Figure skating is an sport held every four years at the site of the Winter Olympics. Each of the four disciplines (men's, womens', pair and ice dance) are judged by a separate nine panel of international judges. Each judge scores on technical and performance with only seven of the nine scores counting towards the final score. In the singles event, each competitor skates a short and a long free skate program. The short program involved many required jumps, spins and combinations. The long program is worth two-thirds of the overall score and involves more creativity from the skaters. pairs skating is very similar to singles in that there is a short and long free skate program. In pairs skating, there is one male and one female performing lifts, throws and synchronized movements. In the ice dance competition, pairs perform dance in the way ballroom dancers perform, with no lifts or jumps. The three components of the ice dance are the compulsory dance, original dance and free dance.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/additional-information/about-the-sport_145912Fz.html

Analysis

The 2010 Olympic Figure Skating was held from February 14 through February 27 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia. The events are the pairs short program, men's and women's short program, pairs free skating, men's and women's free skating and ice dancing. Medal events will take place on February 15, February 18, February 22 and February 25. There will be a figure skating exhibition gala on February 27.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating-schedule-results/

Womens' favorites include 2009 world champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea, 2008 world champion Mao Asada of Japan and Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu of the United States. Others to watch are and Miki Ando of Japan, who was the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the age of 14. Mens favorites include Patrick Chan of Canada, Thomas Verner of the Czech Republic, Brian Joubert of France, Johnny Weir and reigning world champion Evan Lysacek of the United States. Pairs favorites include Aliana Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, Oksana Domnina and Maksim Shabalin of Russia and Charlie White and Meryl Davis of the United States.http://www.nbcolympics.com/figure-skating/athletes/index.html

February 14

The pairs short program was held at 4:30 pm with twenty pairs skating. Bringing up the back of the pack was Joanna Sulej and Mateusz Chruscinski of Poland with a score of 39.30. The scored 23.26 on executed elements, 18.04 on factored components with 2.00 in deductions. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao finished first with a score of 76.66. They scored 42.42 on executed elements and 34.24 on factored components with no deductions. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany finished second with a score of 75.96. Rounding out the top three were Alexander Smirnov and Yuko Kavaguti of Russia.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/pairs-short-program_fsx020201Tu.html

February 15

The pairs free skating was held at 5:00 pm with twenty pairs skating for the gold, silver and bronze medals. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao came out of retirement to compete is this year's Olympics. They scored 139.91 for a total score of 216.57 to win the gold medal. They edged Qing Pang and Jian Tong, who came from fourth to win the silver medal with a score of 213.31. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the bronze with a combined score of 210.60. Alexander Smirnov and Yuko Kavaguti dropped out of medal contention and finished fourth after a relatively poor free skate score of 120.61. Amanda Evora and Mark Ludwig was the highest ranking United States team finishing in tenth place.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/pairs-free-skating_fsx020101t7-wM.html

February 16

The men's short program was held at 4:15 pm with thirty skaters competing. Evgeni Plushenko of Russia finished first with a score of 90.85. He was .55 points ahead of Evan Lysacek, 2009 world champion from the United States. Daisuke Takahashi of Japan was just .05 behind Lysacek for third place. Johnny Weir of the United States finished sixth and Patrick Chan of Canada finished seventh. http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/men-short-program_fsm010201t7-Lr.html

February 18

The men's free program was held at 5:00 pm with twenty-six skaters competing. Evan Lysacek won the gold with a free score of 167.37 and overall score of 257.67. He won by 0.31 points over Evengi Plushenko of Russia. Daisuke Takahashi won the bronze with an overall score of 247.23. Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland was fourth with a score of 246.72. Patrick Chan finished fifth and Johnny Weir finished sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/men-free-skating_fsm010101t6-xM.html

February 19

The compulsories of the ice dance was held at 4:45 pm. Twenty-three pairs competed. The leaders were Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Dominia of Russia with a score of 43.76. Scott Moir and Tess Virtue of Canada were second, 1.02 points behind. Charlie White and Meryl Davis of the United States were third with a score of 41.47. Benjamin Agosto and Tanith Belbin of the United States were fourth, 0.56 points out of third.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/ice-dance---compulsory-dance_fsx030301t7-uA.html

February 21

The original dance of the ice dance competition was held at 4:15 pm. Twenty-three pairs competed. The leaders were Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue of Canada with a score 68.41 and overall score of 111.15. Charlie White and Meryl Davis were second with a score of 41.47 and overall score of 108.55. Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Domina, the leaders after the compulsories, dropped to third with a score of 62.84 and overall score of 106.60.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/ice-dance---original-dance_fsx030201t7-Qv.html

The free dance of the ice dance competition was held at 4:45. Twenty-three pairs competed. Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue had the highest score in the free dance with a score of 110.42. They won the gold medal with a total score of 221.57. Charlie White and Meryl Davis finished with a score of 215.74 to win the silver medal. Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Dominia, who lead after the compulsories, scored 101.04 in the free dance and won the bronze with an overall score of 207.64. Benjamin Agosto and Tanith Belbin finished fourth and Massimo Scali and Federica Faiella of Italy finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/ice-dance---free-dance_fsx030101t7-sL.html

February 23

The ladies' short program was held at 4:30 pm. Thirty skaters competed. Yu-Na Kim of Korea was in the lead with a score of 78.50. She had a 4.72 point lead over Moa Asada of Japan. Joannie Rochette of Canada was in third, Miki Ando was fourth and Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu of the United States were fifth and sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/ladies-short-program_fsw010201t7-IT.html

February 25

The ladies' free skating program was held at 5:00 pm. Twenty-four skaters competed. Yu-Na Kim won the gold medal with an overall score of 228.56. Her medal was the first ever by Korea in figure skating. Moa Asada of Japan finished with a score of 205.50 to win the silver and Joanne Rochette of Canada won the bronze. Mirai Nagasu of the United States finished fourth in her first appearance in the Olympics. Miki Ando of Japan finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/schedule-and-results/ladies-free-skating_fsw010101pB.html

Figure skating was founded by Jackson Haines in Viena, Austria around 1860. If first appeared in the Olympics in 1908 during the summer games in London, England. In 1976 ice dancing was introduced to the figure skating program at the Olympics. The compulsory figures competition, which had been part of the figure skating program, was removed from the games in 1992.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/additional-information/about-the-sport_145912Fz.html

There have been several notable women figure skaters in the history of the Olympics. Sonja Henie of Norway appeared in her first games in 1924 at the age of eleven. She won three career gold medals and a record ten consecutive world championships. Peggy Fleming was the only United States winner with her gold medal at the 1968 games and Dorothy Hamil won a gold medal in 1976. Katarina Witt of Germany won two gold medals, one in 1984 and another in 1988. Oskana Baiul of the Ukraine won gold in 1994. Kristi Yamaguchi won gold for the United States in 1992 and Tara Lipinski became the youngest gold medal winner ever at the age of 15 years, 255 days, in 1998.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/athletes/legendary-athletes/

Prominent male figure skaters in the history of the Olympics include Alexei Yagudin of Russia. He won a gold medal at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Utah. He set a record for highest score ever recorded in the Olympics, 106.6 points out of a possible 108. Richard Button of the United States won gold medals in 1948 and 1952. He was the first skater to ever attempt and complete a triple look in competition. Brian Boitano of the United States defeated David Orser by an extremely close margain in a memorable battle in Calgary in 1988. A prominent skating duo were Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Great Britain, who in 1984 became the first ice champs won by a non Russian couple.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-figure-skating/athletes/legendary-athletes/ The United States have won the most overall medals in figure skating with 44. The Soviet Union won 24 and Russia, Canada and Austria each won 20.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_figure_skating