figure skating: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Historic champion

Sonja Henie, wearing a fur-trimmed skating outfit and hat, performs a jump on an outdoor ice rink in Oslo, Norway, with houses and snow in the background.

Figure skater Dick Button performs a stag jump on an outdoor ice rink in Oslo, wearing a patterned sweater and dark pants, with bleachers and buildings in the background.

Peggy Fleming, wearing a light green skating dress, glides with arms outstretched on an outdoor ice rink in Grenoble, France, with mountains in the background.

Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaytsev

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean perform an ice dancing routine in matching purple costumes at the 1984 Winter Olympics, with Dean kneeling and Torvill gliding beside him.

Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada and Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia smile and hold gold medals and yellow bouquets at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

On the way to gold

Figure skater Ilia Malinin in a dramatic jump, wearing a black and gold costume, is spotlighted against a purple ice rink background with colorful silhouettes showing stages of his movement.

Stylized illustration of a figure skater in a spin pose below bold text reading “Ilia Malinin and the Physics of the Quad Axel” on a blue background.

Watch the Northwestern University Women's Synchronized Skating Team Practicing

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Topics

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Key People

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Pierre Brunet

French figure skater

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Yekaterina Gordeeva

Russian figure skater

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Oleg Protopopov

Russian figure skater

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Lyudmila Belousova

Russian figure skater

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Andrée Brunet

French figure skater

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Toller Cranston

Canadian figure skater and artist

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Nathan Chen

American figure skater

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Christopher Dean

English figure skater

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Viktor Petrenko

Ukrainian figure skater

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Kurt Browning

Canadian figure skater

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Jayne Torvill

English figure skater

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Tessa Virtue

Canadian ice dancer

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Scott Moir

Canadian ice dancer

Alysa Liu of the USA performs a spin in a gold costume during the women's single free skating final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Alysa Liu

American figure skater

“Raspberry twist”

Ilia Malinin

American figure skater

Amber Glenn

Amber Glenn

American figure skater

She's Tonya

Tonya Harding

American figure skater

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton

American figure skater

Tara Lipinski smiles at the camera, wearing a sleeveless black and white top with her long blonde hair loose over her shoulders.

Tara Lipinski

American figure skater

Historic champion

Kristi Yamaguchi

American figure skater

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Sports Quiz

Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb, front, is greeted at the finish line after teaming with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz to win the first Olympic bobsleigh gold medal in 62 years for Team USA ,(cont)

The Olympic Games

Finnish skater Juulia Turkkila during the Ladies' singles at the World Figure Skating Championships, Megasport Arena on April 30, 2011 in Moscow, Russia. (ice skating, sports)

Figure Skating Quiz

Assorted sports balls including a basketball, football, soccer ball, tennis ball, baseball and others.

American Sports Nicknames