Ice dance is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. According to the International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of figure skating, an ice dance team consists of one woman and one man.
Peggy Gale Fleming is an American former figure skater. She is the 1968 Olympic Champion in the ladies' singles, being the only American gold medalist at these Games, and a three-time World Champion (1966–1968) in the same event. Fleming has been a television commentator in figure skating for over 20 years, including at several Winter Olympic Games.
Dorothy Stuart Hamill is a retired American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion and 1976 World champion in ladies' singles.
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.
Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For approximately the first 50 years of figure skating as a sport, until 1947, compulsory figures made up 60 percent of the total score at most competitions around the world. These figures continued to dominate the sport, although they steadily declined in importance, until the International Skating Union (ISU) voted to discontinue them as a part of competitions in 1990. Learning and training in compulsory figures instilled discipline and control; some in the figure skating community considered them necessary to teach skaters basic skills. Skaters would train for hours to learn and execute them well, and competing and judging figures would often take up to eight hours during competitions.
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.
Val Joe "Rudy" Galindo is an American former competitive figure skater who competed in both single skating and pair skating. As a single skater, he is the 1996 U.S. national champion, 1987 World Junior Champion, and 1996 World Bronze medalist. As a pairs skater, he competed with Kristi Yamaguchi and was the 1988 World Junior Champion and the 1989 and 1990 U.S. National Champion. He is the first openly gay skating champion in the United States, though US, World and Olympic champion Brian Boitano came out long after his career was over.
Philippe Candeloro is a French former competitive figure skater. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World medalist, a two-time European silver medalist, and a four-time French national champion (1994–97). He has been a commentator for French television during figure skating events at the Olympics. He also made special appearance as himself and a villain's victim named "Frozer" in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.
Toller Shalitoe Montague Cranston was a Canadian figure skater and painter. He won the 1971–1976 Canadian national championships, the 1974 World bronze medal and the 1976 Olympic bronze medal. Despite never winning at the World Figure Skating Championships due to his poor compulsory figures, he won the small medal for free skating at the 1972 and 1974 championships. Cranston is credited by many with having brought a new level of artistry to men's figure skating.
A three-turn is a figure skating element which involves both a change in direction and a change in edge. For example, when a skater executes a forward outside three-turn, the skater begins on a forward outside edge and finishes on a backwards inside edge. There are eight three-turns in all; one for each possible combination of direction, skating foot, and edge.
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.
Christopher Nicol Bowman was an American figure skater. He was a two-time World medalist, the 1983 World Junior champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion. He competed in two Olympic Winter Games, placing 7th in 1988 and 4th in 1992.
Petri Kokko is a Finnish former competitive ice dancer. He competed with Susanna Rahkamo, his wife. With Rahkamo, he is the 1995 European champion, 1995 World silver medalist, and competed in the Winter Olympics twice.
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Panin-Kolomenkin was a Russian figure skater and coach. He won the gold medal in special figures in the 1908 Summer Olympics, became one of the oldest figure skating Olympic champions. Panin was Russia's first Olympic champion.
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 short program of figure skating is the first of two segments of competitions, skated before the free skating program. It lasts, for both senior and junior singles and pair skaters, 2 minutes and 40 seconds. In synchronized skating, for both juniors and seniors, the short program lasts 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Vocal music with lyrics is allowed for all disciplines since the 2014-2015 season. The short program for single skaters and for pair skaters consists of seven required elements, and there are six required elements for synchronized skaters.
The 6.0 system of judging figure skating was developed during the early days of the sport, when early international competitions consisted of only compulsory figures. Skaters performed each figure three times on each foot, for a total of six, which as writer Ellyn Kestnbaum states, "gave rise to the system of awarding marks based on a standard of 6.0 as perfection". It was used in competitive figure skating until 2004, when it was replaced by the ISU Judging System in international competitions, as a result of the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal. British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean earned the most overall 6.0s in ice dance, Midori Ito from Japan has the most 6.0s in single skating, and Irina Rodnina from Russia, with two different partners, has the most 6.0s in pair skating.
Shepherd Walton Clark is a famous American competitive figure skater and the reigning World Figure Champion of The World Figure Sport Society. In 2022, he defended his World Figure Championship title, becoming The 2022 World Figure & Fancy Skating Champion, as well as the overall World Figure & Fancy Skating Champion. Clark has a total of ten World Figure Sport world championship gold medals, and two silver medals, making him the most decorated skater in World Figure Sport history, with twelve medals in total. He is also the only skater to compete in all eight World Figure Championships, 2015–2022. Clark is the only man to defend a World Figure title, to achieve the dual Figure & Fancy title, and the first to defend the dual titles in World Figure Sport history. He is the first person, and only person, to ever win six World Figure Championships Overall Titles.
The original dance (OD) was one of the programs performed by figure skaters in ice dance competitions, in which the ice dancers skated "a dance of their own creation to dance music they have selected for the designated rhythm(s)". It was normally the second of three programs in the competition, sandwiched between the compulsory dance (CD) and the free dance (FD). The rhythm(s) and type of music required for the OD changed every season, and were selected by the International Skating Union (ISU) before the start of the season. The ice dancers were free to choose their own music and choreography and to create their own routines. They were judged on a set of required criteria, including skating skills and how well they interpreted the music and the rhythm.
