what are these figures you speak of?
PUTTING THE FIGURE IN FIGURE SKATING
Figure skating first got its name because of "school figures." Skaters spent hours and hours on the ice each day skating perfect circles on the ice, tracing lines, circles and turns. But no longer...what happened?!? A history lesson, if you will...
Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly an aspect of the sport of figure skating, from which the sport derives its name. Carving specific patterns or figures into the ice was the original focus of the sport. The patterns of compulsory figures all derive from the basic figure eight. Although figures no longer exist in competition, they have evolved into the contemporary Moves in the Field.
Judging of Compulsory Figures
The criteria that were used to judge figures included:
1. The circles must be perfectly round, without wobbles, flats, bulges, or curling inward.
2. All the circles in the figure must be the same size.
3. The turns on a figure must be lined up with the central axis, and the circles themselves must also all line up.
4. The turns must be symmetrical in shape and executed on true edges without scraping or "flats".
5. Loops should be shaped like loops, and not be circular or pointed.
Judges normally stand on the ice, off to one side, to watch the execution of the figure. When the skater has finished, the judges typically check the alignment of the figure from different angles, peer closely at the tracings of the turns, and pace off the diameters of the circles to check their sizes.
DICK BUTTON @ 1947 WORLDS!!
The slow decline of Figures
Pressure to reduce the weight of compulsory figures began when the Olympic Games and other skating competitions began to be widely shown on television. Television coverage posed major problems to the compulsory figures for two reasons. The first and more obvious one is that they were not suitable to television coverage themselves. Even the most ardent skating fan found the completion of the figures, followed by seemingly microscopic analysis by the judges, to be tedious at best and unwatchable at worst, and the general public obviously found them to be of no interest. The other problem was that the skaters who excelled at compulsory figures often were not the most talented at free skating, but at times racked up such a large lead from the school figures that they won the competitions anyway.
This would often leave viewers stunned and appalled, since they had watched only the free skating and had little or no knowledge of or interest in the compulsory figures. To address this, and to put more emphasis on the free skating, a gradual reform started happening:
The Short Program was introduced in 1973 - Seen as something intermediate between the full free skating program of four or five minutes and the compulsories.
The Debate
Are figures just artistic or are they at the very heart of skating skills?? (best part -- Scoot disses the ISU at around 3:00!)
The ISU considered eliminating compulsory’s in Olympic and international competition, reasons being:
· Take up too much training time
· Costly to run at competitions
· Boring to watch
· Limited practice ice in Europe which put European skaters at a disadvantage (at this time, winners of compulsories tended to be from North America and Russia)
Compulsory figures were eliminated entirely from international competition after 1990. Purists felt that an important instillation of discipline into the sport had been lost, but critics pointed out that this skill was not necessary for freeskating, and held talented skaters back.
Battle of the Brian's -- COMPULSORY STYLE
The 1988 Olympics were the last Games that included Compulsories as part of judging. Within these clips are some examples of the figures that were judged.
PART I:
SHORT CUTS:
Starts off with 2:40 of background history of “the Brian’s”
3:08 - all about the skate - (compulsory figures require a blade that is less sharp than that used for free skating in order to achieve finer control over the edges and turns. Also, blades for compulsory figures don't need the large toe picks necessary for jumping, so blades made specifically for skating compulsory figures have toe picks that are smaller and sometimes placed higher on the front of the blade than free skating blades; this helps the skater avoid accidentally dragging the toe picks on the ice.)
4:08 -- Rocker
5:38 - Gillis Grafstrom & his beautiful figures!
PART II
SHORT CUTS:
0:09 - Change Loop
LADIES 1988 OLYMPIC COMPETITION
SHORT CUTS (fyi -- this has the first vid clip embedded in it so a little repetitive):
0:20 -- Counter
2:08 -- Paragraph Bracket
6:35 -- Beautiful figures as might have been skated in the mid-1900's
8:38 -- Paragraph Loop
Some Basic Elements & More Elaborate Figures
Three turns can also be used as the common entrance to a toe loop jump and the flip jump.
More figures:
Figures above are also credited to Nicholas Panin.
WE'LL NOW CLOSE WITH A LITTLE BAD FIGURE SKATING HUMOR
TYFYT!!
Figure skating first got its name because of "school figures." Skaters spent hours and hours on the ice each day skating perfect circles on the ice, tracing lines, circles and turns. But no longer...what happened?!? A history lesson, if you will...
Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly an aspect of the sport of figure skating, from which the sport derives its name. Carving specific patterns or figures into the ice was the original focus of the sport. The patterns of compulsory figures all derive from the basic figure eight. Although figures no longer exist in competition, they have evolved into the contemporary Moves in the Field.
Judging of Compulsory Figures
The criteria that were used to judge figures included:
1. The circles must be perfectly round, without wobbles, flats, bulges, or curling inward.
2. All the circles in the figure must be the same size.
3. The turns on a figure must be lined up with the central axis, and the circles themselves must also all line up.
4. The turns must be symmetrical in shape and executed on true edges without scraping or "flats".
5. Loops should be shaped like loops, and not be circular or pointed.
Judges normally stand on the ice, off to one side, to watch the execution of the figure. When the skater has finished, the judges typically check the alignment of the figure from different angles, peer closely at the tracings of the turns, and pace off the diameters of the circles to check their sizes.
DICK BUTTON @ 1947 WORLDS!!
The slow decline of Figures
Pressure to reduce the weight of compulsory figures began when the Olympic Games and other skating competitions began to be widely shown on television. Television coverage posed major problems to the compulsory figures for two reasons. The first and more obvious one is that they were not suitable to television coverage themselves. Even the most ardent skating fan found the completion of the figures, followed by seemingly microscopic analysis by the judges, to be tedious at best and unwatchable at worst, and the general public obviously found them to be of no interest. The other problem was that the skaters who excelled at compulsory figures often were not the most talented at free skating, but at times racked up such a large lead from the school figures that they won the competitions anyway.
This would often leave viewers stunned and appalled, since they had watched only the free skating and had little or no knowledge of or interest in the compulsory figures. To address this, and to put more emphasis on the free skating, a gradual reform started happening:
The Short Program was introduced in 1973 - Seen as something intermediate between the full free skating program of four or five minutes and the compulsories.
The Debate
Are figures just artistic or are they at the very heart of skating skills?? (best part -- Scoot disses the ISU at around 3:00!)
The ISU considered eliminating compulsory’s in Olympic and international competition, reasons being:
· Take up too much training time
· Costly to run at competitions
· Boring to watch
· Limited practice ice in Europe which put European skaters at a disadvantage (at this time, winners of compulsories tended to be from North America and Russia)
Click to viewCompulsory figures were eliminated entirely from international competition after 1990. Purists felt that an important instillation of discipline into the sport had been lost, but critics pointed out that this skill was not necessary for freeskating, and held talented skaters back.
Battle of the Brian's -- COMPULSORY STYLE
The 1988 Olympics were the last Games that included Compulsories as part of judging. Within these clips are some examples of the figures that were judged.
PART I:
SHORT CUTS:
Starts off with 2:40 of background history of “the Brian’s”
3:08 - all about the skate - (compulsory figures require a blade that is less sharp than that used for free skating in order to achieve finer control over the edges and turns. Also, blades for compulsory figures don't need the large toe picks necessary for jumping, so blades made specifically for skating compulsory figures have toe picks that are smaller and sometimes placed higher on the front of the blade than free skating blades; this helps the skater avoid accidentally dragging the toe picks on the ice.)
4:08 -- Rocker
5:38 - Gillis Grafstrom & his beautiful figures!
PART II
SHORT CUTS:
0:09 - Change Loop
LADIES 1988 OLYMPIC COMPETITION
SHORT CUTS (fyi -- this has the first vid clip embedded in it so a little repetitive):
0:20 -- Counter
2:08 -- Paragraph Bracket
6:35 -- Beautiful figures as might have been skated in the mid-1900's
8:38 -- Paragraph Loop
Some Basic Elements & More Elaborate Figures
Three turns can also be used as the common entrance to a toe loop jump and the flip jump.
More figures:
Figures above are also credited to Nicholas Panin.
WE'LL NOW CLOSE WITH A LITTLE BAD FIGURE SKATING HUMOR
TYFYT!!