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In the early 1800's, wooden blades like these were strapped onto boots and used as ice skates. Iron blades came next and were a huge improvement, but skaters still couldn't perform tricks. The steel blades that allowed skaters to do tricks were invented in the 1850's. |
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Norwegian Sonja Henie was one of the first superstars of the sport. Between 1927 and 1936 she won three Olympic gold medals and ten World Championships, more than any other female skater. While other women wore black skates, Henie wore flesh-tone ones. Other skaters imitated her, so Henie changed to white skates, the most popular color today. |
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Many people think that today's skaters face far more pressure than yesterday's stars because of the constant media attention and the demand for difficult tricks. But older skaters dealt with outdoor conditions such as wind, rain, snow, and freezing-cold temperatures. Since the last outdoor Worlds were held in 1967, skaters no longer worry about the weather. And they no longer skate the difficult technical moves known as compulsory figures, which were dropped from World competition in 1990. |
| "I had to skate half in the sun and half in the shade, so the sunny ice was mushy and slow and the shady ice was hard and fast," says Petra Burka (left) about conditions at the 1966 World Championships. "When the men skated there was a raging snowstorm," this Canadian and World Champion continues. "The Zamboni broke down in the middle of the rink, and the ice was covered in snow but couldn't be cleaned." |
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Europeans were the best figure skaters until the bombs of World War II destroyed many of the ice rinks and sent Europe's best coaches to North America in serch of jobs. Today, figure skating is popular all over the world and superstar skaters come from many countries. |