Winter Olympic Games

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Figure Skating

Figure skating was included in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, prior to the introduction of the Winter Olympics. Figure skating events include Men's singles, Ladies' singles, Pairs, and Ice Dancing. See more information about Ice Dancing.

Trivia

• Another figure skating event, Men's special figures, was on the program only once, at the 1908 Summer Games.

• At the St Moritz Winter Olympics in 1928, Gillis Grafström of Sweden won the last of his three consecutive gold medals in figure skating;

• Norwegian Sonja Henie was only 11 years old when she first skated in the Olympics in 1924 in the figure skating event, placing last in the eight-woman field. She would equal the feat of Gillis Grafström, winning the first of her three consecutive gold medals in figure skating at the 1928 Games at the age of 15.

• In Sapporo in 1972, Ondrej Nepala of Czechoslovakia, who had competed at the 1964 Olympics as a 13-year-old, won the men's figure skating title.

• America's Dorothy Hamill and Britain's John Curry won golds in figure skating in Innsbruck 1976.

• The first black athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal was Debi Thomas of the United States, finishing third in figure skating at the 1988 Games in Calgary.

• The 1994 figure-skating competition was dominated by the events of Tonya and Nancy. In the end Nancy Kerrigan won the silver behind Ukraine's Oksana Baiul.

• In Nagano in 1998, 15-year-old American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the youngest athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Games.

• In 2002, there was a huge scandal over judging in the figure-skating when the Russian pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were awarded gold on a 5-4 verdict ahead of Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who by all other accounts were the best performers. Eventually, the IOC awarded a second gold to the Canadians.
  

Related Pages

• see also Ice Dancing at the Winter Olympics
• figure skating olympics poll.
• Figure Skating Videos
• more Winter Olympics Sports
• Winter Olympics main page.