The history of figure skating stretches back to prehistoric times. Primitive ice skates appear in the archaeological record from about 3000 BC. Edges were added by the Dutch in the 13th and 14th century. International figure skating competitions began appearing in the late 19th century; in 1891, the European Championships were inaugurated in Hamburg, Germany, and in 1896, the first World Championship was held in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, figure skating became the first winter sport to be included in the Olympics.
Archaeology and earliest historical documentation
The exact time and process by which humans first learned to ice skate is unknown. Primitive animal bone ice skates have been found in Scandinavia and Russia, some dating back to about 3000 BC. In the ancient world, ice skating was a form of transportation; as figure skating historian James R. Hines put it, passage over frozen surfaces "was a necessity for survival during harsh winter months".
The Prose Edda () included mentions of ice skating. The earliest clear, written mention of ice skating is found in a book written in the 12th century by William Fitzstephen, a monk in Canterbury. In the work, centered on Thomas Becket, he describes a scene taking place below the northern city walls of Canterbury during the winter:
...if the moors in Finsbury and Moorfield freeze over, children from London play. Some of the children have attached bones to their ankles, and carry well-worn sticks. They fly across the ice like birds, or well-fired arrows. Suddenly, two children will run at each other, sticks held high in the air. They then attack each other until one falls down. Often, the children injure their heads or break their arms or legs...
The sticks that Fitzstephen refers to were used for movement, as the primitive bone-made ice skates did not have sharp gliding edges like modern ice skates. Adding edges to ice skates was invented by the Dutch in the 13th or 14th century. According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, the Dutch revolutionized ice skating in the 13th century by sharpening the blades of ice skates, which were made of steel at the time. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement. Around the same time period, another Dutchman, a table maker's apprentice, experimented with the height to width ratio of the metal blade of the ice skates, producing a design that remains almost unaltered to this day. The user of the skates no longer needed to use sticks for propulsion, and movement on skates was now freer and more stable.
The first depiction of ice skating in a work of art was made in the 15th century. The picture, of Saint Lidwina, patron saint of ice skaters, falling on the ice was the first work of art to feature ice skating as a main theme. Another important aspect of the painting is a man seen in the background, who is skating on one leg. This means that the ice skates the man was wearing must have sharp edges similar to those found on modern ice skates.
Social status of ice skating In the Netherlands, ice skating was considered proper for all classes of people to participate in, as shown in many pictures by the Old Masters. Skating was used as a means of transportation because the waterways which connected Dutch towns sometimes froze for months on end, hampering the economy.
In other regions, participation in ice skating was limited to only members of the upper classes. Emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire enjoyed ice skating so much he had a large ice carnival constructed in his court in 1610 in order to popularize the sport. King Louis XVI of France brought ice skating to Paris during his reign. Madame de Pompadour, Napoleon I, Napoleon III, and the House of Stuart were, among others, royal and upper class fans of ice skating.
1500s to 1800s
In 1572, the Dutch used ice skates during their revolt against Spain in Amsterdam. While the Spanish wore clogs with spikes to travel over the frozen sea during battles, the Dutch fought on bladed skates, which allowed them to defeat their enemy.
In 1713, bladed ice skates were used for the first time in North America. The next step in the development of ice skating came in 1744, when the first ice skating association in the world was formed, the Edinburgh Skating Club. The first instructional book concerning ice skating was published in London in 1772. The book, written by a British artillery lieutenant, Robert Jones, describes basic figure skating forms such as circles and figure eights. The book was written solely for men, as women did not normally ice skate in the late 18th century. It was with the publication of this manual that ice skating split into its two main disciplines, speed skating and figure skating.
In 1813, Jean Garcin published the first book about ice skating in France, entitled Le vrai pattineur (The True Skater). Garcin was the first to place equal importance on skating backward to skating forward, necessary for the quickly increasing figures developed during the 19th century. He also emphasized artistry over athleticism and related skating to ballet. He was a member of the Gilets Rouge (or Red Waistcoats), a French skating fraternity.
In 1830, the London Skating Club was formed; as of 2011, it was the oldest skating club still in existence. The first skating club in North America was founded in St. John, New Brunswick, in 1833. In 1849, the Philadelphia Skating Club was formed; its name was changed to the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society in 1861. The club was one of the first members of the U.S. Figure Skating Association (now known as U.S. Figure Skating) and continues to exist today.
By the last 25 years of the 19th century, skating became a rapidly growing and popular sport in Canada, with clubs being founded in many cities and competitions occurring frequently within and between them. In 1888, the Amateur Skating Association, which oversaw figure skating and speed skating in Canada, was formed in Montreal. Eventually, the name of the Canadian federation was changed to Skate Canada in 2000.
George Anderson, who was the second major British writer about figure skating and president of the skating club in Glasgow for many years, wrote The Art of Skating in 1852, under the pseudonym Cyclos. At the time of the book's publication, it included a section about skating in England and Scotland during the time. A second edition was published in 1868, under Anderson's name but without the historical section, which had taken up half of the previous edition.
Edward F. Gill wrote The Skater's Manual, the first book about skating written in North America, in 1863.
In the winter of 1858–59, a skating pond opened in New York's Central Park, re-igniting interest in the activity. Sex segregation at ponds disappeared early on and skating became "one of the only activities that single men and women could do together unchaperoned." Additional skating ponds opened in Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City, and Staten Island as the activity grew in popularity. The Skating Club of New York was founded in 1863. Jackson Haines, an American, was the first skater to incorporate ballet and dance movements into his skating, as opposed to focusing on tracing patterns on the ice. He also invented the sit spin and developed a shorter, curved blade for figure skating that allowed for easier turns. Haines was also the first to wear blades that were permanently attached to the boot. He won the first Championships of America held in Troy, New York in 1864.
For a time, the stiff and rigid British figure skating forms dominated in America, trumping Haines's more artistic way of skating. Haines instead attempted to spread his innovations in ice skating style in Europe, gaining success in such countries as Sweden and Austria. His style was still opposed by both his American colleagues as well as skaters from Victorian England, who continued to advocate a stiffer and more restrained style of skating. Haines continued to add new dance elements to his routines, and astounded a crowd in Vienna in the winter of 1868. Haines's performance led to the establishment of the Vienna School, which continued to develop Haines's artistic style. Although Haines himself died at the age of 35 in 1875 from the effects of tuberculosis, his influence lived on. His students at the Vienna School established the International Skating Union in 1892, the first international ice skating organization, and one of the oldest sports associations still in existence. It was founded in Scheveningen, in the Netherlands, but is now based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Union created the first codified set of figure skating rules.
The Vienna Skating Club was formed in 1867; according to Hines, it was still in existence in 2011. Figure skating historian Nigel Brown said this about the development of figure skating in the late 1800s: "To the Viennese, skating meant primarily something to see, to the English it was something to do".Qtd. in Kestnbaum, p. 6 For writer Ellyn Kestnbaum, not only does this distinction applies to the difference between spectator and participatory sports, it "also points to skating's perennial status as both sport and performing art".
The first time the new sport was called "figure skating" was by H.E. Vandervell and T. Maxwell Witham, in their book Figure Skating, which was published in 1869. The first attempts to make artificial ice occurred during the 1870s in England and the U.S. The first notable indoor ice rink was made in 1876, by John Gamgee, in Chelsea along the north bank of the Thames River; it measured 24 by 40 feet. By the end of the 19th century, many major cities in Europe and North America had indoor rinks. In 1879, the first artificial ice rink opened in the U.S., at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Also in 1879, the Madison Square Garden rink was the venue for the Grand Carnival, which Hines called "large and spectacular" and was one of the carnivals popular in the U.S. and Europe, especially by the Vienna Skating Club, at the time. Carnivals, beginning in the 1870s, provided opportunities for skaters of all skills and levels to present shows for their parents and families, and for the general public.
In 1879, the National Skating Association, the oldest national federation overseeing the rules of speed skating and figure skating (now known as British Ice Skating), was formed. It was organized to regulate the rules of speed skating, but figure skaters joined within a year of its forming.
The first international figure skating competition was held in Vienna in 1882; according to Kestnbaum, it established the precedence for future competitions. Sponsored by the Vienna Skating Club, competitors from Vienna came in first and second place, with Leopold Frey, who was a student of Haines', coming in second place. Axel Paulsen from Norway came in third place. Competitors were judged on 23 compulsory figures, a four-minute free skating program, and special figures.