If you love winter sports, then you must have seen people propelled across a sheet of ice with the help of metal-bladed skates. Ice skating involves using a shoe that sits on top of a blade and the whole thing propels you across ice.
Ice skating has further evolved into figure skating, speed skating, and short-track speed skating. Figure skating involves different activities like spins, jumps, and dance movements which are not required in speed and short track speed skating
Very many ice skaters have made records in this sport on the Olympics stage and are worth talking about in this article. Tighten your seatbelt and learn more about the big names in Olympic ice skating below.
Brian Boitano
Brian Boitano is an American skater that won the 1988 Olympic champion at Calgary. He also won the Ice Skating World Champion twice in 1986 and 1988.
After winning the Calgary Olympic ice skating Games in 1988, Boitano became a professional and staged the most exciting skating battles with Canadian rival Brian Orser.
After this, he became the first American skater that landed a triple Axel. This battle still today is talked about as the “Battle of the Brians” and remains in the records as one of the best records in US Olympic figure skating history.
Sarah Hughes
Sarah Hughes is an American former competitive figure skater that won the 2002 Olympic Champion and 2001 Ladies Singles’ World Bronze Medalist. She began her skating career at the age of three years of age.
She later won the 1988 US Championships junior title and won the silver medal the following year. In the season of 1999-2000, she made her Grand prix debut after which she won two bronze medals at the 1999 Trophee Lalique and the 2000 US Championships.
In the 2000-2001 season, Hughes won three medals on the Grand Prix Circuit and in the following season, she won 2001 Skate Canada International and the 2002 US Championships bronze medal which qualified her for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Hughes staged the most enjoyable event in the 2002 Olympics and won gold in the Salt Lake City Games. She was 16 years and has since been the last American to win a gold medal in the female figure skaters in the US skating history.
Dick Button
Dick Button an American figure skater and skater analyst became the first American skater to win a gold medal in the 1948 Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
During the times of Dick Button, it is believed he revolutionized the ice skating sport. Button became the first skater to execute a double Axel in an Olympic Competition.
This feat earned him first-place votes from 17 judges out of 18. Button is one of the American skaters that enjoyed a long and successful figure skating career.
Evan Lysacek
Born in 1985, Evan Lysacek won the 2010 Olympic Champion, World Champion of 2009, and two-time four continents Champion. He rose to fame when he was involved in a tight battle against Russian Power Evgeni Plushenko.
He captured Vancouver gold in a stunning way of defending Olympic champion. This put to an end a stretch of 22 years of not having a man winning an Olympic Victory in the US.
Lysacek beat Plushenko by 1.31 points and won gold without landing a quadruple jump in the free skate.
Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton started ice skating in the 1984 Sarajevo Games as an amateur and hence an obvious man to beat. As much as his performance was just normal, Hamilton managed to become the first American to win Olympic gold in 24 years and above.
He was challenged by the Canadian skater Brian Orser who pushed him in the long program where he delivered a technically sound performance. This made Hamilton win gold and climaxed a down period in Olympic Men’s figure skating history.
Final Thoughts
There is something about winter sports that make them more challenging than other sports. And you can see that through the art of ice skating. Judges look at how a skater performs or fails to perform spins, jumps, and footwork sequences among other considerations.
A number of different names have won gold, bronze, silver, and other medals. Regardless of the metal on their award, they had major perseverance, you can make your winning dreams come true too.
