The ISU and the International Olympic Committee work together to determine the qualifying criteria for figure skaters who compete at the Winter Olympics. The ISU states the following: "All athletes must respect and comply with the provisions of the Olympic Charter currently in force".[1] The ISU Judging System is used to determine the placement of competitors and medal winners.
History
Early history
Figure skating was first contested as an Olympic sport at the 1908 Summer Olympics, in London, England, with four disciplines: men, ladies,[a]pair skating, and special figures.[3][4] According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, the inclusion of figure skating as an Olympic sport was due to the efforts and influence of the British figure skating community and the availability of indoor artificial ice in England.[5] Hines also states that "Olympic skating began in part because of a natural disaster".[6] The 1908 Olympics, the fourth modern Olympics, were originally to be held in Rome, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906 and Italy's rebuilding efforts prohibited it from hosting the Olympics. William Grenfell, the British member of the International Olympic Committee(IOC), was approached with an offer to host the Olympics in England.[7] H. E. Vandervell, who was called "the father of British figure skating",[8] was also involved in the proposal to include figure skating at the London Olympics.[9] The British Olympic Association, after consulting with and receiving positive responses from the governing bodies of various sports in England, accepted the invitation and was appointed to plan and manage the Games. A month after the appointment, they discussed the possibility of including figure skating and indoor speed skating (now called short track), but only figure skating was included. They also voted to omit the English-style of figure skating because, although it had become competitive in 1896, it was not practiced outside of Great Britain.[6]Special figures were also included for the only time in Olympic history.[10]
Hines considers the inclusion of pair skating in both the 1908 World Championships and 1908 Olympic Games "surprising", adding, "The rapidly increasing number of talented women skaters who wanted to compete must have had a direct influence and thus offers the best explanation of both ladies' and pairs competitions at about the same time".[11] Scholar Ellyn Kestnbaum called figure skating "one of the first organized sports to include female participants on a nominally equal footing with males and one of the first to offer women the opportunity to participate in the Olympics".[4] Kat Eschner of Smithsonian Magazine, in her discussion of women's participation in figure skating, states that "figure skating is the oldest women's Olympic sport. It was one of the first sports with a category for women competitors and the only women's winter Olympic sport until 1936".[12]
Figure skating was not included in the 1912 Games in Stockholm, probably due to a lack of ice, and the 1916 Olympics, which were supposed to be held in Berlin, was cancelled because of World War I.[5][19] The 1920 Games in Antwerp, the first Olympics after World War I, included figure skating, but the International Skating Union (ISU), the organization that oversees figure skating, chose not to "participate in either the planning or the conduct of the games",[20] as a protest against including nations conquered during the war. The ISU, however, did not try to prevent athletes from competing.[20] The Antwerp Figure Skating Club oversaw figure skating events at the Olympics instead of the ISU, and ISU rules were followed. It was the last time figure skating was contested before the Winter Games were held separately. Special figures were not included at Antwerp.[20]
The 1924 Paris Olympic Games were the first to separate the Summer Games and the Winter Games, which were held at Chamonix in southeastern France. In 1925, the IOC voted to rename the Chamonix events the Winter Olympic Games. Separate Winter Games have been held every four years, except in 1940 and 1944, when they were cancelled due to World War II.[5][21][22] Participation in figure skating at the Olympics increased between the World Wars, from 23 in 1920 to 42 in 1936.[23] The champions at the five Winter Games during this period were "some of the finest skaters in the history of the sport":[23]Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden, who won three times; Sonja Henie of Norway, who won three times; Karl Schäfer of Austria, who won twice; and pair skaters Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet of France, who won twice.[24][25][26][27]
Ice dance was added as an Olympic discipline in 1976; Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexandr Gorshkov from the Soviet Union were the first gold medalists.[33][34][35][36]Synchronized skating has never been an Olympic sport, although there has been discussion regarding its inclusion.[37] The Summer and Winter Games were held in the same year until 1992, when the IOC decided to alternate the Summer and Winter Games in a two-year rotation; the Winter Games were moved forward by two years, so the 1994 Winter Games were held in Lillehammer, Norway.[38][39] In 1992, the ISU also chose to permit "a one-time reinstatement of ineligible skaters to full eligibility",[40] which meant that professional skaters were able to compete at the European Championships, World Championships, and the Olympics in 1994.[40] The 1992 Winter Games were the first Olympics where compulsory figures were not included, after the ISU chose to remove them from competition in 1990.[41][42]
The women's figure skating competition drew media attention in 1994 in the aftermath of the assault of Nancy Kerrigan, planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding in January 1994, during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.[43] Both skaters competed at the Olympics; Kerrigan narrowly came in second place, behind Oksana Baiul of Ukraine, while Harding finished in eighth place.[44]
At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, a judging scandal led to the change of the scoring system in figure skating, from the 6.0 System, developed in the early days of the sport, to the ISU Judging System.[45][46] Kestnbaum states, "After the scandal at the 2002 Olympics, when the admission by the French judge in the pairs competition that she had been pressured by the French federation president to favor the top Russian team over the Canadian co-favorites provided confirmation of judging improprieties in front of a worldwide audience, the ISU took drastic action".[46] The first time the new scoring system was used at the Olympics was at the 2006 Turin Winter Games.[47]
The 2014 Sochi Games were the first time the team event was contested at the Olympics. Ten nations, each featuring a male and female single skater, a pair skating team, and an ice dance team, competed over three days. The five teams with the highest scores in the short program or rhythm dance went on to compete in the free skate or free dance programs.[48][49] The change in ice dance from three components to two "opened the way for the team event to be introduced in the Olympic programme".[48] The Russian team was the first team to win gold in the team event.[50] In 2022, during the Beijing Winter Games, a doping scandal prompted the ISU to raise the age limit for participation in the Olympics.[51]
There are five figure skating events at the Winter Olympics: one men's event (men's single skating), one women's event (women's single skating), and three mixed events, which consist of pair skating, ice dance, and the team event.[52] Athletes are sent to the Olympics by their individual National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which "promote the development of their respective national athletes and select which ones will attend the Olympic Games" and nominate host cities selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).[53]
The ISU states the following: "All athletes must respect and comply with the provisions of the Olympic Charter currently in force".[1] These provisions include, but are not limited to:[1]
Rule 41, which states that "any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the NOC which is entering such competitor".[54]
The rule prohibiting doping, which is defined as "the use of prohibited substances to enhance performance".[55]
The Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions, which prohibits "an intentional arrangement, act or omission aimed at an improper alteration of the result or the course of a sports competition" for the purpose of "obtaining an undue benefit for oneself or for others".[56]
The maximum number of competitors for the Winter Games across all disciplines, for the short program and the rhythm dance to qualify for the free skate and free dance, must be determined before each Winter Games and must be in accordance with the qualification system. The IOC decides the qualification system in consultation with the ISU and publishes the qualification points and qualification timeline prior to the start of the Winter Games.[57][58][b] The IOC also publishes the confirmation and entry procedure for the Olympics prior to the Olympics.[59]
There are 26 entries for the women's and men's singles competition, 16 entries for pair skaters, and 19 entries for ice dance. ISU-member countries with skaters who have earned the necessary points have the right to two or three entries into the Winter Games if they also had two or three entries in the World Championships immediately prior to the Winter Games.[57]
The remaining open entries are filled by ISU-member countries in the order of their placements at a senior international competition designated by the ISU that took place in the autumn of the calendar year immediately prior to the Winter Games. The entries are available only to ISU-member countries that have earned one entry and have earned enough points for two or three entries, but did not have two or three skaters who qualified for the free skate or free dance at the World Championships immediately prior to the Olympic Games.[57]
Skaters of ISU-member countries who have participated in the World senior championships that have taken place the year before the Winter Games are eligible to accumulate points to qualify to compete at the Olympics.[57] Skaters, pair teams, and ice dance couples are eligible to enter and participate in the Olympics only if they have reached the applicable combined total elements score, as established for the European Championships or Four Continents Championships. The scores must be earned during an ISU-recognized international competition held during the same season as the Games or during the immediately preceding season.[60] However, the ISU-member country that is hosting the Games has the right to enter one competitor "per concerned discipline(s) as additional entry(ies)" only if the "concerned Skater(s)/Pair/Couple" have earned the minimum total elements score for the Winter Games.[60] Skaters participating in the Olympics through the host country's allocated quota can compete in individual events only, not in the team event.[61] The host country can choose not to send competitors to the figure skating events at the Olympics; for example, in 1994, Norway sent no skaters to Lillehammer, despite being the host country.[62]
ISU-member countries with skaters who have earned entries must inform the ISU, if possible, how many skaters and teams are eligible to compete at the Olympics after the senior World Championships and qualifying competition, whichever applies, but before a specified date. The unfilled entries will be filled by eligible member countries.[60] The ISU publishes a list of the "set and stand-by entries" before a specified date, but after the senior World Championships and qualifying competitions for the Olympics, whichever applies.[60] The ISU confirms in writing the quota places allotted to each NOC, and the NOCs have two weeks to accept them.[61]
Team event
If the IOC includes, in the program of the Olympics, in addition to the existing number of events, a team event with single skaters, pair skaters, and ice dancers, the ISU, in consultation with the IOC, will set all relevant conditions for the event.[60] These conditions include: the number of teams and participants; qualifying, participation, and entry criteria; technical format; starting order; result determination; officials' participation; and other "relevant technical and organizational details".[60]
The team event format consists of up to ten best national teams from the NOCs. Each team consists of one skater from the men's single skating event, one skater from the women's single skating event, one pair skating team, and one ice dance couple, for a total of six skaters per team.[49] According to the ISU, "Only athletes that are already qualified for the individual events...are eligible to participate in the Team Event" at the Olympics.[63] Each team must participate in at least three disciplines of the team event.[49] If an NOC has two or three entries in an individual Olympic competition and/or discipline, the NOC must confirm the names of the participants who will compete in the short program and/or rhythm dance of the team event.[59]
In 2022, the ISU voted to gradually raise the minimum age to 17 over the next three years. They characterized the decision "as an effort to safeguard 'the physical and mental health, and emotional well-being' of skaters".[51] The decision came in the aftermath of worldwide criticism for the doping scandal involving Russian skater Kamila Valieva during the Beijing Winter Olympics, who was 15 years old at the time. The scandal, according to The New York Times, "once again raised questions about the physical and mental safety of young skaters and whether enough was being done to protect them from the adults guiding their careers".[51]
The proposal to raise the age limit had broad support in the international figure skating community, where the issue had been discussed and debated for many years, though some opposed the disruption it would cause to the sport. Tatiana Tarasova, a top figure skating coach in Russia, stated that the rule change was made to "specifically target the Russian team".[51] ISU president Jan Dijkema said that it was an important and historic decision.[51]
As of the 2025–26 season, all of the technical elements in any figure skating performance–such as jumps and spins–are assigned a predetermined base point value and are then scored by a panel of seven or nine judges on a scale from -5 to 5 based on their quality of execution.[64] The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) is determined by calculating the trimmed mean (that is, an average after deleting the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE is added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements are added together to generate a total element score.[65] At the same time, judges evaluate each performance based on three program components–skating skills, presentation, and composition–and assign a score from .25 to 10 in .25 point increments.[66] The judging panel's final score for each program component is also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores are then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results are added together to generate a total program component score.[67]
Deductions are applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls.[69] The total element score and total program component score are added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.[70]
↑"Women" were referred to as "ladies" in ISU regulations and communications until the 2021–22 season.[2]
↑See "Qualification System - XXV Olympic Winter Games - Milano Cortina 2026: Figure Skating", pp. 1-2, for a more detailed explanation of the quota spaces for skaters and couples.
↑Guttmann, Allen (2002). The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (2nded.). Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p.85. ISBN978-0-252-07046-4.
Hines, James R. (2015). Figure Skating in the Formative Years: Singles, Pairs, and the Expanding Role of Women. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN978-0-252-03906-5.
Kestnbaum, Ellyn (2003). Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN0819566411.
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