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.
Spins are an element in figure skating in which the skater rotates, centered on a single point on the ice, while holding one or more body positions. They are performed by all disciplines of the sport, single skating, pair skating, and ice dance, and are a required element in most figure skating competitions. As The New York Times says, "While jumps look like sport, spins look more like art. While jumps provide the suspense, spins provide the scenery, but there is so much more to the scenery than most viewers have time or means to grasp". According to world champion and figure skating commentator Scott Hamilton, spins are often used "as breathing points or transitions to bigger things".
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 "she is remembered most for her overall athleticism, her charismatic appeal and her glamorous image on the ice."
Alissa Czisny is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time Skate Canada champion, the 2011 Skate America champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion. She is also the 2019 and the 2021 U.S. Professional Open Grand Champion.
Miki Ando is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2007 and 2011 World champion, 2011 Four Continents champion, 2004 World Junior champion, and a three-time Japanese national champion.
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.
Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov was a Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his wife Ludmila Belousova he was a two-time Olympic champion and four-time World champion (1965–1968). In 1979, the pair defected to Switzerland and became Swiss citizens in 1995. They continued to skate at ice shows and exhibitions until their seventies.
Magdalena Cecilia Colledge was a British figure skater. She was the 1936 Olympic silver medalist, the 1937 World Champion, the 1937–1939 European Champion, and a six-time British 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.
Natalya Vladimirovna Linichuk is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer for the Soviet Union. With partner and husband Gennadi Karponosov, she is the 1980 Olympic champion and a two-time World champion.
The following is a glossary of figure skating terms, sorted alphabetically.
The Ice Theatre of New York is a professional ensemble company dancing on ice, performing works by choreographers drawn from competitive figure skating and modern and contemporary dance. Aiming to create dance on ice as part of the modern performing arts scene, Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) was first conceived by Marc Bogaerts, Marjorie Kouns, Cecily Morrow and Moira North. Moira North went on to found ITNY in 1984. North, a Canadian-born skater was twice named one of the 25 most influential names in figure skating by International Figure Skating Magazine. Based at the Chelsea Piers rink complex in New York City, Ice Theatre of New York was the first not-for-profit professional ice dance company in the U.S. and the first to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Italian ice dancer, choreographer and aerialist, Elisa Angeli, is Ice Theatre of New York’s Ensemble Director.
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.
Caroline Zhao Zhang is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2007 World Junior Champion, the 2006 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a three-time U.S. national medalist.
Ashley Elisabeth Wagner is an American former figure skater. She is the 2016 World silver medalist, a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, the 2012 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist, winner of five Grand Prix events, and a three-time U.S. national champion.
Jana Vadimovna Khokhlova is a Russian former competitive ice dancer. She is best known for her partnership with Sergei Novitski, with whom she is the 2008 World bronze medalist, 2009 European champion, and a two-time (2008–09) Russian national champion. She also competed with Andrei Maximishin and Fedor Andreev.
The upright spin is one of the three basic figure skating spin positions. The International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of figure skating, defines an upright spin as a spin with "any position with the skating leg extended or slightly bent which is not a camel position". It was invented by British figure skater Cecilia Colledge. Variations of the upright spin include the layback spin, the Biellmann spin, the full layback, the split, the back upright spin, the forward upright spin, the scratchspin, and the sideways leaning spin.
Oliver Höner is a Swiss figure skating coach and former competitor. A member of EC Zürich, he became an eleven-time Swiss national champion and placed in the top ten at five ISU Championships – four Europeans and the 1989 Worlds in Paris. His best result, sixth, came at the 1990 Europeans in Leningrad. He also represented Switzerland at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, finishing 12th.
Samantha Cesario is an American former competitive figure skater. She won three bronze medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series and placed 4th at the 2013 World Junior Championships. On the senior level, she won bronze at the 2013 U.S. Classic and silver at the 2014 Finlandia Trophy.
Yulia Vyacheslavovna Lipnitskaya is a Russian retired competitive figure skater. She was part of the Russian team to win the 2014 Winter Olympics team trophy. Individually, Lipnitskaya is the 2014 World silver medalist, the 2014 European champion, the 2013–14 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, and a two-time Russian national silver medalist. Competing as a junior, Lipnitskaya won the 2012 World Junior Championships, 2011–12 JGP Final, and 2012 Russian Junior Championships. She retired from the professional sport on 9 September 2017 due to complications with ligaments of the legs and hip joints, as well as suffering from anorexia nervosa.
Switzerland 