![]() Figure Skater Carolina Kostner | |
Highest governing body | International Skating Union |
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Nicknames | Skating |
First played | 1742 in Edinburgh, Scotland |
Characteristics | |
Team members | Individuals, duos, or groups |
Mixed sex | Yes |
Equipment | Figure skates |
Glossary | Glossary of figure skating terms |
Presence | |
Olympic | Part of the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920; Part of the first Winter Olympics in 1924 to today |
Figure skating is both an art and a sport, in which people skate around on ice, doing jumps and spins. It is done at the Winter Olympics, and it has its own world championships. The name means to make figures or patterns on the ice. People skate with music.
In figure skating, sometimes women or men skate alone, or they skate in couples. Couples dancing includes pairs and ice dancing. Pairs skating has jumps, and sometimes the man lifts the woman in the air. These things are not done in ice dancing. In ice dancing, the woman must be held in the man's arms. Another kind of figure skating is synchronized skating done in groups.