About Ice Skating
Skating on ice as a sport or pastime. Ice skating became a recognized sport in 1876.
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared ice surfaces (arenas, tracks, parks), both indoors and outdoors, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as ponds, lakes and rivers.
Skaters are marked for technical and artistic excellence in performing a series of prescribed patterns ( figure skating ) or a choreographed series of dance moves ( ice dancing ).
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, duos, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport included in the Olympics, in 1908. The four Olympic disciplines are men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Non-Olympic disciplines include synchronized skating and four skating. From intermediate through senior-level competition, skaters generally perform two programs (short and long) which, depending on the discipline, may include spins, jumps, moves in the field, lifts, throw jumps, death spirals, and other elements or moves.