Figure skating today is one of the most popular sports in the world, attracting more and more children - future champions, as well as interesting and beautiful to watch on TV or at the ice rink.
The emergence of figure skating
The first skates on iron runners appeared in the 13th-14th centuries in Holland, which is why it is considered the ancestor of figure skating.
After the advent of skates of a fundamentally new type, popularity also came, which incredibly contributed to the rapid development of this sport, which in those days was reduced to drawing various figures on the ice without losing a beautiful pose.
The first set of rules for figure skating was published in England in 1772 and was called A Treatise on Skating. It described all the main figures known at that time. Thus, Great Britain has secured the authorship of all figures required in figure skating. In addition, in 1742, the first circles of skaters appeared here, the official rules for holding competitions were developed and approved.
The founder of the sameof the modern style of figure skating, sports historians unanimously recognize the American Jason Heinz. It was he who played the main role in its distribution throughout the world, and, in particular, in Russia.
Development of figure skating in Russia
In the Russian Empire, figure skating was very popular back in the time of Peter I, who brought the first samples of skates from Europe. It is noteworthy that the Russian emperor was the first who came up with the idea of attaching skates directly to shoes and created, in fact, the prototype of modern skates.
The first Russian manual for figure skaters was published in 1838 in St. Petersburg and was called "Winter fun and the art of skating", compiled by a gymnastics teacher of a military educational institution G. M. Pauli.
Figure skating itself appeared in Russia in 1865 and at the same time the first ice rink was opened in the Yusupov Garden in St. Petersburg. At that time, it was the most comfortable in all of Russia and immediately became a platform for the professional training of figure skaters. And in 1878 the first competition among Russian athletes was held.
First Russian and Soviet skaters
The first skaters in Russia began to appear at the end of the 19th century. The pioneer who took part in international competitions was A. P. Lebedev, who was a lawyer by training.
Nikolai Poduskov became a participant in the first official competition, which was held in 1896 and took 4th place in single skating, but at the Russian Open Championship in 1901 he took the last place.
George Sanders taking partin the same competitions as Poduskov, he took 3rd place, becoming a bronze medalist. In addition, he was the first to perform complex figures, the author of which he was, which in turn helped another famous Russian figure skater, Nikolai Panin, who performed them at the 1908 Olympics in London, win the first Olympic gold for Russia.
Of the Soviet champions who won the highest awards in various competitions in figure skating, the most famous are Sergey Chetverukhin (silver at the Sapporo Olympics, bronze at the 1971 World Championships, silver at the World Championships in Calgary (1972) and Bratislava (1973) and bronze at the European Championships in 1969) and Sergei Volkov (in 1975 - world champion, champion of the USSR in 1974 and 1976).
Famous Russian male figure skaters in singles
Famous Russian figure skaters have repeatedly become champions and won prizes in various tournaments - from the Olympic Games to championships of various levels, Grand Prix and Cups.
One of the first best figure skaters in Russia was Alexei Urmanov, multiple medalist and champion of the USSR, Russia and European champion, Olympic champion in 1994.
At the 1998 Olympics, Russia again got the gold medal in men's single skating, which was won by Ilya Kulik. In addition to the highest Olympic award, in the arsenal of this famous Russian figure skater there is the "gold" of the Russian Championship, "silver" and "bronze" of the World and European Championships.
One of the most famous and best athletes in Russiais Alexei Yagudin, who has the main award of the athlete - the "gold" of the 2002 Olympics. He is a multiple European and world champion, winner of the Grand Prix finals in figure skating.
No less famous is the young single skater Maxim Kovtun, who has several serious victories to his credit. He is a three-time winner of the Russian Championship, took silver at the European Championship 2015.
The most famous and titled figure skater in Russia and around the world is Evgeni Plushenko. He is the owner of the gold medals of two Olympics (2006 - in singles, 2014 - in team skating), twice took the "silver" of the Olympic Games. Plushenko 3 times won the title of world champion, seven times - the champion of Europe and as many as 10 times - the championship of Russia. He also has many other awards and titles.
Plushenko has a number of sporting achievements, and his hallmark was the performance of the most difficult figures of single skating at competitions. He has no equal.
Russian male figure skaters are rightfully considered among the best in the world.
Famous Russian female single skaters
Unfortunately, women's single skating in Russia cannot boast a long history of performances and awards in this sport.
The history of victories began only in 1976 with the advent of figure skater Elena Vodorezova. It was she who won the first awards at the European Championship, and later became the third at the World Championship.
FirstOlympic medal - "bronze" - was won by single skater Kira Ivanova in 1983.
Success came to figure skaters only when, for the first time in Russian history, Irina Slutskaya won the European Championship in 1996. And already in 1999, also at the European Championships, Maria Butyrskaya, Soldatova and Volchkova won all the awards. In the same year, Butyrskaya brought the "gold" of the World Championship.
Despite the fact that the best Russian figure skaters Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya no longer compete, they are the most famous and legendary figure skaters in Russia to this day.
The current leaders in Russian women's singles are Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova.
Sotnikova, the first and so far the only one to win an Olympic gold medal in women's singles. In addition, she became the winner of the Russian championships 4 times, won silver twice at the European Championships.
Skating experts call Adelina a child prodigy, because at the age of 13 she performed the most difficult elements of figure skating.
Yulia Lipnitskaya is also an Olympic gold medalist in the team event. In addition, she has various awards at the world and European championships, including junior ones.
Yulia is now 17 years old, Adelina is 19, and behind them is the future of women's single skating in Russia.
Best in pair skating
Russia in pair skating for titles, regalia and world-famous athletes is much luckymore than singles.
Russian pair skaters by name and face are known even to those who are very far from the world of sports.
Our couple Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova won the first Olympic "gold" back in 1964, again in 1968. They own the authorship of many elements that are still included in the mandatory program of performances around the world to this day. At the time, this pair was the only one to ride like no one else could.
The next couple who conquered the Olympics were Alexei Ulanov and Irina Rodnina - in 1972. Irina Rodnina won the next gold in pair with Alexander Zaitsev in 1976 and 1980.
The most famous figure skaters in Russia - Olympic champions in pair skating are:
- Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya;
- Maxim Marinin and Tatyana Totmyanina;
- Roman Kostomarov and Tatyana Navka.
Today the leaders in pair skating are Russian skaters Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar, who already have 2 Olympic gold medals (in pair skating and in team competitions) and they are not going to stop there.
Best ice dancing couples
Sports ice dancing as a separate discipline was included in the program of international competitions only in 1950.
In this program, Russia (then still the Soviet Union) was represented by the famous couple Alexander Gorshkov and Lyudmila Pakhomova, who set the tone in dances around the world and became 6 timesworld champions and won gold at the 1976 Olympics.
The first, already Russian, famous dance couple Oksana Grischuk and Evgenia Platova twice became the gold medalists of the 1994 and 1998 Olympics, which made them record holders in this sport.
The famous pair of Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Domnina, whose achievements include the bronze of the 2010 Olympics, double gold of the European Championships and world champions in 2009.
One of the most famous young dancers, Nikita Katsalapov and Yelena Ilyinykh, brought Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals from the European and Russian championships to Russia's medal treasury. The couple broke up after the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Today, the best, strongest and most famous ice dancers of Russia in ice dancing - Dmitry Solovyov and Ekaterina Bobrova - champions of Europe and Russia.
