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How did Jackson Haines change the style of figure skating in the 1860s?
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figure skating
Katarina Witt, competing for East Germany, became the first woman since Norway's Sonja Henie (1928, 1932, and 1936) to win consecutive Olympic gold medals, doing so in 1984 and 1988.
In the 1860s, Jackson Haines revolutionized figure skating by transforming it from a sport characterized by a cramped, formal, and awkward execution of figures into a free and expressive discipline.12
As a ballet dancer, Haines adapted dance movements and techniques to the ice, introducing what became known as the International style. While this approach was initially rejected in the United States and England, it gained significant popularity in Europe, particularly in Vienna, where he famously incorporated waltzing into his skating instruction. His innovative, artistic approach laid the foundation for modern figure skating, though it did not gain widespread acceptance in his home country until long after his death.12