Olympic champions in figure singles. New ice princesses: the most promising Russian single figure skaters
www.olympic-champions.ru
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| 1908 LondonGreat BritainReport | Ulrich SalchowSweden | Rickard JohanssonSweden | Per TorenSweden |
| 1920 AntwerpBelgiumBelgiumReport | Gillis GrafströmSweden | Andreas KroghNorway | Martin StyxrudNorway |
| 1924 ChamonixFrance FranceReport | Gillis GrafströmSweden | Willi BöcklAustria | Georges GauciSwitzerland |
| 1928 St. MoritzSwitzerland SwitzerlandReport | Gillis GrafströmSweden | Willi BöcklAustria | Robert van ZebroeckBelgium |
| 1932 Lake PlacidUSAUSAReport | Karl SchaeferAustria | Gillis GrafströmSweden | Bud WilsonCanada |
| 1936 Garmisch-PartenkirchenGermany GermanyReport | Karl SchaeferAustria | Ernst BayerGermany | Felix KasparAustria |
| 1948 St. MoritzSwitzerland SwitzerlandReport | Richard Button USA | Hans GerschwilerSwitzerland | Edi RadaAustria |
| 1952 OsloNorway Norway | Richard Button USA | Helmut SeibtAustria | James GroganUSA |
| 1956 Cortina d'AmpezzoItaly Italy | Hayes Alan JenkinsUSA | Ronald RobertsonUSA | David JenkinsUSA |
| 1960 Squaw Valley USA USA | David JenkinsUSA | Karol DivinCzechoslovakia | Donald JacksonCanada |
| 1964 InnsbruckAustria Austria | Manfred SchnelldorferUnited German Team | Alain CalmatFrance | Scott AllenUSA |
| 1968 GrenobleFrance France | Wolfgang SchwarzAustria | Tim WoodUSA | Patrick PeraFrance |
| 1972 SapporoJapan Japan | Ondrej NepelaCzechoslovakia | Sergei ChetverukhinUSSR | Patrick PeraFrance |
| 1976 InnsbruckAustria Austria | John CurrieUK | Vladimir KovalevUSSR | Toler CranstonCanada |
| 1980 Lake Placid USA USA | Robin CousinsUK | Jan HoffmanGDR | Charles TicknerUSA |
| 1984 SarajevoYugoslavia Yugoslavia | Scott HamiltonUSA | Brian OrserCanada | Josef SabovcikCzechoslovakia |
| 1988 CalgaryCanada Canada | Brian BoitanoUSA | Brian OrserCanada | Victor PetrenkoUSSR |
| 1992 AlbertvilleFrance France | Victor PetrenkoUnited team | Paul WileyUSA | Petr BarnaCzechoslovakia |
| 1994 LillehammerNorway Norway | Alexey UrmanovRussia | Elvis StojkoCanada | Philippe CandeloroFrance |
| 1998 NaganoJapan Japan | Ilya KulikRussia | Elvis StojkoCanada | Philippe CandeloroFrance |
| 2002 Salt Lake City USA USA | Alexey YagudinRussia | Evgeni PlushenkoRussia | Timothy GableUSA |
| 2006 TurinItaly Italy | Evgeni PlushenkoRussia | Stephane LambielSwitzerland | Jeffrey BattleCanada |
| 2010 VancouverCanada Canada | Evan LysacekUSA | Evgeni PlushenkoRussia | Daisuke TakahashiJapan |
| 2014 SochiRussia Russia | Yuzuru HanyuJapan | Patrick ChanCanada | Denis TenKazakhstan |
| 2018 PyeongchangRepublic of Korea Republic of Korea | Yuzuru HanyuJapan | Shoma UnoJapan | Javier FernandezSpain |
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Famous Russian figure skaters, Olympic champions
Figure skating today is one of the most popular sports in the world, attracting more and more children - future champions - and is also interesting and beautiful to watch on TV or on an ice skating rink.
The emergence of figure skating
The first skates on iron runners appeared in the 13th-14th centuries in Holland, so it is considered the ancestor of figure skating.
After the appearance of skates of a fundamentally new type, popularity came, which incredibly contributed to the rapid development of this sport, which in those days boiled down to drawing various figures on the ice without losing a beautiful pose.
The first set of rules for figure skating was published in England in 1772 and was called “A Treatise on Skating.” It described all the main figures known at that time. Thus, Great Britain secured the authorship of all figures required in figure skating. In addition, in 1742 the first speed skating circles arose here, and official rules for holding competitions were developed and approved.
Sports historians unanimously recognize the American Jason Gaintz as the founder of the modern style of figure skating. It was he who played main role in its distribution throughout the world, and, in particular, in Russia.
Development of figure skating in Russia
In the Russian Empire, figure skating was very popular back in the time of Peter I, who brought the first samples of skates from Europe. It is noteworthy that the Russian emperor was the first to come up with the idea of attaching skates directly to shoes and, in fact, created the prototype of modern skates.
The first Russian manual for figure skaters was published in 1838 in St. Petersburg and was called “Winter Fun and the Art of Skating,” compiled by a gymnastics teacher at a military educational institution G.M. Pauli.
Figure skating itself appeared in Russia in 1865, and at the same time the first skating rink was opened in the Yusupov Garden in St. Petersburg. At that time, it was the most comfortable in all of Russia and immediately became a platform for professional training of figure skaters. And in 1878, the first competition among Russian athletes was held.
The first Russian figure skaters began to appear at the end of the 19th century. The pioneer who took part in international competitions was A.P. Lebedev, who was a lawyer by training.
Nikolai Poduskov took part in the first official competition, which was held in 1896 and took 4th place in single skating, but at the Russian Open Championship in 1901 he took last place.
Georgy Sanders, taking part in the same competitions as Poduskov, took 3rd place, becoming a bronze medalist. In addition, he was the first to perform complex figures of which he was the author, which in turn helped another famous Russian figure skater, Nikolai Panin, who performed them at the 1908 Olympics in London, to win Russia’s first Olympic gold.
Of the Soviet champions who won the highest awards at various competitions in figure skating, the most famous are Sergei Chetverukhin (silver at the Sapporo Olympics, bronze at the 1971 World Championships, silver at the World Championships in Calgary (1972) and Bratislava (1973) and bronze at the European Championships in 1969 year) and Sergei Volkov (world champion in 1975, USSR champion in 1974 and 1976).
Famous Russian male figure skaters in single skating
Famous Russian figure skaters have repeatedly become champions and taken prizes in various tournaments - from the Olympic Games to championships of various levels, Grand Prix and Cups.
One of the first best figure skaters in Russia was Alexey Urmanov, a multiple medalist and champion of the USSR, Russia and European champion, Olympic champion in 1994.
At the 1998 Olympics, Russia again won the gold medal in men's singles, won by Ilya Kulik. In addition to the highest Olympic award, this famous Russian figure skater has “gold” at the Russian championship, “silver” and “bronze” at the world and European championships.
One of the most famous and best athletes in Russia is Alexey Yagudin, who has the main award for an athlete - gold at the 2002 Olympics. He is a multiple European and world champion, winner of the Grand Prix finals in figure skating. 
No less famous is the young single skater Maxim Kovtun, who has several serious victories to his name. He is a three-time winner of the Russian Championship and took silver at the 2015 European Championship.
The most famous and titled figure skater in Russia and throughout the world is Evgeni Plushenko. He is the winner of gold medals at two Olympics (2006 - in singles, 2014 - in team skating), and twice took “silver” at the Olympic Games. Plushenko won the world champion title 3 times, the European champion seven times and the Russian championship 10 times. He also has many other awards and titles. 
Plushenko has a number of sporting achievements, and his business card began performing the most difficult single skating figures at competitions. He has no equal.
Russian male figure skaters are rightfully considered among the best in the world.
Famous Russian women singles skaters
Unfortunately, Russian women's single skating cannot boast of a long history of performances and awards in this sport.
The history of victories began only in 1976 with the appearance of figure skater Elena Vodorezova. It was she who won the first awards at the European Championships, and subsequently became third at the World Championships.
The first Olympic medal, bronze, was won by single skater Kira Ivanova in 1983.
Success came to the skaters only when, for the first time in Russian history, Irina Slutskaya won the European Championship in 1996. And already in 1999, also at the European Championships, Maria Butyrskaya, Soldatova and Volchkova won all the awards. In the same year, Butyrskaya brought gold to the World Championships.
Despite the fact that the best Russian figure skaters Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya no longer compete, they are the most famous and legendary figure skaters in Russia to this day.
The leaders of Russian women's single skating are currently Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova.
Sotnikova, the first and so far only, won an Olympic gold medal in women's single skating. In addition, she became the winner of the Russian championships 4 times, and twice won silver at the European championships. 
Figure skating connoisseurs call Adeline a child prodigy, because at the age of 13 she was already performing the most complex elements of figure skating.
Yulia Lipnitskaya is also an Olympic gold medalist in team competition. In addition, she has received awards of various merits at the World and European Championships, including junior ones.
Yulia is now 17 years old, Adeline is 19, and they are the future of Russian women's single skating.
Best in pair skating
In pairs skating, Russia is much more fortunate in winning titles, regalia and world-famous athletes than in singles.
Even those who are very far from the world of sports know Russian pair skaters by name and face.
Our couple Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova won their first Olympic gold back in 1964, and again in 1968. They are the author of many elements that are still included in the mandatory program of performances all over the world. At that time, this couple was the only one who skated like no one else could.
The next couple to conquer the Olympics were Alexey Ulanov and Irina Rodnina - in 1972. Irina Rodnina won her next gold together with Alexander Zaitsev in 1976 and 1980.
The most famous Russian figure skaters - Olympic champions in pair skating are:
Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya;
Maxim Marinin and Tatyana Totmyanina;
Roman Kostomarov and Tatyana Navka.
The leaders of pair skating today are Russian figure skaters Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar, who already have 2 Olympic gold medals (in pair skating and in team competitions) and they are not going to stop there. 
Best couples in ice dancing
Ice dancing as a separate discipline was included in the program of international competitions only in 1950.
In this program, Russia (then the Soviet Union) was represented by the famous couple Alexander Gorshkov and Lyudmila Pakhomova, who set the tone for dance throughout the world and became world champions 6 times and won gold at the 1976 Olympics.
The first, already Russian, famous dancing couple of Oksana Grischuk and Evgenia Platova twice became gold medalists at the 1994 and 1998 Olympics, which made them record holders in this sport.
The couple Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Domnina are well known, among whose achievements are bronze at the 2010 Olympics, double gold at the European Championships and world champions in 2009.
Some of the most famous young dancers, Nikita Katsalapov and Elena Ilyinykh, brought Olympic gold, silver and bronze at the European and Russian championships to Russia's medal box. The couple broke up after the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Today, the best, strongest and most famous figure skaters in Russia in ice dancing are Dmitry Solovyov and Ekaterina Bobrova - champions of Europe and Russia.
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Outstanding Olympic figure skating champions of different years
One of the most beautiful and difficult sports is figure skating. The Olympics are a particularly difficult and exciting test for an athlete. Many people like to watch figure skaters perform at the Olympic Games. But few people think that behind this beautiful, mesmerizing spectacle lies the hard, everyday work of athletes. How much pain, sweat, failures and tears you have to endure! And how hard it is to get the treasured gold. It is especially difficult for fragile girls performing in singles skating. 
A little history
How impressive figure skating looks! Women - Olympic champions in this sport - are known throughout the world. But not everyone knows that women's singles skating originated only in 1906. It was then that single competitions for men and women began to be held. And in 1908, women's single skating was included in the Olympic program.
The first Olympic champions in figure skating
The first Olympic champion in women's single skating in 1908 was the Englishwoman Maege Sayers. She is truly an outstanding athlete. She began her performances back in 1901, when women's singles competitions were not allowed at all, so she participated in men's. Moreover, she became world champion twice - in 1906 and 1907. Two years in a row, which not every athlete can do.
Further, in the period after the First World War, the most outstanding athlete was the Norwegian Sonja Henie, who won every competition and Olympics from 1927 to 1936. She was the first woman to master the single axel. These outstanding representatives of the fair sex are the first Olympic champions in figure skating.
Post-war period in figure skating
During World War II, female athletes from European countries did not have the opportunity to train. Only figure skaters from the USA and Canada continued their training. It is not surprising that the next figure skating champion was a Canadian citizen. At the 1948 Games, Barbara Ann Scott won Olympic gold. One of her achievements was the first double lutz in single women's skating, performed by her in 1942.
The 1952 Olympic gold was won by Genette Alwegg from Great Britain. She was also the world champion in 1951. At that time, artistry was less valued, and Genette's performances were always distinguished by clear, perfect execution of jumps and other mandatory elements. This distinguished it favorably from its main competitors. It is noteworthy that Olympic gold again fell into the hands of an Englishwoman.
American stage in women's figure skating
At this stage, the Americans do not let go of the gold and silver medals. At the 1956 Olympic Games, Tenley Albright became the winner. The next Olympic champion in figure skating in 1960 was her compatriot Carol Heiss, who had previously been a silver medalist in the competition.
The Americans established their own special, recognizable style of skating, which was distinguished by flexibility, plasticity, clarity of movements, spectacular choreography, as well as high-quality and technical execution of the required elements. The next generation of American figure skaters continued to show this style. In 1968, Peggy Fleming became the Olympic champion, and in 1976, Dorothy Hamill received gold.
An athlete from Austria also made her contribution to figure skating. She was the outstanding Beatrice Schuba, who performed the obligatory figures with highest quality and was the only one who received a score above 5 points for technique. This brought her the coveted 1972 Olympic gold.
Triumph of German figure skaters
Olympic figure skating champions from Germany also made a significant contribution to the history of this sport. In the 80s, athletes from the GDR made themselves known. These were strong skaters who brought an innovative, powerful sporting style to skating. At the same time, the artistic abilities of these girls were at a fairly high level.
At the 1980 Olympic Games, Anette Petsch won gold. And after her, her compatriot Katharina Witt leads two Olympics - in 1984 and 1988. This athlete was distinguished by her perfect execution of technical elements and harmoniously structured programs.
A new stage in women's figure skating
Olympic gold returns to the Americans again in 1992. It was brought to the country by Kristi Yamaguchi. She is known for winning the US Championships twice: in singles and in pairs.
Ukrainian citizen Oksana Baiul becomes the 1994 Olympic champion. This figure skater amazed the audience and judges with her excellent technique in performing the elements and a very emotional performance.
And again the Americans come out on top. The 1998 Games brought gold to Tara Lipinski, who became the youngest Olympic champion in individual disciplines. Sarah Hughes wins in 2002 with a record number of difficult elements and jumps in her free program.
In Turin, the American figure skating school takes an honorable second place. American Sasha Cohen takes silver. And first place is awarded to Japanese Shizuka Arakawa. She is the first Japanese athlete in women's skating to become an Olympic champion.
The next outstanding figure skater is a girl from South Korea. Kim Young Ah received all the highest titles, which no other figure skater had achieved before. She received gold at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, won the Four Continents Championship, became a world champion and a leader in the Grand Prix Final.
Olympics in Sochi
The Olympics in Sochi becomes an important stage in the history of figure skating. Figure skating is gaining a valuable innovation. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, a team competition is being held. Figure skaters from Russia receive gold in it. The young figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya takes part in this competition and becomes the youngest Olympic champion. But Yulia was unlucky in the individual competition, and she only became fifth.
The gold still goes to Russia. In the individual competition, the winner is Adelina Sotnikova, another young Russian woman who amazed everyone with her stunning performance in terms of technique, artistry and emotions. Olympic figure skating champions such as Adeline and Yulia receive the first gold medals for Russia in women's singles. Adelina Sotnikova becomes the first winner of the Games from Russia in the individual competition.
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Olympic victories of Russian figure skaters (photo) / Sports magazine
Figure skating has always been a sport for Russia that brings a lot of Olympic gold. In anticipation of our team's triumph in the team competition in Sochi, we recall the most important victories won by Russian and Soviet figure skaters at Olympic ice , - in the Sports photo gallery Mail.Ru. Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, where they became champions. Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov are the champions of the 1972 Olympics. Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev at the 1976 Olympics. In Austria, Irina became a two-time Olympic champion. After Lake Placid 1980. Irina Rodnina is already a three-time Olympic champion in pair skating, Alexander Zaitsev is a two-time champion. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are world champions in ice dancing. They won bronze medals at the Vancouver Olympics. According to one opinion, the couple was unable to compete for a different result not only because of the partner’s injury, but also because of the poorly chosen composition and costumes. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin at the Olympics in Vancouver during the compulsory dance. After the Canadian Games, the couple retired due to problems with their partner’s knee. Evgeni Plushenko won his second silver medal at the Games in Vancouver. Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov are two-time bronze medalists at the world championships in pairs figure skating. The story of Yuko, who wanted to train only with Tatyana Moskvina and changed her citizenship for this, has always aroused sympathy for the couple among fans. All the more offensive was their fourth place at the Vancouver Olympics. But even more offensive for the athletes was the fact that they were missing the Sochi Games due to Alexander’s serious injury. Evgeni Plushenko in 2002 became the silver medalist of the Games in Salt Lake City. This was the first Olympics and the first Olympic medal for the figure skater. This girl needs no introduction - her titles speak for her. Irina Slutskaya - silver medalist of the 2002 Olympic Games, bronze medalist of the 2006 Olympic Games, two-time world champion (2002, 2005), the first seven-time European champion in history (1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006). During the Olympics in Nagano, Irina Slutskaya turned 19 years old. She took fifth place at those Games. At the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Irina Slutskaya took second place, losing by one judge's vote to American Sarah Hughes. In the same year she became the world champion for the first time. Maria Butyrskaya stopped one step away from the podium at the Nagano Olympics, but a year later she became the world champion. Olympic champion in men's single skating at the 1998 Games Ilya Kulik. Shortly after this victory, he retired. And heroes are sometimes inexperienced: at the Nagano Olympics, Alexey Yagudin was fifth. In 2002, the whole world watched what this young man did on the ice. His “Winter” and “The Man in the Iron Mask” captivated everyone. After the victorious skate, he sincerely and very emotionally burst into tears - winners are allowed to do this. This is how Alexey Yagudin became the 2002 Olympic champion. In addition to the Olympics, Yagudin won the World Championship four times and the European Championship three times. It's funny that Yagudin never won the Russian Championship: he has 4 silver and 1 bronze.Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh won silver medals in ice dancing at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (USA) in February 2002, and soon won the world championship.
The victory of Anton and Elena at the 2002 Games was overshadowed by a scandal that led to global changes in the rules of figure skating. After the award ceremony, it was decided to award the second set of gold medals - they were received by Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are a couple in which the partner had to be taught to walk again a couple of years before the silver medal at the Nagano Olympics. They will arrive from Japan as vice-champions, and four years later, in Salt Lake City, they will win the championship title in pairs skating. Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov are champions in pair skating in Lillehammer 1994. Enlarge Alexey Urmanov is the 1994 Olympic champion in men's single skating. Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov are two-time Olympic champions in ice dancing (1994, 1998). Olympic champions in ice dancing, figure skaters Oksana Grischuk and Evgeniy Platov. Lillehammer 1994. Following the results of the dance couples tournament at the Nagano Olympics, 5 Russians were on the podium: champions Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov (center), silver medalists Anzhelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov (left), and bronze medalist Marina Anisina. Marina is a Muscovite who has paired up with the Frenchman Gwendal Peizerat. At the 2002 Games, Anisina will take the gold that fell to France. Olympic champions in pair skating Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev won gold at the Games in Nagano. But in addition to this championship, Arthur also won gold in Albertville 1992 paired with Natalia Mishkutenok and silver in Lillehammer 1994 with the same partner. Oleg Vasiliev and Elena Valova won gold in pairs skating at the 1984 Olympics, and four years later became silver medalists. Natalya Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov are 1980 Olympic champions in ice dancing. Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov are the first ever Olympic champions in ice dancing. Innsbruck-1976. Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov are silver medalists at the 1976 Olympics, the first in which dancing was included in the Games program, and bronze medalists at the next Olympics in 1980. Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov - two-time Olympic champions in pair skating (1964, 1968)Olympic champions in pair figure skating Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov. X Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble. Tamara Moskvina and Alexei Mishin were only fifth at the 1968 Olympics. But Mishin later trained three Olympic champions (Urmanov, Yagudin, Plushenko), and Moskvina trained couples who also collected a whole scattering of Olympic gold medals (Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, Kazakova/Dmitriev, Valova/Vasiliev)sportzur.com
Our Olympic gold: champions of the Winter Games - Figure skating...
The first champion in the history of the Winter Olympic Games in performing special figures was Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin in 1908 in London. With his victory in figure skating, the history of our Olympic victories began. Our skaters opened their next winning page only in 1964 in Innsbruck, showing the highest class of the Russian school.
Figure skating is the most beloved and spectacular sport. How eagerly we waited for the televised performances of the best figure skaters in the world. The whole country froze in front of the TV screens, “cheering” for our athletes. There have been rapid ups and downs, and there have been unfortunate failures, but our figure skating school remains the strongest in the world. Let's remember the names of our Olympic champions in the most beautiful winter sport...
IX Olympic Winter Games 1964 in Innsbruck
The first gold medals in the history of figure skating were brought to the Soviet team by Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov.
At the games in Innsbruck they beat the strongest pairs in the world. The most graceful, strongest, most romantic couple of all who performed in pairs ice skating. They are still together and still go on the ice. Last year, Oleg Protopopov celebrated his 80th birthday, together with Lyudmila on the ice.
X Olympic Winter Games 1968 in Grenoble
After 4 years, Belousova and Protopopov again climbed to the first step of the podium, confirming their success at the previous Olympic Games. Our duet Tatyana Zhuk and Alexander Gorelik, who became silver medalists at the Olympics in Grenoble, also competed with them for the championship.
XI Olympic Winter Games 1972 in Sapporo
The games in Sapporo marked the beginning of the stellar journey of our legend in pair skating, Irina Rodnina. Together with her first partner Alexei Ulanov, she won her first Olympic gold medal.
Our athletes, Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrey Suraikin, also won silver medals. The first silver medal also appeared in men's single skating. He was won in a fight with the 1971 world champion, Slovakian Ondrej Nepele.
XII Olympic Winter Games 1976 in Innsbruck
For the first time, ice dancing was included in the competition program at the Innsbruck Olympics. And the first gold in this type of figure skating became ours! The brilliant couple Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov showed the highest skill and brought gold to our team. “Silver” also went to our treasury of Olympic awards thanks to Andrei Minenkov and Irina Moiseeva.
In pair skating, the second gold was won by Irina Rodnina paired with Alexander Zaitsev. It’s even hard to imagine that after her first Olympics Rodnina almost left big sport.
Once again we won silver in men's singles skating - Vladimir Kovalev became the winner.
In women's single skating, our team was left without awards, but it is impossible not to remember the name of the youngest participant in the Winter Olympics in their entire 90-year history! And not just the name. But also 5.9 ratings for the execution of the free program and her famous three triple jumps during it.
XIII Olympic Winter Games 1980 in Lake Placid
Pair skating. Gold and silver awards were again won by our couples: Irina Rodnina - Alexander Zaitsev and Marina Cherkasova - Sergey Shakhrai. For Irina Rodnina, this is already the third highest Olympic award. The whole world saw footage of Rodnina’s tears flowing on the first step of the podium to the sounds of our country’s anthem. Tears of pride, tears of happiness... Just a year before the Olympics, Irina and Alexander missed the World Championships, but the reason was the most joyful - the birth of a son, another, albeit non-Olympic, victory. And here they are again - the best. And how the American fans waited for the “Gold”, because it was their “home Olympics”! What broke the American couple was not even the performance of our brilliant couple, but the 15 minutes of Rodnina and Zaitsev’s presence at the training session, which showed their opponents the indisputable superiority of our couple. As a result, the American couple withdrew from the competition, unable to withstand the psychological stress.
The “Silver Couple” became world champions that same year, and at the time of the Olympic Games Marina was only 15 years old!
In ice dancing, Olympic gold was won by Gennady Karponosov and Natalya Linichuk (students of Elena Tchaikovskaya), who brilliantly performed not only the compulsory dances, but also the fiery “Lezginka”. “Bronze” went to Andrei Minenkov and Irina Moiseeva.
XIV Olympic Winter Games 1984 in Sarajevo
The Winter Games in Sarajevo brought the first Olympic medal in women's singles skating. Kira Ivanova, after a two-year disqualification, was able to win a bronze award in a difficult fight against titled rivals.
In pair skating, gold medals were won by Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, who made their debut at the World Championships a year before the Olympics and won a sensational victory. Their gold medals at the Sarajevo Olympics showed that this was no accident.
In ice dancing, Natalia Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin became silver medalists, and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko added bronze medals to their Olympic treasury. Oh, how upset and bewildered our fans were when our couple received lower ratings compared to Jane Torvel and Christopher Dean. And what a delight the third place was, which became sensational for us.
XV Olympic Winter Games 1988 in Calgary
Among sports couples, the first were our Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov, who snatched victory from our own couple, Sarajevo Olympic champions Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev. This is the seventh gold in pairs skating in a row, dating back to the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck. It is noteworthy that Gordeeva and Grinkov started as singles skaters, but they decided to pair them up.
The pinnacle of their sports career was the Olympic gold medal of Natalia Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin. The silver medalists were Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko.
The victory of Viktor Petrenko, an 18-year-old figure skater from Odessa, who initially planned to enter the top six, was unexpected and even more outstanding.
XVI Olympic Winter Games 1992 in Albertville
For the first time at the Olympic Games, our team competed as a United Team of countries that were previously part of the USSR. Three highest Olympic awards are an amazing result of the games in Albertville for our skaters!
As you remember, the first Olympic champion among men was Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin back in 1908 in London, and the second was Igor Petrenko at the Olympics in Albertville. The gold awards, one might say according to established tradition, were won by our couple – Tamara Moskvina’s students Natalya Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev, who performed an exceptionally technical and harmonious program to the magical music of Franz Liszt. Silver was won by Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, who also trained with Moskvina.
The “silver couple” in ice dancing of the last Olympics, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, before the 1992 Olympics, passed to Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova, who added original choreography to the excellent technique they worked out with the first coach Natalya Dubova. Their new spectacular program brought them the long-awaited Olympic gold. Bronze medalists were Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin, students of Natalia Dubova.
XVII Olympic Winter Games 1994 in Lillehammer
At the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Russia competed as an independent team for the first time and again won triple gold.
In men's single skating, the performance of Alexey Urmanov, who completed the maximum number of triple jumps, was “golden”. Ice dancing brought our team gold and silver medals. Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov became Olympic champions, and Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin won silver medals.
The return to “amateur” status from professional ice ballet was triumphant for Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov - they became two-time Olympic champions!
XVIII Olympic Winter Games 1998 in Nagano
The first gold in figure skating in Nagano was the medal of Ilya Kulik, the only one of all the participants in the competition who not only completed all the elements of the program cleanly, but also took a big risk - a jump of 4 revolutions, which no one could do then.
Among sports couples, the main fight was between our duets - the experienced Arthur Dmitriev with his new partner Oksana Kazakova and the young duet Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. They were competing with a German couple. However, only Dmitriev and Kazakova skated their program flawlessly, winning their team's 10th Olympic gold medal in this type of figure skating.
Ice dancing became a real sensation - Oksana Grischuk and Evgeniy Platov became Olympic champions for the second time in a row, showing true professionalism and endurance. Our couple Anzhelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov also became silver medalists.
XIX Olympic Winter Games 2002 in Salt Lake City
The games in Salt Lake City were full of scandals. There were some misunderstandings in figure skating as well. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won gold medals in pair skating, but the judges decided to share their championship with the Canadian pair D. Sale and D. Peletier. For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics in pair skating, the second set of medals was awarded 5 days after the competition.
The fate of the gold medals in women's single skating and ice dancing was decided by just one judge's vote, which, alas, was not in our favor. Silver medalists were Ilya Averbukh and Irina Lobacheva, and Irina Slutskaya.
In men's single skating, the first two steps of the podium were occupied by our skaters: Alexe Yagudin (gold) and Evgeni Plushenko (silver).
XX Olympic Winter Games 2006 in Turin
And again triple gold! The Olympic champions in pair skating were two-time world champions, five-time European champions, three-time Russian champions, Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin. For the fourth Olympics in a row, gold in men's single skating was won by our team - three-time world champion and six-time European champion Evgeni Plushenko became the Olympic champion. It was he who, for the first time in the history of figure skating, performed the combination of quadruple toe loop - triple toe loop - triple loop.
The brilliant Russian couple Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov (two-time world champions, three-time European champions, three-time Russian champions) became champions in ice dancing.
In women's single skating, Irina Slutskaya became a bronze medalist due to an unfortunate fall.
XXI Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver
The games in Vancouver, alas, did not bring triumph to our skaters. Evgeni Plushenko became the silver medalist in men's single skating, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin became bronze medalists in ice dancing.
XXII Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi
Today we can already rejoice at the first gold in figure skating at the Sochi Olympics. The first team victory in gaming history! Our team showed that there is no one stronger than our figure skating school. The team competitions were won by: Evgeny Plushenko, Yulia Lipnitskaya, sports couples Tatyana Volosozhar - Maxim Trankov and Ksenia Stolbova - Fedor Klimov, as well as dance duets Ekaterina Bobrova - Dmitry Solovyov and Elena Ilinykh - Nikita Katsalapov.
We will wait for the results of individual competitions and “cheer” for our skaters!
melena1001.livejournal.com
All Olympic champions in pair skating: olvagor
Oleg Gorban (olvagor) wrote, 2014-02-12 20:54:00 Oleg Gorbanolvagor 2014-02-12 20:54:00 Today the whole world will learn the name of the new Olympic champions in pair skating. Let's hope that they will be Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, but we also wish our opponents to perform with dignity and please us with beautiful programs. Let's remember those who already hold the title of Olympic champions. 1908. London. Representatives of Germany Anna Hübler and Heinrich Bürger become the first Olympic champions.
1920. Antwerp. And the first post-war Olympic champions were Ludovika and Walter Jacobsson from Finland. At the time of the victory, by the way, the partner was 36 years old and the partner 38 years old. 
1924. Chamonix. At the first Winter Olympics, Helen Engelmann and Alfred Berger from Austria won, leaving second the reigning Olympic champions, who were already in their fifties. 
1928. St. Moritz. At the previous Olympic Games, the French pair Andre Joly and Pierre Brunet were bronze medalists, but at this one they won gold. Modern figure skating owes a lot to this great couple. They were the ones who invented the mirror step track, and were also very creative and came up with new lifts and rotations. 
1932. Lake Placid. At this Olympics, Andre Joly and Pierre Brunet became the first two-time Olympic champions in history. 
1936. Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Joly and Brunet did not come to this Olympics in protest against the Nazi policies of Adolf Hitler. The home Olympics were won by the Germans Maxi Gerber and Ernst Bayer. The partner was just over 15 years old at the time of her victory. And if the legendary French did come to the Olympic Games, the German couple would still provide them with worthy resistance. They are the world's first parallel jumpers. 
1948. St. Moritz. The only gold medal for their country in figure skating was won by Belgians Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Bonnier. 
1952. Oslo. The victory in pair skating was again celebrated by representatives of Germany – Ria and Paul Falk. By the way, they were the first in history to jump a double parallel jump. 
1956. Cortina d'Ampezzo. Austrian figure skaters have been very successful in single types of figure skating. At this Olympics, the time has come to finally repeat the success in pair skating. Elisabeth Schwartz and Kurt Oppelt won. 
1960. Squaw Valley. At this Olympics, representatives from the North American continent achieved their only success in pair skating. Canadians Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul won. 
1964. Innsbruck. With this Olympics, a grandiose and invincible march and total superiority of the Soviet and then Russian school of figure skating begins. The first victory was won by Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov. 
1968. Grenoble. This time, 2 Soviet couples already claimed gold, but Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov won again, and Tatyana Zhuk and Alexander Gorelik became silver. And the two-time Olympic champions, by the way, still perform in various ice shows, despite the fact that she is 78 and he is 81 years old. 
1972. Sapporo. The baton of Belousova and Protopopov was picked up by Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov. After the Olympic Games, the couple broke up, as the partner married Lyudmila Smirnova, a silver medalist in these competitions, and then they continued to perform together. 
1976. Innsbruck. Irina Rodnina wanted to leave big sport after the breakup of the champion pair with Ulanov, but her coach Stanislav Zhuk paired her with Alexander Zaitsev, with whom she won these Olympic Games. There were no couples in the world that were at least somewhat similar in class to them. Ratings of 6.0 were commonplace for this couple. 
1980. Lake Placid. A year before, the couple Rodnina and Zaitsev missed the season due to the birth of their son. In their absence, the American couple won the World Championship, and the American media began a real persecution of the Soviet champions, accusing them of everything that only their imagination told them. The pressure was also felt at the competitions, but Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev did not give even a chance to doubt that they were the best skaters in the world at that time. 
1984. Sarajevo. Soviet couples of a new generation came to the fore. The best of them were Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev. 
1988. Despite the fact that Valova and Vasiliev remained in big-time sports after winning the previous Olympic Games, they no longer had a chance to win. The whole world was simply in love with the new Soviet couple, who had never known defeat in international competitions. These were Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. Valova and Vasiliev remained second. 
1992. Albertville. And again, only domestic pairs competed for Olympic gold. In the end, Natalya Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev won. 
1994. Lillehammer. It was from these games that professional athletes were allowed to compete at the Olympic Games. And several famous athletes of the past decided to take advantage of this opportunity, but only one of them took gold. These were the invincible Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. 
1998. Nagano. After the last Olympics, the pair Mishkutenok and Dmitriev, who then took 2nd place, broke up. They were also dissatisfied with the decision of the international federation, but still Arthur really wanted to try on the Olympic gold medal again, and with a new partner Oksana Kazakova, in intense competition with the second Russian couple Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, he realized his dream. 
2002. Salt Lake City. It was the turn of one of the most beautiful and incomparable couples in the entire world history of figure skating, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to become Olympic champions, which they did. True, they also gave in to the hysterical North Americans begging for alms, but let’s leave that on the conscience of the international federation and won’t even mention these pseudo-champions. 
2006. Turin. In the last decade, a pair figure skating school was finally born and developed strongly, which was able to compete with the Russian one. I'm talking about China. It was in intense competition with them that the entire Olympic cycle took place, but the main competition of the four years was still won by our Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin. 
2010. Vancouver. And now it has finally happened. The number 13 became fatal for Russia, and it was for the thirteenth time in a row that our country’s athletes failed to win Olympic gold. And then there was not a single couple capable of competing with the Chinese. But let us agree that almost half a century of dominance on the world stage means a lot. And Xu Shen and Hongbo Zhao became Olympic champions. It was with them that the history of success of Chinese athletes in figure skating began, and it would be unfair if these great skaters ended their careers without becoming Olympic champions. 
Who will be next will become known very soon, but we can say that this will not affect the historical dominance of our skaters. The medal table in pair skating looks like this GOLD SILVER BRONZE USSR 8 5 1Russia 4 2 0Germany 3 3 6Austria 2 2 1France 2 0 2Canada 1 2 3China 1 2 2Finland 1 1 0Belgium 1 0 0USA 0 3 2Great Britain 0 1 2Vienna Gria 0 1 4Norway 0 1 0 Tags : Berezhnaya, Brunet, Zhao, Joly, Zaitsev, Marinin, Olympic Games, Rodnina, Sikharulidze, Totmyanina, Falk, Shen, Jacobsson, Belousova, pair skating, protopopov, figure skating, champions PhotoHint http://pics.livejournal.com/igrick/pic/000r1edq
In a world that attracts more and more children into its ranks - future champions, as well as interesting and beautiful to watch on TV or at the ice skating rink.
The emergence of figure skating
The first skates on iron runners appeared in the 13th-14th centuries in Holland, so it is considered the ancestor of figure skating.
After the appearance of skates of a fundamentally new type, popularity came, which incredibly contributed to the rapid development of this sport, which in those days boiled down to drawing various figures on the ice without losing a beautiful pose.
The first set of rules for figure skating was published in England in 1772 and was called “A Treatise on Skating.” It described all the main figures known at that time. Thus, Great Britain secured the authorship of all figures required in figure skating. In addition, in 1742 the first speed skating circles arose here, and official rules for holding competitions were developed and approved.
Sports historians unanimously recognize the American Jason Gaintz as the founder of the modern style of figure skating. It was he who played the main role in its spread throughout the world, and, in particular, in Russia.
Development of figure skating in Russia
In the Russian Empire, figure skating was very popular back in the time of Peter I, who brought the first samples of skates from Europe. It is noteworthy that the Russian emperor was the first to come up with the idea of attaching skates directly to shoes and, in fact, created the prototype of modern skates.
The first Russian manual for figure skaters was published in 1838 in St. Petersburg and was called “Winter Fun and the Art of Skating,” compiled by a gymnastics teacher at a military educational institution G.M. Pauli.
Figure skating itself appeared in Russia in 1865, and at the same time the first skating rink was opened in the Yusupov Garden in St. Petersburg. At that time, it was the most comfortable in all of Russia and immediately became a platform for professional training of figure skaters. And in 1878, the first competition among Russian athletes was held.
The first Russian figure skaters began to appear at the end of the 19th century. The pioneer who took part in international competitions was A.P. Lebedev, who was a lawyer by training.
Nikolai Poduskov took part in the first official competition, which was held in 1896 and took 4th place in single skating, but at the Russian Open Championship in 1901 he took last place.
Georgy Sanders, taking part in the same competitions as Poduskov, took 3rd place, becoming a bronze medalist. In addition, he was the first to perform complex figures of which he was the author, which in turn helped another famous Russian figure skater, Nikolai Panin, who performed them at the 1908 Olympics in London, to win Russia's first Olympic gold.
Of the Soviet champions who won the highest awards at various competitions in figure skating, the most famous are Sergei Chetverukhin (silver at the Sapporo Olympics, bronze at the 1971 World Championships, silver at the World Championships in Calgary (1972) and Bratislava (1973) and bronze at the European Championships in 1969 year) and Sergei Volkov (world champion in 1975, USSR champion in 1974 and 1976).
Famous Russian male figure skaters in single skating
Famous Russian figure skaters have repeatedly become champions and taken prizes in various tournaments - from the Olympic Games to championships of various levels, Grand Prix and Cups.
One of the first best figure skaters in Russia was Alexey Urmanov, a multiple medalist and champion of the USSR, Russia and European champion, Olympic champion in 1994.
At the 1998 Olympics, Russia again won a gold medal in men's single skating, which he won. In addition to the highest Olympic award, this famous Russian figure skater has gold from the Russian Championship, silver and bronze from the World and European Championships.
One of the most famous and best athletes in Russia is Alexey Yagudin, who has the main award for an athlete - gold at the 2002 Olympics. He is a multiple European and world champion, winner of the Grand Prix finals in figure skating.
No less famous is the young single skater Maxim Kovtun, who has several serious victories to his name. He is a three-time winner of the Russian Championship and took silver at the 2015 European Championship.
The most famous and titled figure skater in Russia and throughout the world is Evgeni Plushenko. He is the winner of gold medals at two Olympics (2006 - in singles, 2014 - in team skating), and twice took “silver” at the Olympic Games. Plushenko won the world champion title 3 times, the European champion seven times and the Russian championship 10 times. He also has many other awards and titles.
Plushenko has a number of sporting achievements, and his calling card was performing the most difficult single skating figures at competitions. He has no equal.
Russian male figure skaters are rightfully considered among the best in the world.
Famous Russian women singles skaters
Unfortunately, Russian women's single skating cannot boast of a long history of performances and awards in this sport.
The history of victories began only in 1976 with the appearance of the figure skater. It was she who won the first awards at the European Championships, and subsequently became third at the World Championships.
The first Olympic medal, bronze, was won by single skater Kira Ivanova in 1983.
Success came to the skaters only when, for the first time in Russian history, Irina Slutskaya won the European Championship in 1996. And already in 1999, also at the European Championships, Maria Butyrskaya, Soldatova and Volchkova won all the awards. In the same year, Butyrskaya brought gold to the World Championships.
Despite the fact that the best Russian figure skaters Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya no longer compete, they are the most famous and legendary figure skaters in Russia to this day.
The leaders of Russian women's single skating are currently Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova.
Sotnikova, the first and so far only, won an Olympic gold medal in women's single skating. In addition, she became the winner of the Russian championships 4 times, and twice won silver at the European championships.
Figure skating connoisseurs call Adeline a child prodigy, because at the age of 13 she was already performing the most complex elements of figure skating.
Yulia Lipnitskaya is also an Olympic gold medalist in team competition. In addition, she has received awards of various merits at the World and European Championships, including junior ones.
Yulia is now 17 years old, Adelina is 19, and they are the future of Russian women's single skating.
Best in pair skating
In pairs skating, Russia is much more fortunate in winning titles, regalia and world-famous athletes than in singles.
Even those who are very far from the world of sports know Russian pair skaters by name and face.
Our couple Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova won their first Olympic gold back in 1964, and again in 1968. They are the author of many elements that are still included in the mandatory program of performances all over the world. At that time, this couple was the only one who skated like no one else could.
The next couple to conquer the Olympics were Alexey Ulanov and Irina Rodnina - in 1972. Irina Rodnina won her next gold together with Alexander Zaitsev in 1976 and 1980.
The most famous Russian figure skaters - Olympic champions in pair skating are:
Maxim Marinin and Tatyana Totmyanina;
Roman Kostomarov and Tatyana Navka.
The leaders of pair skating today are Russian figure skaters Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar, who already have 2 Olympic gold medals (in pair skating and in team competitions) and they are not going to stop there.
Best couples in ice dancing
Ice dancing as a separate discipline was included in the program of international competitions only in 1950.
In this program, Russia (then the Soviet Union) was represented by the famous couple and Lyudmila Pakhomova, who set the tone in dance throughout the world and became world champions 6 times and won gold at the 1976 Olympics.
The first, already Russian, famous dancing couple and Evgenia Platova twice became gold medalists at the 1994 and 1998 Olympics, which made them record holders in this sport.
The couple is well known and their achievements include bronze at the 2010 Olympics, double gold at the European Championships and world champions in 2009.
One of the most famous young dancers, and Elena Ilyinykh, brought Olympic gold, silver and bronze at the European and Russian championships to Russia's medal box. The couple broke up after the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Today, the best, strongest and most famous figure skaters in Russia in ice dancing are Dmitry Solovyov and Ekaterina Bobrova - champions of Europe and Russia.
Women's figure skating - a type of speed skating, the essence of which lies in skill execution of a number of geometric figures on ice(paragraphs, eights and circles).
And also a whole complex is performed additional elements during the skater's movements accompanied by musical accompaniment.
How the history of figure skating among women began
A real breakthrough in women's figure skating occurs only in 1901.
Under pressure from fans of this sport ISU committee on an exceptional basis allows Englishwoman Madge Sayers join the male team of participants.
As a result, the skater receives silver at the 1902 World Championships.
The organizers remove the prohibited clause from the Rules, and already in 1906 Switzerland holds the first official world championship in women's single figure skating.
Judges leave the same for both men and women all 12 required figures at competitions. But the championship among single figure skaters showed how much more graceful artistically the women's performance of the figure skating program looks in contrast to the men's.
After World War I
In the post-war period, a real star among single figure skaters became Herma Szabo from Austria. From 1922 to 1926 she four times in a row wins the title of world champion.
But already since 1928 Norwegian is making a splash in the field of women's figure skating Sonya Henie. The figure skater wins the European Championships six times, becomes a three-time Olympic champion and Receives gold medals 10 times at the world championships.
It was after championship 1928 America showed its genuine interest in figure skating and proposed to the ISU council to hold the next figure skating competition on its territory.
The Council reviewed the proposal in detail, approved and in 1930 in New York took place at the largest indoor skating rink first world figure skating championship, where women, men and couples competed simultaneously.
Despite the small number of participants ( 6 women and 8 men) the competition was a huge success and attracted the maximum number of spectators.
First place then awarded Sone Henie, on second turned out to be Cecile Smith from Canada, And third the place went to an American Maribel Vinson.
Total number of participants at the World Figure Skating Championships 1936 in Berlin is already 47 people, who act as representatives 14 countries. Two very serious rivals of Sonya Henie appear at once - Megen Taylor and Cecilia College.
Subsequently, they both became world champions in women's single skating, and in 1938 competitions will take place where they will compete as the strongest competitors. Majen Taylor will win this fight for the title, but after that, society will discuss the bias of the judges’ assessments for a long time.
In 1939 Prague holds the last World Women's Figure Skating Championships before the outbreak of World War II. Cecilia College's serious injury prevents her from participating, resulting in Magen Taylor gets his again second gold medal.
The first real glory for the USSR: photo
At the European Championships in 1976 and the Winter Olympics of the same year, twelve-year-old schoolgirl Elena Vodorezova brings to the Soviet Union first triumphant success.
The double flip technique involved its execution first in a cascade of two jumps.
Photo 1. Figure skater Elena Vodorezova at international figure skating competitions in 1975.
Vodorezova performs cascade double flip-triple toe loop and cascade double jump-triple jump for the first time throughout the history of figure skating. The judges, impressed, give her the highest record scores.
A since 1984 a new name appears on the international scene single athlete Kira Ivanova. At the European and World Championships she received silver medals and from that moment on she established herself as a brilliant master in performing compulsory figures.
It is impossible not to recall the merits of another brilliant athlete of the Soviet Union - the most titled figure skater Irina Rodnina. In pair skating throughout 11 times she took first places at the European Championships, of which 10 gold medals received a contract.
Photo 2. Irina Rodnina and her partner Alexander Zaitsev at the European Figure Skating Championships in 1980 in Sweden.
Russia is still famous for the merits of post-Soviet athletes Irina Slutskaya and Maria Butyrskaya. In 1999 Butyrskaya became first of the Russians became the world champion in single skating after a perfect execution of the cascade triple toe loop-oiler-triple salchow. And Slutskaya - first in the world who managed to brilliantly perform the triple lutz-triple loop cascade in 2000.
Photo 3. Athlete Irina Slutskaya at the World Figure Skating Championships in 2005.
To date, in the entire history of women's singles skating, the Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya became the first to win Olympic gold in Sochi in 2014 for the history of Russia.
She completed her sports career in September 2017 Her worthy competitor Adeline Sotnikova due to injury misses the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, and few figure skating professionals today believe in her return to the ice.
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Structure and rules of women's singles competitions
The competition scheme includes the initial performance of a short program, after which, depending on its outcome, 24 best athletes perform a free program. At European and World Championships, when the number of participants exceeds permissible limit of 24 people, they are divided into two groups: morning and evening.
Member of the morning group includes athletes with lower ISU rankings. The order of their appearances is determined by a simple draw. In the evening group It turns out that there are high-rated figure skaters.
To avoid systematically exceeding the number of participants at the European and World Championships since 2012. Only female athletes are allowed to participate, who have achieved the required technical minimum in short and free programs.
As such a minimum there may be some results of international competitions under the auspices of the ISU in the previous two seasons and make up:
- to participate in the European Championships: short program 20 points arbitrary - 36;
- World Championships: short program 26 points arbitrary - 46.
The overall result is calculated using summation of these two indicators.
Short and free programs: what are they?
Short program should not exceed in time 2 minutes. 50 sec. During this time, the athlete should demonstrate her skill in performing eight required elements in any convenient sequence: several types of rotations, 1 combination of jumps, double (triple) axel, triple (quadruple) jump and 2 steps. For failure to at least one from the elements a penalty follows.
Free program duration is 4 minutes. Here the skaters include those most complex elements for which the judges award the maximum number of points in case of flawless execution (all kinds of rotations, spirals and jumps). Great attention is paid to the skill of connecting movements with music, plasticity and artistry.
One of the strict rules in figure skating is complete ban on participation in the European, World and Olympic Games for professional figure skaters.
Basic elements of an individual program for girls
Steps and their varieties:
Basically, the steps are connecting elements and help to gain speed before jumping.
Spiral and rotation
Spiral- continuous sliding on the edge of the skate of one leg with the other raised to the limit, which allows stretching. Often called a spiral "martin". Similarly, spirals include the elements "ship" and "bauer": The skater glides on both feet with the inner or outer edges of the skates.
Photo 1. Spiral with a “bauer” element performed by Russian Olympic champion Yulia Lipnitskaya.
Rotations imply an impressive number of variations, the most mandatory of which is rotation standing, sitting, tilting, libela and Bielmann. Each of these rotations can be performed with a change of foot or with a jump approach. Such execution options are always rated higher by the judges.
Jumping
Jumping are divided by professionals into two main groups: costal(pushing away from the edge of the skate) and serrated(push from the toe). In the program, the athlete must show six varieties jump:
- lutz;
- flip;
- Salchow;
- axel (single/double/triple);
- loop;
- sheepskin coat.
Rating system
The figure skater’s performance is assessed by a panel of judges, which includes: the chief judge, nine judges, a technical specialist and his assistant, as well as a technical controller.
Each individual element receives its own technical score.
In addition, the following are rated on a ten-point scale: five components:
- choreography;
- expressiveness;
- rental;
- connecting elements;
- basic level of skiing.
SOCHI, February 21 - R-Sport, Andrey Simonenko. The Russian figure skating team won three gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Sochi. The winners of the Games were the sports pair Tatyana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov, single skater Adelina Sotnikova and the national team in team competitions, silver medals for Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov in pair skating, and bronze for dancers Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapova.
The Olympic Games in figure skating began even before the opening ceremony - when the team tournament, held for the first time in the history of the Olympics, featured men's and pairs' short program competitions as part of the team tournament. Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko took second place in them, losing only to Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, but world champion Canadian Patrick Chan remained behind. The current world champions in pair skating Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov took first place, although four-time world champions Alena Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy from Germany did not compete.
The next day, dancers and girls joined the fight. Four-time Russian champions Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitry Solovyov proved their superiority over all duets except the Americans Meryl Davis/Charlie White and the Canadians Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir. And the brilliant performance of 15-year-old Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya allowed the Russian team to strengthen its superiority over the Canadians.
In the free program of sports pairs, instead of Volosozhar/Trankov, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov performed, who never participated in the world championships during their careers. However, the skaters showed the best result in their segment of the competition, ahead of the more experienced pairs of Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (Canada) and Stefania Berton/Ondrej Gotarek (Italy).
The free program in men's single skating ended with Plushenko's victory - however, in this type of competition the teams of Canada and Japan replaced their strongest skaters with second numbers. The women's free program competition in the team tournament was again a benefit for Yulia Lipnitskaya. The young figure skater outperformed all her rivals with a clean skate, after which the Russian team secured the title of Olympic champions. Dancers Elena Ilyinykh and Nikita Katsalapov took to the ice, knowing that they were already gold medal winners - they just had to skate their program.
In the first type of individual tournament - pair skating - the undisputed favorites were Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. They had to compete primarily with Savchenko and Szolkowy, who missed the team competition. But after the short program, the Russians’ lead was almost decisive - more than four points. The free program only confirmed his superiority. Moreover, the Germans made several mistakes, and silver went to Stolbova and Klimov, who managed to skate two programs cleanly. Savchenko and Szolkowy received bronze, while another Russian couple remained in sixth place.
In the next event - men's single skating - the only Russian participant, Evgeni Plushenko, withdrew from the competition right before the start of the short program due to a back injury. This decision became perhaps the most scandalous episode of the Olympics - many accused the two-time Olympic champion of refusing to continue the fight too late, when it was no longer possible to replace him with a reserve skater. Plushenko's coach Alexei Mishin explained that his student felt fine after the team competition, and according to the rules it was impossible to make a substitution.
However, a version soon appeared that Plushenko still wanted to refuse to continue the fight, but the Russian champion Maxim Kovtun, for whom they were going to replace Evgeni, was ill. This information was denied by Kovtun’s choreographer Pyotr Chernyshev, and the skater’s coach Elena Buyanova, having arrived in Sochi, stated that responsibility for Plushenko’s decision to compete in the personal tournament and the subsequent withdrawal lies only with him.
In the competitions themselves, there were no equals to two skaters - Yuzuru Hanyu and Patrick Chan. The Japanese scored several points more than the Canadian, winning gold. Chan received silver, and Denis Ten from Kazakhstan won bronze in a bitter struggle.
Revolutions in ice dancing, as it became clear from the team tournament, were not supposed to happen. There were two main questions: who is stronger in the fight for gold - Davis/White or Virtue/Moir, and who will get bronze? The answer to the second point was given by Ilyinykh and Katsalapov, who in the fight for third place scored noticeably more in the sum of two programs than the French Nathalie Pechalat/Fabiana Burza and Bobrova/Soloviev. The American couple became Olympic champions, the Canadians won silver medals.
The Olympic figure skating tournament ended with the triumph of Adelina Sotnikova. The four-time champion of Russia, who was decided not to be included in the team in the team competition, already demonstrated her medal claims in the short program of the individual tournament. Sotnikova scored almost the same number of points as Vancouver Olympic champion Kim Yu Na. Along with these two skaters was the Italian Carolina Kostner, but Lipnitskaya, due to a fall on a flip after the short program, practically lost her chance of personal gold. Japanese Mao Asada, whom many also considered a contender for victory, fell back to 16th place due to two blunders.
The performances of the three main contenders for the awards in the free program were impeccable. Sotnikova turned out to be the strongest in terms of the totality of the technical set of elements and the purity of execution of the program. She brought historical gold to the team - never in the history of women's single skating has a Russian won an Olympic competition in this discipline. The Korean figure skater took second place, and Costner took third. Lipnitskaya also skated her free program imperfectly and remained fifth.
“Our figure skating has conquered all the peaks, and our skaters exceeded the plan at these Games,” this is how Russian Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko summed up the results of the Olympic figure skating competition.
A winter sport in which athletes skate on ice while performing additional elements, most often accompanied by music. In official competitions, as a rule, four sets of medals are played out: in women's single skating, in men's single skating, in pair skating, and in ice dancing. Figure skating included into the program of the Winter Olympic Games.
The most ancient skates were discovered on the banks of the Southern Bug, near Odessa, dating back to the Bronze Age. These skates were made from the phalanx of the front legs of horses.
It is believed that the birthplace of figure skating is Holland. It was there, in the 13th - 14th centuries, that the first iron skates appeared. The appearance of a new type of skates gave a powerful impetus to the development of figure skating, which at that time consisted of the ability to draw intricate figures on the ice and at the same time maintain a beautiful pose.
All mandatory figures were created in Great Britain. This is explained by the fact that it was here that the first skating clubs arose (Edinburgh, 1742). At the same time, the first official rules of the competition were developed.
In 1882, the first international competition in Europe took place in Vienna. The Viennese won a convincing victory.
The very first edition of the rules for figure skating, published in England, dates back to 1772.
The English artillery lieutenant Robert Jones published a “Treatise on Skating”, in which he described all the main figures that were then known.
It has been known in Russia since the time of Peter I. The Russian Tsar brought the first samples of skates from Europe. It was Peter I who came up with a new way of attaching skates - directly to boots, and thus created a “protomodel” of today’s equipment for skaters.
The name "skates" arose because the front of the wooden "runners" was usually decorated with a horse's head.
In 1838, the first textbook for figure skaters, “Winter Fun and the Art of Skating,” was published in St. Petersburg. Its author was G.M. Pauli is a gymnastics teacher at military educational institutions in St. Petersburg.
A surge of interest in figure skating occurred after the European tour of American figure skater Jackson Gaines. He showed unexpected possibilities for performing swift figures in the most graceful body movements.
Russian figure skating, as a separate sport, originated in 1865. Then a public skating rink was opened in the Yusupov Garden on Sadovaya Street. This skating rink was the most comfortable in Russia and from the very first days it became a center for training figure skaters. On March 5, 1878, the first competition of Russian figure skaters took place there.
In 1881, the Skating Society included about 30 people.
One of the most famous sports and public figures was the Honorary Member of this society, Vecheslav Izmailovich Sreznevsky.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Salchow, Lutz, Rittberger, Axel Paulsen invented their own jumps, and skaters, in gratitude for this, left their names in the names of the elements.
Women's single skating was formed later. Officially, this happened at the end of January 1906 in Davos (Switzerland). The compulsory figures for women and men were similar, but the women's free skating immediately attracted attention with its high artistry, plasticity and musicality of movements.
Official women's world championships began in 1924. Since 1930, the World Figure Skating Championships for women and men have been held jointly on the same dates. Soon pair (mixed) skating also appeared. The international pair skating championship was first played in 1908 in St. Petersburg, and the winners were German skaters.
The fourth type of figure skating - ice dancing - was born much later in England. Only in 1952 in Paris did the dancers compete for their awards for the first time; the British were the strongest. Synchronized skating competitions have gained the most popularity in recent years. This sport has become widespread in Canada, the USA, Sweden, Finland, England, and France.
Since 1983, annual synchronized skating championships began to be held in Canada. And in 1988, these competitions were held jointly with competitions in the main types of figure skating. Pair skating competitions first took place in Canada in 1914 and were held regularly until 1964, resuming in 1981. The leaders in this type of figure skating are Canadian and American teams.
The popularity of figure skating grew, and already in 1908, figure skating competitions were first included in the program of the Summer Olympic Games in London.
The first Olympic champions in single skating in 1908 were M. Sayers (Great Britain), U. Salchow (Sweden), Panin-Kolomenkin (Russia) and the sports pair A. Hübler - G. Burger (Germany). Figure skating was also included in the program of the Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp (1920), and subsequently it was presented at all Winter Olympic Games. Gillis Grafström (Sweden), who won 3 gold and 1 silver medal, and three-time Olympic champions Sonya Henie (Norway) and Irina Rodnina (USSR) achieved outstanding success in Olympic competitions.
At the White Olympics in St. Moritz (1948), American figure skater Dick Button literally created a revolution. It was from him that jumps of several revolutions and other acrobatic elements were “registered” in figure skating. Button literally flew over the skating rink. His reward was an Olympic gold medal in single skating.
The Olympic championship was played in singles (men's and women's) and pair skating. In 1976, ice dancing was included in the Olympic program.
Figure skating elements
Before the performance, the skater submits an official form, which describes the approximate content of the program: which elements will be performed and in what sequence.
Steps
In programs, steps and steps are performed as connecting elements.
Spirals
Spiral— a spiral is a position with one skate on the ice and the free leg (including knee and boot) above hip level. The positions of the spirals differ from each other by the sliding leg (right, left), edge (external, internal), sliding direction (forward, backward) and the position of the free leg (backward, forward, sideways). A pattern of a sequence of spirals is any combination of arcs (on edges - spirals in a straight line are ignored and are not counted among the positions). Only the first three arcs are considered for Difficulty Level traits. In order for the spiral to be counted, you must be in the position for at least 3 seconds.
The most common spiral is considered "martin". In the “swallow”, the free leg can be from 90 degrees relative to the ice to a full split.
Bielmann- performed by raising the free leg, grabbing the skate blade with your hands and bending your back. Named in honor of Denise Bielman, who first performed the Bielmann as a spin element at international competitions. When executed perfectly, the result is an almost vertical split.
Rotations
1) Simple; 2) With change of legs or combined; 3) Joint; 4) Dance.
Spinning jumps
costal:
Axel
Bounce Axel named after the Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen, who first performed it in 1882. (rib jump)
Rittberger
Rittberger(English loop) - the jump is named after the German figure skater Werner Rittberger, who first performed it in 1910. (rib jump)
Salchow
Salchow(English Salchow) - the jump is named after the Swedish figure skater Ulrich Salchow, who first performed it in 1908. (rib jump)
serrated:
Sheepskin coat
Sheepskin coat(English toe loop) - the jump was first performed by American figure skater Bruce Mapes in 1920. (tooth jump)
Flip
Flip(English flip) - a jump is performed by pushing the tooth of the supporting leg while moving backwards on the inner edge of the other leg. Departure is carried out on a push leg.
Lutz
Bounce Lutz named after the Austrian figure skater Alois Lutz, who first performed it in 1913. (tooth jump)