History
In December 1841, British inventor Henry Kirk announced that he had created the first synthetic skating ring. His product actually only created a feeling of freezing, through an unusual mixture of materials such as salts, copper, aluminum, and lard, with the latter serving to make it more slippery.
The first ice rink was opened in the winter of the following year but it was not a great success. Its inventor decided on a much riskier move – to open it again, but in the middle of summer.
On June 8, 1844, Kirk opened the “Glacier” on Baker Street in London. This time the media was on his side, and the ring became a hit. But some years later, they wrote that skating in this building did not preserve the physical properties of real ice. Plus the unpleasant smell of grease spread throughout the rink.
A certain vet took over the facility and even experimented with real ice, creating a system of ammonia-filled pipes. It endured for a long time and inspired rinks from Australia to France. At the same time, in this way, it was possible to play hockey throughout the year.
In May 1876, the first indoor skating rink was opened in France. The opening of the Paris rink was the culmination of half a century of experimentation with various freezing strategies. Strategies from synthetic “ice” that was actually made from animal fat to real ice that was cooled through a complex system all in the name of an obscure dream: to be able to skate all year round.
Figure Skating is an Olympic Sport
Figure skating is an Olympic sport with competitions at all Winter Olympics. The official organization in the sport is the International Skating Organization (ISU), founded in 1892 with headquarters in Lausanne.
What is Figure Skating
Figure skating is a winter sport with various steps, turns, and jumps. Those are performed individually, in pairs, or in groups with ice skating and with the help of other elements, usually a musical composition.
Disciplines
There are a number of different disciplines in figure skating, but the Olympic disciplines are the following:
Individual skating – male and female competitions, where competitors perform jumps, spins, sequences of steps, spirals, and other elements, which are provided in the program.
Sports pairs – a pair made up of a skater and a skater performs elements characteristic of individual skating, but also some specific elements for sports pairs skating, such as throw-out jumps (the skater throws out the skater, who performs the technical jump), postures ( the skater is held by the skater above his head in different positions), double spins (the skater and the skater perform the same element at the same time), death spirals and other elements.
Dance pairs – it is a competition of pairs, consisting of a male and female skater. This discipline focuses more on the performance of dance elements and movements, in harmony with the music. In this discipline, holds may not be performed above the skater’s shoulders.
Other disciplines in figure skating are:
Synchronized skating – groups consisting of 12 to 20 skaters and skaters perform simultaneous precise movements and, divided into smaller groups, form different formations. The most common formations are various types of circles, polygons, and lines. The need for synchronization in the movements and performance of the elements makes the discipline quite complex and difficult.
Mandatory figures – skaters use their skates to draw circles, figure 8 figures, and other similar figures on the ice. These drawings are evaluated by the judges for their accuracy and clarity, and the movements during their drawing are also evaluated. Such figures used to be part of individual skating competitions but were abolished in 1990. Today, these figures are rarely performed.
Skating skills – it is a discipline in which different movements are performed, which shows the style of free skating, instead of drawing different shapes on the ice. Today, this discipline has more popularity than the discipline “mandatory figures” and many others.
