure skating stretches back to prehistoric times. Primitive ice skates appear in the archaeological record from about 3000 BC. Edges were added by the Dutch in the 13th and 14th century. International figure skating competitions began appearing in the late 19th century; in 1891, the European Championships were inaugurated in Hamburg, Germany, and in 1896, the first World Championship were held in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, figure skating became the first winter sport to be included in the Olympics.
The Battle of the Brians was an informal name given by the press to the figure skating rivalry between Canadian Brian Orser and American Brian Boitano at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. This competition is considered one of the most memorable in men's figure skating history.
Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested at the Olympics, with men's and women's single skating appearing as two of the four figure skating events at the London Games in 1908.
Juri Osada is a Japanese figure skater who is now a coach. She won the 1983 Japan Figure Skating Championships and 1986 Winter Asian Games, 1985 Winter Universiade.
Kay Thomson is a Canadian former figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She is the 1981 Prize of Moscow News champion, the 1983 Skate Canada International silver medallist, and a three-time Canadian national champion. Her rise to dominance of Canadian ladies figure skating was unexpected as young phenom Tracy Wainmann had been expected to dominate Canadian ladies skating throughout this quadrennial, and beyond, but Thomson dethroned Wainmann at the 1982 Canadian Championships, and was only challenged by rising future superstar Elizabeth Manley thereafter as Wainmann fell off the map for a few years with personal issues and a growth spurt. She represented Canada at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, placing 12th, and at three World Championships, achieving her best result, fifth, in 1984 (Ottawa). She also finished a strong 6th at both the 82 and 83 worlds. At this event she had perhaps her best shot ever of a world podium finish in a heavily weakened post Olympic field and a respectable initial finish in compulsory figures which were never her strength, but a turn between her triple lutz-double toe combination in the short, and a miss on her triple flip in the long, was enough to keep her behind silver medallist Anna Kondrashova, bronze medallist Elaine Zayak, and 4th-place finisher Kira Ivanova.
