THE ORIGIN OF FIGURE SKATING

Figure skating started during the prehistoric period. The present form of it originated from the 19th century. It is known to be one of the many branches of ice skating. Though it is not clear as to when and how man learned to skate in the ice. Those times that skating was first known, it was practiced and was popular to places with ice like Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Scandinavia and Switzerland.

During the 20th century, figure skating became more athletic through the greatest figure skater of all time, Ulrich Salchow, a Swede. He was a ten-time world champion. He was known for the salchow jump and for developing ice skates with blades which are a little jagged that enables ice skaters to perform long jumps.

It was during 1908, when the first figure skating Olympics was held in London. The largest public ice rink is the one situated in Sportpalast, Berlin. This made it possible to boost the interest of man into figure skating and also increased the people who are into skating. It was after World War II (1922) when the largest competitions were held. And the end of WW II marked the pinnacle of figure skating. Construction of new ice rinks initiated more intensive figure skating practice and also increased the number of performances. It was also during this period when the United States became top and more known in figure skating, beating and exceeding Europe.

In the modern times, figure skating is most well-known in the Winter Olympics. The movements and elegance of the skaters are the factors which entertain the viewers. Most known skaters are gymnasts because of their physical and psychological traits. It is not surprising that figure skating is most popular in icy areas. It is now divided into three parts: single skating which is an event for both male and female; pair skating and ice dancing. Now it is also gaining popularity in Asia (China, Japan and South Korea) and Nordic countries (Finland and Norway). It is really evident that figure skating is becoming more and more popular.