skating

Figure skating is the oldest sport on the Olympic Winter Games programme. It was contested at the 1908 London Games and again in 1920 in Antwerp. Men’s, women’s, and pairs were the three events contested until 1972. Since 1976, ice dancing has been the fourth event in the programme, proving a great success. The exact time and process by which humans first learned to ice skate is unknown. In the archaeological record, the oldest surviving sign of the activity dates to about 3000 B.C.—primitive animal bone ice skates found on the banks of Lake Moss, Switzerland. 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