Figure Skating Costumes

Competition costumes for skaters of both genders can be theatrical and heavily beaded or trimmed, and can cost thousands of dollars if designed by a top-level costume maker. Although the use of flesh-colored fabric means the costumes are often less revealing than they may appear, there have been repeated attempts to ban clothing that gives the impression of "excessive nudity" or that is otherwise inappropriate for athletic competition.Women generally wear opaque flesh-coloured leggings or tights under dresses and skirts, which may extend to cover their skates.

Figure Skating Championship Information

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice. Figure skating was an Olympic sport before there was an Olympic Winter Games. And is now an official event in the Winter Olympic Games. It is a very popular part of the Winter Olympic Games, in which the elegance of both the competitors and their movements attract many spectators.
Figure Skating qualifying competitions takes place two years in advance. Figure Skating competition structure encompasses the following events covering all disciplines offered within this structure:
Singles, pairs and dance
Nine (9) regional championships (juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior and senior singles skaters)

New England Regional Championships

North Atlantic Regional Championships

South Atlantic Regional Championships

Upper Great Lakes Regional Championships

Eastern Great Lakes Regional Championships

South-western Regional Championships

Northwest Pacific Regional Championships

Central Pacific Regional Championships

Southwest Pacific Regional Championships

Three (3) sectional championships (novice, junior and senior singles skaters and juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior and senior pairs and dance)
Eastern Sectional Championships

Midwestern Sectional Championships

Pacific Coast Sectional Championships.

Olympic-fatigued skaters bumble through worlds

Olympic-fatigued skaters bumble through worlds

By COLLEEN BARRY (AP) – Mar 28, 2010

TURIN, Italy — Olympic champion Kim Yu-na couldn't wait for it to be over.
The fatigue from the long Olympic season showed in her unusually error-ridden performances at the World Figure Skating Championships. She ceded the world title to longtime rival Mao Asada of Japan on Saturday, settling for the silver just a month after dazzling the world with what many will remember as one of the best Olympic performances of all time.

But the end of the world championships did bring Kim one thing she coveted: relief from the unending pressure.

"I have been waiting for this moment, to finish this season. I am so happy right now I just finished," Kim said after completing the long program that she won, despite falling on a triple salchow and scratching an axel.

And she wasn't alone.

Skater after skater coming off the ice talked about how exhausted they were after giving their all at the Olympics, the pinnacle of the sport and an event they train their entire lives for, only to turn around a month later for the world championships. The men's and women's competitions were particularly sloppy, with few of the top skaters coming close to their performances in Vancouver.

Which raises the question: Is another major international competition so soon after the Olympics too demanding for skaters?

"If indeed the time between the Olympics and the world championships is not enough to recover and prepare adequately for the event, it is our duty ... to pay attention to this fact," International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta said Saturday.

"We have a duty to administer this sport. But the skaters have the right to be treated properly," said Cinquanta, a former speed skater.
Cinquanta stopped short of saying the issue would be raised at the ISU Congress in Barcelona in June, but he pointedly signaled the question to ISU council members sitting in the press conference.

World championships in an Olympic year have traditionally been a letdown. Many top athletes opt out — with good reason. There's physical and mental exhaustion. And, more materially, the post-Olympic period provides a very short window during which medal winners can cash in on their achievement, long years of training and financial investment.

One needs to go back to 1992 for the last worlds where all of the Olympic medalists attended. And that year, all added a world gold to their Olympic gold: Kristi Yamaguchi, Victor Petrenko, Natalia Mishkutienok and Artur Dmitriev in pairs and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko in ice dance.

This year's worlds was more typical of recent trends.

Vancouver men's champion Evan Lysacek skipped worlds, as did silver medalist and three-time world champion Evgeni Plushenko — who won the 2006 Olympic gold medal at the very Palavela where worlds were held. Pairs gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, bronze medalists in ice dance in Vancouver and the 2009 world champs, also took a pass. Women's bronze medalist Joannie Rochette, whose mother died suddenly during the games, took a much needed break.

Veteran coach Frank Carroll said the back-to-back Olympics-worlds was "business as usual," but added "maybe they should separate a little. I don't know, it's an ISU decision."

He said most skaters should know they will have only four or five days of rest after the Olympics before hitting the training hard again. But Kim said she had a very hard time doing that, and told South Korean media she thought she would do well "just because of what I have."

While most skaters should be able to rebound, the exceptions are the champions, Carroll said. Lysacek, coached by Carroll, has been living the whirlwind, mingling with Hollywood celebrities and competing on "Dancing With the Stars."

Kim's shocking performance in the short, where she flubbed basic elements like a spin and a spiral, is an argument in favor of Lysacek's decision, Carroll said.

"That was a disaster. But she was the Olympic champion," Carroll said. "Evan, coming here and doing all those talk shows and `Dancing with the Stars,' what would he have done? It's — for an Olympic champion — a risk to come here.

"They'd be fools not to take advantage of it, too," Carroll added of the spoils that come with Olympic gold. "There is only a certain time of their lives when they can enjoy this level of popularity and fame — and money."

While many champions stay away, that is not to say the world title is not coveted. Vancouver ice dance gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir came to Turin to click off the world title box, which they did with usual elegant, emotional and technically superior skating.

And for some, the worlds are a chance for redemption after a rough Olympics.
Daisuke Takahashi didn't need any after winning Olympic bronze, and he delivered even bigger in Turin by winning Japan's first men's world title. But Patrick Chan, an Olympic medal hopeful who left Vancouver empty-handed, can be pleased with his second straight silver at worlds, and France's Brian Joubert vanquished a disastrous Olympic performance with the bronze, his fifth world medal.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

How To Find Great Figure Skating Dresses

How do you go about finding perfect figure skating dresses? Well, there are actually many ways, but the easiest thing to do is to go to a big name figure skating competition. That will give you the styles on the skaters. You can see if there are any figure skating dresses there that you think might be suitable for you or your daughter.

Another possibility is that often at these competitions, seller’s form out of town come with many dresses and accessories and set up a temporary shop inside the skating rink. It is really great to see so many dresses at once, and usually these are not figure skating dresses that are locally available. These vendors sometimes even take debit cards!

The Internet Shopping on-line is common practice now, and very safe.

If you look in your telephone book, you can often find shops that are devote to figure skating. No physical store means better prices for the buyers! These usually have catalogues, or of course now a days, have Internet shopping set up.

Or you can look on line. Some beautiful figure skating dresses are on the Internet, and at very good prices.

If you want to get it exactly to your taste, or your color, fabric etc. I would recommend a local dressmaker. If you don’t know of any around, another possibility to get information would be to call up your local skating rink and ask for the contact for the local skating club. Anyone in this club will be able to suggest a suitable dressmaker, one who knows that extra something to put onto the skating dress to make it go from oh to OH!!!

Also, if you have any experience in sewing, and especially sewing, you can make a nice figure skating dress. There are many figure skating patterns available. I have used Kwik Sew with great success, not only for dresses, but practice wear as well. Any plain pattern can be transformed with a few well-placed beads and spangles.

Remember, many competitions including the Olympics have been won in a Mothers handmade figure skating dress.