History of figure skating
The history of figure skating goes back to prehistoric times, there is archaeological evidence of this. In the excursion into the early history of the sport , however, one should rather speak of ice skating, which was only divided into two different sports disciplines, figure skating and speed skating much later .
First historical mentions
The first concrete mention comes from the monk William Fitzstephen from Canterbury , who described a scene in his book on Thomas Becket that took place behind the north city walls:
“... when the moors in Finsbury and Moorfields freeze, that's where London's youth run. Some of them have bones attached to their heels and they hold a shod stick in their hand. They fly over the ice like birds or arrows shot. Suddenly two boys run against each other with raised sticks and attack each other until they fall. Often they injure their heads, and if one falls under the other, he breaks his arm or his leg ... "
So ice skates made of bones had no sharp edges and you had to move with the help of sticks.
In the course of time, different variants of wooden ice skates were tried - in the Netherlands in the 13th and 14th centuries wooden shoes had an iron disc on the lower side - but the type of ice skating has remained the same. Only a coincidence helped.
One day, an apprentice carpenter from the Dutch guild for ship and ice skating instruments changed the horizontal position from the vertical position when the irons were edged - and this is how the skates of today's shape were created. The ice skater was able to put down the stick, the movement became freer and, above all, faster and more controllable.
Vertically bordered irons are on record from the 15th century. The first pictorial representation of an ice skating theme is a woodcut in a 1498 edition of the biography of Saint Lidwina by Schiedam by Johannes Brugman ; The picture shows Lidwina, the Dutch patroness of ice skaters, falling on the ice. More important than the girl lying on the ice is a young man in the background: he is walking with one leg lifted, but he had to use skates with edges .
Ice skating only for "chosen ones"
In Holland, ice skating was a popular pleasure, as some pictures of the old masters attest, elsewhere it was only the privilege of the nobility . A large ice carnival was held at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in 1610, which undisputedly contributed to the popularization of this entertainment.
Under the reign of Louis XVI. ice skated in Paris too . Ice skating historical figures also included Madame de Pompadour , Napoleon I , Napoleon III. , the House of Stuart . It is said that the British Queen Victoria is said to have met her future husband Prince Albert during joint ice trips.
Even Casanova did not hesitate with his adultery to put skates. He once mentioned that he suffered many bruises in one fall in the winter of 1759. His perception of the details has allowed the image of current ice skating fashion to persist to this day: The persecuted girl and her friend ran in short skirts (calf-length) with black velvet pants peeking out from under them.
Beginnings of modern ice skating
Another step in development began in the Scottish city of Edinburgh , where the first ice skating club was founded in 1742, and years later the first figure skating manual was published in London .
Ice skating is now divided into two different disciplines: figure skating and speed skating .
The founder of modern figure skating was the American Jackson Haines . After a Congress convened in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania to create 25 rules for organizing competitions in the United States , Jackson Haines won the first United States championship. He not only came with a new type of ice skating, but also a new type of ice skate. The runners were screwed directly onto the shoe. Thanks to his training as a ballet dancer, he was able to choreograph his music program. But he was criticized and accused of concentrating more on body and limb poses than on figure running. The stiff and strict British skating style prevailed. Haines therefore tried to gain prominence in Europe. He began his successful journey in Stockholm . His appearance was a great success. He enriched ice skating with many new dance elements. Victorian Great Britain, like its colleagues in America, opposed its new style and refused to interfere with the stiff and disciplined course.
In the winter of 1868, Haines came to Vienna at the invitation of the newly founded Vienna Ice Skating Club . His appearances on the club's square were the actual hour of birth of modern figure skating and a huge success. The rows of spectators present were delighted when he ran a waltz all over the ice. The Johann Strauss City thanked him in its own way. His program was led by Dr. Karl v. Korper, third president of the Vienna Ice Skating Club from 1875, systematically recorded and classified. This resulted in the establishment of the Vienna School of Figure Skating and the in-depth training of Viennese ice skaters. As early as 1871, Jackson Haines was able to convince himself of the success of his impulse on his second visit to Vienna. Ice dancing , especially to waltz music, soon became an integral part of Viennese social life. The first real figure skater died in 1875 at the age of 31 of complications from pneumonia . Efforts to systematically record ice skating and to create a regulatory framework resulted in the publication of the book “Traces on the Ice - The Development of Ice Skating on the Track of the Vienna Ice Skating Association” by Karl v. Korper, Max Wirth and Demeter Diamantidi. The principles described in this work, which go back to Jackson Haines appearances, are still valid today. The work and that of Dr. Karl v. Korper wrote the first competition rules for figure skating had a significant influence on the so-called regulations of the International Ice Skating Union (ISU). The Viennese school of figure skating caught on internationally and eventually became the international style.
In order to show the level of figure skating that was maintained in Vienna, the Vienna Ice Skating Club organized an “International Prize Figure Ice Skating” on January 22nd, 1882. This competition is now considered the first international figure skating competition and was groundbreaking in the development of figure skating as a competitive sport. Axel Paulsen showed here his famous jump, the Axel named after him.
Early 20th century
At the beginning of the 20th century , the Swede Ulrich Salchow gave figure skating a much more sporty character. He became 10 times world champion and pushed the performance bar of figure skating much higher. Most of all, he started using his invention: ice skates with teeth. This enabled him to push off harder when ice skating and of course when jumping. In 1908 he became the first Olympic champion in figure skating. He crowned his career with a new jump, which is now known as the Salchow jump and is one of the basic jumps. In 1911 the Swiss Ice Skating Association was founded in Switzerland .
A first Olympic competition in figure skating took place at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.
Before the First World War
The last few years before the First World War meant a further rise in sport in general, including figure skating and speed skating.
The opening of the Sportpalast in Berlin was an important milestone . Its ice surface was 2400 m² (60 mx 40 m). Not only had the public's interest in figure skating increased. Above all, the performance of the figure skaters increased.
So it was no wonder that several talents grew up in Germany. These included Werner Rittberger , inventor of one of the basic jumps in today's figure skating, the Rittberger jump named after him - and a talented girl named Charlotte Oelschlägel . She performed as a professional figure skater at the age of ten. At the age of seventeen she went to New York , where she also triumphed, and thanks to her, the popularity of figure skating in the USA increased .
Between the world wars
The major figure skating competitions were not renewed until 1922 after the First World War. The main characters were the Norwegian Sonja Henie and the Austrian Karl Schäfer .
The 10-time Norwegian world champion brought not only new fashion to figure skating - a skirt that was short to the knees - but also elegance and thoroughly reworked movements. For ten years she was one of the most admired women in the world.
The outstanding personality of the men's singles in the 1930s was the Austrian figure skater Karl Schäfer . In the years 1929-1936 he was 8-time European and 7-time world champion .
Figure skating after World War II
The period after the Second World War was the most important stage of figure skating because it experienced an unusual boom. The construction of new artificial ice rinks, which were gradually converted into covered halls, made more intensive training possible, and of course this also influenced sports performance. The freestyle slowly gained more weight over the previously preferred compulsory run, which was not too attractive for spectators.
The war years, without the opportunity to compete internationally, brought the Europeans a delay in their development that they could not catch up with straight away. The Americans had taken the opportunity to continue their work undisturbed, and thanks to intensive physical preparation, they enriched figure skating with more dynamism, speed and endurance.
The first figure skater to assert himself internationally with a freestyle in the post-war period was the popular American Richard Button , who confidently mastered the double jumps. In training he tried the triple Salchow . For women, the Canadian Barbara Ann Scott , the American Peggy Fleming and the German Gabriele Seyfert determined the top of the world.
From 1952 ice dancing became an international competitive sport and the first championships were held. Above all, the British dance couples with their characteristic performance, the so-called British dance school, won.
Late 20th and early 21st centuries
The men's singles were heavily occupied . Overseas and Russian competitors dominated the field here for a long time. B. Brian Orser , Brian Boitano , Alexander Fadejew , Wiktor Petrenko , Elvis Stojko , Alexei Jagudin and Evgeni Pljuschtschenko . In their ability, triple and quadruple jumps in various combinations and jump sequences, interesting pirouettes and very imaginative step sequences predominated.
For the ladies , the East German figure skater earned Katarina Witt the greatest fame. Her career began with the Olympic victory in Sarajevo in 1984, continued through several European and world championship titles and culminated when she defended her Olympic victory in Calgary in 1988. Her run was always technically demanding with creative choreography and perfect execution. Other successful women in world figure skating were Midori Ito , Kristi Yamaguchi , Chen Lu , Marija Butyrskaja , Michelle Kwan and Irina Sluzkaja . At the moment the successes of Asian runners prevail here ( Shizuka Arakawa , Miki Andō , Mao Asada , Kim Yu-na ).
For years, the Soviet couples ruled the ice rinks among the sports couples. You have been undefeated for a long time since the 1964 Olympics. The most successful were Lyudmila Belousova / Oleg Protopopow , Irina Rodnina with Alexei Ulanow and then with the other partner Alexander Saizew , Jekaterina Gordejewa / Sergei Grinkow , Artur Dmitrijew with both partners ( Natalja Mishkutjonok and Oxana Kasakowa ), Jelena Bereschnaja / Anton Sicharulidze . After the departure of the 2006 Olympic champions, five times European and two times world champions Tatjana Totmjanina / Maxim Marinin , this supremacy seems to have broken. There are excellent couples from America and Asia (for example Xue Shen / Hongbo Zhao ) and from Europe ( Aljona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy ).
The ice dance dominated the British couples for years and then the Soviet ice dance couple Lyudmila Pachomowa / Alexander Gorshkov , who won a total of six gold medals at world championships, another six gold medals at European championships in 1970-1976 and the title of the first Olympic champion in ice dancing in 1976. Her successors were Irina Moissejewa / Andrei Minenkow and Natalja Linitschuk / Gennadi Karponossow . The predominance of Soviet dancers interrupted the British couple Jayne Torvill / Christopher Dean for a few years. They won the world title four times and the Olympic gold medal in 1984. After them, Soviet ice dance couples competed again, the couple Oxana Grishchuk / Yevgeny Platov even won the Olympic title twice (1994, 1998). After her departure, there were new titleholders every year - Anschelika Krylowa / Oleg Owsjannikow , Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat , Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio , Irina Lobatschewa / Ilja Awerbuch , Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz - to Tatjana Nawka / Roman Kostomarow and then Albena Denkowa / Maxim Stawiski were able to win the title twice each.
Development of ice skating in Germany
In Germany , at the end of the 18th century, the poet Klopstock had become a great ice skating advertiser (e.g. in his odes: "The Ice Skating", "Braga", "The Art of Thialfs"). He was so carried away by this new art that he became the target of ridicule and malice. Germany concluded that it was not appropriate for such an old man to be "juggled" on the ice. But Klopstock found a loyal ally in Goethe . It often happened at their meetings that they talked more about ice skating than poetry. Goethe only learned to skate in adulthood. It is believed that he wanted to satisfy his heart, which was wounded by an unhappy love. In 1796 he also wrote an ice skating poem called "The Winter" .
The famous opera singer Henriette Sontag , who was married to Count Carlo Rossi , also contributed to the spread of ice skating in German countries .
In 1861 the first ice skating club was founded in Frankfurt and in 1888 the German Ice Skating Association. In 1889, the Vienna Ice Skating Association , founded in 1867, joined the German Ice Skating Associations, which from then on was called the German and Austrian Ice Skating Association.
An important milestone in the development of German figure skating was the opening of the Berlin Sports Palace . The large stone building stood on Lutherstrasse, the ice surface was 60 meters long and 40 meters wide. Berlin thus became a new sports center for world figure skating and, thanks to its favorable location between the figure skating metropolises Vienna and Stockholm, also an important crossroads.
Single run
Men's
At the first European Championship in Hamburg in 1891 , men from the German Empire occupied all three medal posts in a single run . Oskar Uhlig became the first European figure skating champion in history, followed by Anon Schmitson and Franz Zilly in second and third place .
At the European Championships in 1895 , the Graz- born Gilbert Fuchs appeared on the international stage for the first time and landed in third place. He became the first world figure skating champion in history in Saint Petersburg in 1896 . In 1906 he repeated his title win.
Heinrich Burger , who owes his fame mainly to his great successes in pair skating alongside Anna Hübler , became vice world champion in men's singles in 1904 and 1906 .
Even at his World Cup debut in 1910 in Davos belonged Werner Rittberger to the title contenders. Although he was used to artificial ice, he lost none of his speed and courage on the free ice rink. Although he was an excellent figure skater, Rittberger never won the world or European championship, but was vice world champion three times in a row and won four medals at European championships from 1910 to 1912. Rittberger was German champion eleven times between 1911 and 1928 , more often than anyone else. Rittberger wrote himself in figure skating history with his new jump with a backward run-up. The Rittberger is one of the standard jumps in figure skating.
After Werner Rittberger's era, which had lasted almost twenty years, came to an end, Ernst Baier became the dominant German figure skater. He celebrated his greatest successes with Maxi Herber in pair skating, but the German champion was also among the world's best in individual skating from 1933 to 1938. He was runner-up in Europe three times ( 1931 , 1932 , 1933 ), twice as runner-up world champion ( 1933 , 1934 ) and won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympic Games behind Karl Schäfer . Baier is the only man who was able to win two medals in figure skating at the same Olympic Games, both in individual skating and in pair skating.
After the Second World War , German figure skaters were initially not allowed to take part in world championships. Horst Faber , who was the last German figure skater to win medals before the war (bronze at the 1939 World Cup and 1939 European Championship ), was also the first to do so after the war. He became vice European champion twelve years later, in 1951 in Zurich .
Only with Manfred Schnelldorfer did Germany (now divided into two individual states - GDR and Federal Republic of Germany ) get a new title holder. Between 1956 and 1964 he was German champion eight times . Schnelldorfer won the gold medal at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , making it the first and only German Olympic champion in the men's competition . In the same year Schnelldorfer also became world champion in Dortmund and is thus the only figure skating world champion born in Germany and starting for the Federal Republic of Germany.
At the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana , Günter Zöller won bronze, the first world championship medal in the men's competition for the German Democratic Republic . It was the year of the world championship debut for another figure skater from the GDR and protégé of trainer Jutta Müller , for Jan Hoffmann . From 1971 to 1980 he was GDR champion nine times . In 1974 in Zagreb he became only the second German European champion after Oskar Uhlig , 83 years earlier. From 1977 to 1979 Hoffmann again won the European title. With four European championship titles, Hoffmann is by far the most successful German figure skater in the men's competition at European championships. In 1974 in Munich and 1980 in Dortmund Hoffmann became world champion, making him the third and so far last German world champion. In addition to his two world championship titles, he won two silver medals and three bronze medals, making him the most successful German figure skater in men's competitions at world championships. At the 1980 Olympic Games , Hoffmann won the silver medal.
After the 1970s were dominated by the GDR in Germany, figure skaters from the FRG, especially Norbert Schramm , were able to post successes again in the 1980s . Schramm was European Champion in Lyon in 1982 and Dortmund in 1983 . To this day he is the last German European champion in the men's competition. In 1982 and 1983 Schramm was also vice world champion. His strengths were mainly in the freestyle. In addition to Schramm, Rudi Cerne also won a medal. He was runner-up in 1984 ahead of Schramm.
It took more than two decades for another German to win a medal at World and European Championships . The Erfurt Stefan Lindemann , who in 2000 became the first German junior world champion had become and be the first German runners in an international competition a quadruple jump had successfully demonstrated on 7 November 2003, won in the World Cup 2004 in Dortmund the bronze medal. A year later he also won the bronze medal at the European Championships .
Manfred Schnelldorfer is the only German Olympic champion in the men's competition . Ernst Baier and Jan Hoffmann won an Olympic silver medal. With Gilbert Fuchs , Manfred Schnelldorfer and Jan Hoffmann, three world champions came from Germany. Fuchs and Hoffmann were able to win the title twice. With Oskar Uhlig , Jan Hoffmann and Norbert Schramm there are also three European champions from a German state. Hoffmann was even able to win four European Championship titles, Schramm had two. Germany ranks sixth in the all-time medal table of men's competition at world championships with 5 gold medals, 13 silver medals and 14 bronze medals. The men's competition is the third strongest figure skating discipline in Germany after the pair and the women's competition.
Ladies
The original idea of the figure skating show originated in Berlin. A dance group performed some ballet numbers on the ice here. The main character of this ensemble was Charlotte Oelschlägel , who then became famous as the first revuediva. The performance called “Flirting in St. Moritz” had its premiere in 1915 in the great hippodrome in New York .
In 1908, Elsa Rendschmidt won the silver medal behind Madge Syers at the first Olympic Games in which figure skating was in the program . It was the first ever Olympic medal for a German woman. Rendschmidt was also the first German figure skater to win a medal at world championships. In 1908 and 1910 she was runner-up behind the Hungarian Lily Kronberger . In 1911, Rendschmidt won the first ever German championship in women's figure skating .
Ludowika Eilers , who later celebrated great success in pair skating alongside Walter Jakobsson for Finland, won the bronze medal for the German Empire in the women's singles in 1911 .
In the years before and after the First World War , Thea Frenssen was the leading figure skater on a national level, but could not win an international medal.
In the twenties, Ellen Brockhöft was the dominant German figure skater. She won six national championships and was runner-up behind Herma Szabó in 1924 and 1925 . Elisabeth Böckel won the bronze medal in 1925.
In the 1930s, Maxi Herber , who enjoyed great success in pair skating alongside Ernst Baier , and later Lydia Veicht were the best German figure skaters, but missed international medals. The Second World War took away the chance for international success.
It was not until 1953 that a German figure skater again prevailed internationally: Gundi Busch won the silver medal at the World and European Championships that year . A year later she became the first German female European champion in Bolzano and the first German female world champion in the women's competition in Oslo .
In the 1960s, the GDR established itself as a major sporting power in women's competition. It all started with Gabriele Seyfert , the GDR record champion with ten titles . She became European champion in 1967 , 1969 and 1970 and world champion in 1969 and 1970 . At the Olympic Games in Grenoble , Seyfert won the silver medal 60 years after Elsa Rendschmidt . In 1968 she was the first woman to show a three-time Rittberger in competition. Seyfert was trained by her mother, Jutta Müller , who became one of the most successful trainers in history.
Sonja Morgenstern won the bronze medal at the European Championships in 1972 . Injuries prevented her from winning further medals.
Seyfert's successor was Christine Errath , who was European champion from 1973 to 1975 and world champion in Munich in 1974 . At the 1976 Olympics , she won the bronze medal.
Anett Poetzsch immediately followed in Errath's footsteps . The five-time GDR champion was European champion from 1977 to 1980 and world champion in 1978 and 1980 under the direction of Jutta Müller . At the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid , Pötzsch won the gold medal, making it the first German Olympic champion in women's figure skating .
Pötzsch was followed by another student of Jutta Müller , Katarina Witt . She was able to increase the great success of her predecessors again and became one of the most popular and successful figure skaters in history. From 1981 to 1988 Witt was GDR champion , from 1983 to 1988 European champion and 1984 , 1985 , 1987 and 1988 world champion. In Sarajevo she won Olympic gold in 1984 and was able to defend it in Calgary in 1988 as the only figure skater alongside Sonja Henie .
Evelyn Großmann won the last title for the GDR at the European Championships in 1990 .
From the FRG, Dagmar Lurz and Claudia Leistner made it into the medal ranks during the years of GDR dominance . From 1977 to 1980 Lurz was always Vice European Champion behind Anett Pötzsch . At the 1977 World Championships she won the bronze medal and in 1980 the silver medal. She won bronze at the 1980 Olympics . Claudia Leistner became European Champion in 1989 and Vice World Champion in 1983 and 1989 .
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Marina Kielmann became vice European champion in 1992 , winning bronze medals at European championships three times. Patricia Neske also won bronze at the European Championships in 1989 and 1992 . Tanja Szewczenko won the last medal at world championships with bronze in 1993 in Chiba . In 1998 she was third at the European Championships and thus won the last European Championship medal for Germany in the women's competition.
The individual skating of the women is the second strongest figure skating discipline of the Germans after the pair skating. With Anett Pötzsch and Katarina Witt , two German figure skaters made it to become Olympic champions , Witt even twice. Elsa Rendschmidt and Gabriele Seyfert won Olympic silver, Christine Errath and Dagmar Lurz Olympic bronze. In the all-time medal table at world championships , Germany is the most successful nation after the USA with 10 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 6 bronze medals. Katarina Witt had four world titles, Gabriele Seyfert and Anett Pötzsch two each and Gundi Busch and Christine Errath one title. At European championships , German women are the most successful with 19 titles.
Pair skating
The first ever world and Olympic champions in pair skating were Anna Hübler and Heinrich Burger in 1908. Anna Hübler also became the first ever German Olympic champion in London on October 29, 1908 . In 1910, Hübler and Burger won their second world championship title in Berlin . Burger was also able to win medals in the individual run.
At the World Championships in 1911 Ludowika Eilers from Potsdam won alongside the Finn Walter Jakobsson . Half of this medal was awarded to the German Empire . Eilers was world champion two more times and also Olympic champion in 1920, but after marrying Jakobsson she competed for Finland .
In the first years after the First World War there were no major successes for German pair skaters, only Margarete and Paul Metzner managed to win the bronze medal at the World Cup in Davos in 1922 .
It was not until the beginning of the thirties that a new German couple , Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, reached the top of the world. The seven-time German champions dominated the pair skating from the mid-thirties and remained undefeated from 1935 until the beginning of the Second World War . They were European champions from 1935 to 1939 and world champions from 1936 to 1939 . They won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . This makes them the most successful German figure skating couple in history and one of the most successful couples ever. Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier have revolutionized pair skating. In 1934 they were the first sports couple in the world to show a parallel jump, the simple Axel side by side. Ernst Baier was also successful in the individual run and is the only man who could win two medals in the same Olympic Games, both in individual and in pair.
At the 1939 World Cup in Budapest, it was the only time in history that there was an all-German podium. Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier won ahead of Ilse Pausin and Erik Pausin as well as Inge Koch and Günther Noack .
After the Second World War , German runners were initially excluded from participating in international competitions. After the ban was lifted, a couple made it straight to the top of the world: Ria Baran and Paul Falk . Both had always been German champions since 1947 before they were allowed to compete internationally for the first time in 1951. Baran and Falk never lost a competition in their entire careers. In 1951 they promptly became European champions in Zurich and world champions in Milan . In 1952 they defended both titles at the European Championships in Vienna and the World Championships in Paris . They also won the gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Oslo . They invented the lasso lift and were the first couple to do parallel double jumps in their freestyle. Baran and Falk became the first winter athletes to become athletes of the year in Germany in 1951 .
The next big German sports couple reached the top of the world in the early sixties. Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler enjoyed great popularity in Germany. From 1959 to 1964 they were European champions six times in a row and world champions in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1963 and in Dortmund in 1964 . At the Olympic Games in Squaw Valley in 1960 and in Innsbruck in 1964 , they each won the silver medal.
Before joining Hans-Jürgen Bäumler, Marika Kilius had already won medals at World and European Championships alongside Franz Ningel . Ningel also succeeded in doing this with his later partner Margret Göbl .
After the Kilius / Bäumler era, the dominance of the Soviet Union in pair skating began. In the years that followed, German couples won numerous medals, but almost no titles.
Margot Glockshuber and Wolfgang Danne from the FRG became vice world champions in 1967 . At the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble it was enough for a bronze medal.
As in the individual run, the GDR in particular contributed to the greatest successes of German athletes from the 1970s onwards. Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz-Ulrich Walther achieved the first medal win for the GDR in pair skating at world championships in 1970 with bronze . As early as 1961 , Margit Senf and Peter Göbel won the first medal for the GDR at European championships with bronze . Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann won the bronze medal at the 1973 and 1975 World Championships and at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games . Romy Kermer and Rolf Oesterreich won bronze at the World Championships in 1974 and became vice world champions in 1975 and 1976 . In 1976 they won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Innsbruck . Manuela Mager and Uwe Bewersdorf became vice world champions in 1978 and 1980 and won the bronze medal at the 1980 Olympic Games . The most successful GDR couple were Sabine Baeß and Tassilo Thierbach . The five-time East German champions were 1982 in Lyon and in 1983 in Dortmund European champion and 1982 in Copenhagen as the only East German world champion pair. They also won two silver medals and two bronze medals at world championships .
From the FRG only Tina Riegel and Andreas Nischwitz managed to get medals during this time . In 1981 they were runner-up European champions and third at the world championships .
After the reunification, Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer were the first German couple to make it back to the top of the world. In 1995 they became European champions and in 1997 world champions. They won the bronze medal at the 1998 Olympic Games . In the same year Peggy Schwarz and Mirko Müller won the bronze medal at the world championships .
In 2003, a new German figure skating couple got together: Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy . Under their coach Ingo Steuer , the eight-time German champions were in 2007 , 2008 , 2009 and 2011 European champion and 2008 , 2009 , 2011 , 2012 and 2014 world champion . In the 2010 Olympic Games and 2014 Olympic Games , they won the bronze medal each.
Pair skating is the strongest figure skating discipline in Germany. Seven German couples became world champions 17 times : Anna Hübler and Heinrich Burger (2), Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier (4), Ria Baran and Paul Falk (2), Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler (2), Sabine Baeß and Tassilo Thierbach , Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer as well as Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (5), plus the title of Ludowika Eilers , which she won for the German Empire starting with the Finn Walter Jakobsson . In total, Germans won 17 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 17 bronze medals at world championships . This puts Germany in second place behind Russia in the all-time medal table. With 20 titles, Germany is also in second place behind Russia at European championships.
With Anna Hübler and Heinrich Burger , Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier as well as Ria Baran and Paul Falk , three German couples became Olympic champions . Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler have won Olympic silver twice, Romy Kermer and Rolf Oesterreich once. Olympic bronze medals were won by Margot Glockshuber and Wolfgang Danne , Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann (two times), Manuela Mager and Uwe Bewersdorff , Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer as well as Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (two times).
Ice dance
Ice dancing is the youngest figure skating discipline . It was not until the 1950s that it was included in the program of world and European championships , and in 1976 it became Olympic . The first competitions in ice dancing were held from 1924. At the same time, the Austrian Ice Skating Association issued its own regulations for ice dancing competitions. At the request of the Austrian Ice Skating Association, international competition rules were introduced in 1929. Until then, ice dancing was considered a purely social pleasure. This original form of ballroom dancing on the ice has been preserved as so-called round dancing in Vienna.
In Germany, ice dancing is mainly associated with one pair of ice dancers, the siblings Angelika Buck and Erich Buck . From 1968 to 1973 they were German ice dance champions six times in a row . They won their first major international medals in 1970 with silver at the European Championships in Leningrad and bronze at the World Championships in Ljubljana . It was the first ice dance medals for Germany at world and European championships . From then on, the Bucks became the strongest competitors of the most successful ice dance couple in history, Lyudmila Pachomowa and Alexander Gorshkov from the Soviet Union . In 1971 they became Vice European Champion in Zurich and Vice World Champion in Lyon . At the European Championships in Gothenburg in 1972 , Angelika and Erich Buck were the only ice dancers in the period from 1970 to 1976 to ever defeat Pachomowa and Gorschkow. Thus they became the first and to this day only German European ice dance champions. At the 1972 World Cup they won the silver medal again, as they did in 1973 at their last European Championship and their last World Cup . In 1973, the Bucks ended their careers, missing the first Olympic Games to feature ice dancing by three years.
In the GDR, ice dancing was less encouraged than the other disciplines, as it only became Olympic very late. Annerose Baier and Eberhard Rüger were by far the most successful ice dance couple in the GDR. However, the eight-time GDR champions could not win any international medals.
The second and so far last German ice dance couple to win a European Championship medal were Petra Born and Rainer Schönborn in 1985 .
Only Kati Winkler and René Lohse were able to lift Germany back into the medal ranks at world championships. You won bronze at the 2004 World Cup in Dortmund . This makes them the only German and, to date, last couple to win a World Cup medal alongside the Bucks.
Ice dancing is the Germans' weakest discipline. A world or European champion has never come from Germany, and a German ice dance couple has never won an Olympic medal. Only Angelika and Erich Buck as well as Kati Winkler and René Lohse reached the podium at a world championship. In the all-time list of medals in ice dancing at world championships , Germany ranks tenth with three silver medals and two bronze medals.
Synchronous figure skating
This team figure skating has existed since the 1920s and was originally called Precision Skating . It was released from its shadowy existence in 1956 in Ann Arbor , USA (Michigan) by the Richard Porter family and the city's ice skating club and presented to the public for competition. Since then there have been national championships in North America and international comparisons, in which Canada, the USA and Sweden were initially in the lead. Synchronized figure skating , also known as formation skating , synchronized skating or ice formation dancing , was recognized as an independent discipline by the ISU in 1992 . Followers describe this type of figure skating with grace, expressiveness, dynamism - fascination with speed and consonance of movements .
There have been German championships since 1995, with Team Berlin 1 (founded in 1994, 24 figure skaters) taking the lead every year with the exception of 1995 to 2005. In Germany there are still teams in Stuttgart, Neuss, Munich, Bad Aibling, Mannheim, Düsseldorf, Dresden and Chemnitz.
At the 1996 World Ice Art Championship, synchronized figure skating was shown as a show, and since 2000 there have also been separate world championships ("Team Berlin 1" took 6th place in the year of the premiere of 21 teams, also in 2003). At the 2002 Winter Olympics it was a demonstration sport. The placement at world championships determines the number of teams in a country admitted to the Olympic Winter Games - two German teams could have started in 2006, but the discipline is not yet Olympic.
literature
- Jarmila Šťastná-Königová : Nekonečné stopy bruslí (Infinite ice skating tracks). Prague 1985.
- Josef Dědič : Metodika krasobruslení (Figure skating method). Prague 1961.
- Josef Dědič: Světové piruety (World Pirouettes). Prague 1976.
- James R. Hines: Figure Skating in the Formative Years. Singles, pairs, and the expanding role of women. Univ. of Illinois Press, Champaign, IL 2015, ISBN 978-0-252-03906-5 .
- Olympic Lexicon. Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1980.
Web links
- Elke Wittich: pioneer on ice skates. In: The weekly newspaper. Issued January 13, 2005.
- Official website of the ISU
- synchroskating.com
- www.ice-dancing.com (Japanese)
Individual evidence
- ^ E. Law: Dancing on Ice . London 1925.
- ↑ Some key dates in ISU history. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 2, 2014 ; Retrieved July 19, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock: The ice skating. In: Oden. Hamburg 1771, p. 151. ( digitized version )
- ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Four Seasons: Winter. In: Berlin edition. Poetic Works (Volume 1–16) (= Berlin Edition. Poetic Works. Volume 1). Berlin 1960, pp. 267-271. ( online )
- ↑ Team Paradise (RUS) aiming at hat trick. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
