My Presentation

Figure skating

Figure skating is a sporting event where individuals, mixed couples, or groups perform spins, jumps and other ”moves” on the ice, often to music.There are international competitions for figure skating, such as World Championships, and figure skating is also an official event in the Winter Olympics.

History

While people have been ice skating for centuries, figure skating in its current form originated in the mid-19th century. The International Skating Union was founded in 1892. The first European Championship –for men only- was held in 1891 and the first World Championship in 1896 and won by Gilbert Fuchs. Madge Syers was the first woman, who entered the competition in 1902. After that, women were banned from competing against men, however, a separate competition for ”ladies” was established in 1906. Pairs skating was introduced at the 1908 World Championships, when the title was won by Anna Hübler & Heinrich Burger.

In the 1920s and 1930s, figure skating was dominated by Sonja Henie. She also set the fashion for female skaters to wear short skirts and white boots.The top male skaters of this period included Gillis Grafström and Karl Schafer.

At every Winter Olympics from 1964 until the present day, a Soviet or Russian pairs duo has won gold, often considered the longest winning streak in modern sports history.

1990, Midori Ito had landed the first triple axel by a woman, and Kurt Browning the first quadruple jump by a man.

Disciplines

In the singles competition for men and ”ladies”, the single skaters must perform jumps, spins and step sequences in their programs.

Pairs skating consisting of one lady and one man. Pairs perform singles elements such as throw jumps, in which the male skater ’throws’ the female into a jump; lifts; pair spins, in which both skaters spin together about a common axis; and death spirals.

Ice dancing, again for couples consisting a lady and man skating together. They have to focuse on difficult steps performed in close dance holds exactly to the beat of the music rather than acrobatic jumps, throws and lifts.

Theatre on ice, also known as ballet on ice in Europe. This is a form of group skating that is less structured than synchronized skating and allows the use of props and theatrical costuming.

Jumps

Jumps involve the skater leaping into the air and rotating rapidly to land after completing one or more rotations. There are many types of jumps, identified by the way the skater takes off and lands, as well as by the number of rotations that are completed.

There are six major jumps in figure skating. All six are landed on a right back outside edge, but have different takeoffs. The two categories of jumps are toe jumps and edge jumps.

Toe jumps are launched by tapping the toe pick of one skate into the ice and include:

Toe loops, flips and lutzes.

Edge jumps use no toe assist and include:

Salchows, loops and axels, which are the only jump to take off from a forward edge (the left outside edge). Because they take off from a forward edge, they include one-half extra rotations and are usually considered the hardest jump of the six.

The number of rotations performed in the air for each jump determines whether the jump is a single, double, triple or quad.

In addition to jumps performed singly, jumps may also be performed in combination or in sequence.

Spins

There are also several types of spins, identified by the position of the arms, legs and the angle of the back. Upright spin; camel spin, in which the skater assumes an ”airplane” position; sit spin; crossfoot spin; laybeck spin, in which the skater bends backward gracefully and positions arms artistically; Bielmann spins, where the skater pulls free leg from behind her and doughnut spins.

Flying spins are spins that are initated with a jump. These include the flying camel, sit; death drop and butterfly spin.

Steps and turns

Step sequences are a required element in competiton programs, They involve a combination of turns, steps, hops and edge changes, performed in a straight line down the ice, in a circle or in an S shape.

Present days

Evgeni Plushenko of Russia skated to the Olympic gold medal with a strong performance. Stephane Lambiel earned the silver medal and Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle captured the bronze.

2004 European Championship Brian Joubert of France stood in fourth place after the Short Program and had a good chance to medal that day, but he fell on his second triple Axel attempt and made some other errors to drop to sixth.

In conclusion

Figure skating is a very popular part of  the Winter Olympisc Games, in which the elegance of both the competitors and their movements attract many spectators. Unsurprisingly, the best skaters show many of the same physical and psychological attributes as gymnasts. Many of the best skaters currently come from Russia and the United States which are traditional powers in the sport.

That’s all. Thank you

                                                                                                                                                 Đominika Takács