Figure Skating

Figure Skating's competition structure encompasses the following events covering all disciplines offered within this structure: Singles, pairs and dance

. The International Skating Union (ISU) regulates international figure skating judging and competitions. In languages other than English, figure skating is usually referred to by a name that translates as "artistic skating". Like ice hockey, figure skating is most popular in regions where natural ice is present.

Figure skating in popular culture.

As a sport, the Ice Skating was made popular by two great skaters like Jackson Haines of America in the decades of 60`s and 70`s of the 19th century and Norway`s Sonja Henie popularized the Figure Skating during the decades of 1920s and 1930s. 

In 1937, Sonja Henie appeared in the film Thin Ice. In the 1920s and 1930s, Sonja Henie dominated figure skating. Sonja turned competitive success into a lucrative professional career as a movie star and touring skater

Only later, after champions such as Sonja Henie had gained their reputations through these carnivals, did they turn professional and inaugurate the professional shows that have developed into the multimillion-dollar businesses they are today.  Among this year's contestants there were none who could hold a candle toSonja Henie (ten times world's champion), Karl Schäfer (seven timesworld's champion), nor even Megan Taylor (current world's champion).

. Ice skating fans can enjoy some of the excitement of the figure skating that took place at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver since the Stars on Ice show is touring through many cities in the USA. There are "queens and princesses of the ice" who have left their mark on the figure skating world.

Figure Skating History

People used skates as a way of crossing frozen lakes and rivers in the winter. The most ancient skates were made from the leg bones of big animals. Skates were found in the countries like Russia, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. There were holes bored at each end of the bone and the people at that time used the leather straps to tie the skates on.

The Dutch people at that time used the skates made of animal bones as their footwear and glided across the frozen lakes and rivers at the time of Winter.  They used to call these skates, as "Schenkel" in Dutch that means, "Leg bone" After that, the Dutch started using wooden platform skates with flat iron bottom runners around the 14th Century.

A Scotsman invented a pair of all-iron skates in the year of 1592

Jackson Haines, credited with being the father of figure skating, created many new skating moves including the sit spin and, because the strap-on skates of that day proved inadequate for his extraordinary needs, he invented a revolutionary new blade which was solidly affixed to the boot with screws and had a toe pick at the front to aid his jumping and spinning.

He met Axel Paulsen in Oslo, and encouraged him to adapt his revolution-type jump from racing skates to figure skates.; After a few falls, Axel conceived of adding a pick or rake to the front of the figure skates.; After that pick was welded to his figure skates, he could land backwards easily.

In Vienna, he premiered his adaptation of the waltz on skates, and they believed that he must be Viennese; and of course, it was helped by his small orchestra. When Axel competed in a Vienna "meeting" in 1882, an Englishman named Henry Bosworth observed the new pick, and took that invention back to England, where he manufactured several pairs of ice skates, which he quickly sold. He also screwed his figure skates directly onto his boots, which added stability and allowed him to do more athletic leaps and jumps.

 Figure skates differ from hockey skates most visibly in having a set of large, jagged teeth called toe picks (also called "toe rakes") on the front of the blade.

Soft blade covers called soakers are used to absorb condensation and protect the blades from rust when the skates are not being worn. Hard plastic skate guards are used when the skater must walk in his or her skates when not on the ice.

Figure skates have come a long way since the time Jackson Haines took to the ice.

Jackson Haines, the Father Of Figure Skating

Jackson Haines considered the father of modern figure skating. 

Jackson Haines (1840–1875) was an American ballet dancer and figure skater who is regarded as the father of modern figure skating.  Haines, a New Yorker who had studied ballet, was the first skater to put form into figure skating After studying dance in Europe as a young teen-ager, he returned to the United States when he was seventeen and he began to incorporate dance movements into skating with musical accompaniment. 

Figure skating was a stiff, even awkward exercise in its early years.  At this time, figure skating was performed in the "English style", which was rigid and formal.  His ideas met with little enthusiasm until he founded a skating school in Vienna in 1863.  Although his skating style (called International) was rejected in the United States and England, he became a great popular success in Sweden, Austria, and elsewhere on the Continent. 

His style of skating included athletic jumps, leaps, turns, and spins.  Brought Ballet and Athletics to the Ice: Haines was the first skater to incorporate ballet and dance movements into ice-skating.  He traveled to Europe to show off and teach his figure skating ideas.  He lived in Vienna for a time, where his skating style became very popular. 

Figure skating on ice was still in its infancy and had not yet developed as a competitive sport.  For about 20 years, figure skating was tangled in a controversy between purists, mostly from England, and adherents of "fancy skating" as pioneered by Jackson Haines. 

The purists advocated the sheer technique of tracing figures properly, as opposed to the flamboyant free skating that Haines had developed.  Haines' style was a complete contrast to the English style; he used his ballet background to create graceful programs, and introduced accompanying music (a new concept at the time). 

In 1898, the world figure skating championships were held in England, and many English skaters decided that they liked the "International Style" after all.  The result was a compromise: Figure skating competition combined compulsory figures with free skating.

Haines created many new skating moves including the sit spin and, because the strap-on skates of that day proved inadequate for his extraordinary needs, he invented a revolutionary new blade, which was solidly affixed to the boot with screws and had a toe pick at the front to aid his jumping and spinning. 

He arranged many dance steps suitable for the ice rink, like the "Jackson Haines Valse.  Every good figure skater can do a Jackson Haines spin, the showy sit-spin that has helped make ice shows a popular U.

Haines was the inventor of the sit spin, one of the three basic spin types. 

Haines died in Finland and was buried there.

Figure Skating Jumps

Waltz Jump

A waltz jump is one of the few figure skating jumps that takes off in a forward direction. A waltz is a half rotation jump, taking off on the outside edge of one foot and landing on the outside edge of the other foot.

Ballet Jump

This is an early figure skating jump the we will talk about soon.

Split Jump

The entry for a split jump is exactly the same as for the half flip. When the skater springs into a spit position in the air.

Stag Jump

A stag jump is a variation of a split jump with the front leg bent.

Walley Jump

A walley jump is counter-rotated, and so is somewhat more difficult than the conventionally rotated jumps.

Salchow Jump

The salchow is a figure skating jump with a takeoff from a back inside edge and landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot after one or more rotations in the air

Toe Loop Jump A toe loop jump takes off and lands on the same back outside edge of the ice skate.

Loop Jump

Although some define a loop jump as taking off from a back outside edge the skater is actually facing forward when the skate leaves the ice. The skater lands on the same back outside edge.

Flip Jump

A flip jump is similar to a salchow but includes a toe pick launch off a back inside edge and lands on the back outside edge. It is usually entered from a forward glide on the left foot. The free foot will be held up in the air in front of the skater. Just prior to the jump, the free leg will drop back, tap the ice and push the skater around in a LFO 3-turn, so that he is on a shallow LBI edge. The right foot goes directly behind the skater, picks the ice and “pulls” the skater up into the air.



Lutz Jump

The Lutz figure skating jump is similar to the flip jump, but it takes off from a back outside edge instead of a back inside. Because the jump turns in the counter direction to the entry edge it is the the hardest jump for most skaters.


Axel Jump

The Axel is a difficult figure skating jump. The Axel jump is a Waltz Jump with an extra rotation. Like a waltz, an axel jump entered from a forward outside edge. The skater rotates 1-1/2 times in the air for a single axel, and then lands on a back outside edge of the other foot. demo

Variations

Doubles T ripples.

When performing figure skating jumps, if the skater makes two, three, or four rotations the jump is considered a double, triple or quad jump. More rotations receive significantly more points.

Combination's

Two or three figure skating jumps in succession with no steps in between are considered a combination jump.


Quality and Grade of Execution


1. Unexpected / creative / difficult entry
2. Clear recognizable steps/free skating movements immediately preceding element
3. Varied position in the air / delay in rotation
4. Great height and/or distance
5. Superior extension on landing / creative exit
6. Superior flow in and out (and in-between in jump combinations / sequences)

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.