Pyeongchang 2018: A Guide To Olympic Figure Skating

When you think of the Winter Olympic Games, the first thing that springs to my mind is the high-adrenalin, all action, snow sports such as snowboarding and skiing. However, the Games actually provide a wide range of diverse sports for spectators to enjoy, one of which is figure skating.

The most famous figure skaters in Great Britain are the 1984 Winter Olympic gold medallists Torvill and Dean. Best known for their Bolero routine which saw them become the highest-scoring Olympic skaters of all time, the pair received 12 perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s from the judges to clinch the medal.

This victory catapulted the pair to global fame and saw them receive a hero’s homecoming on their return to their home city of Nottingham. However, the sport of figure skating had a fascinating history before Torvill and Dean took to the ice.

Over a century ago the sport made its debut at the 1908 Games in London, however back then the sport actually took place at the Summer Olympics. It was in 1924 in Chamonix that the sport made its debut on the Winter stage with Austria coming out on top as the only nation to win more than one medal in the sport.

Since then, figure skating has been a mainstay in the Winter Olympics appearing at every competition. On the all-time medal table in figure skating, the USA lead the way with a staggering 49 medals in total, 15 of which were golds.

Second on the all-time medal table is Russia who have acquired 26 medals, 14 of them gold. Despite being the most successful skaters in 2014, scooping five medals (three of which were gold), Russia is not going to be able to add to this tally in PyeongChang due to doping allegations at previous Olympics. However, despite being banned from the Games, 15 Russian athletes will make the journey to South Korea but will be competing under the independent Olympics flag rather than that of their country.

There are several different figure skating events that take place at every Games: men’s singles, men’s special figures, ladies’ singles, pairs, ice dancing and mixed team. Each country is allowed to enter three entries per discipline. Synchronised skating is not included at the Olympics but does have long-term aims of appearing at future Games and the men’s special figures event, won’t be taking place this year.

This year will see 32 different nations compete in the figure skating discipline, with Canada taking the most skating athletes. Great Britain is only taking two athletes to the Games, with Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland hoping they can come away with a medal after a fantastic qualifying campaign.

Book a Speaker For Your Next Event!

For further information on how to book one of our inspirational Olympic Speakers, simply get in touch with us here at Champions Olympic Speakers agency by filling in our online contact form. Alternatively, call an dedicated booking agent on 0207 1010 553 today.