Bobsleigh, Sport factsheets

Bobsledding Factsheets

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Olympic History:          Bobsledding as a sport originated in Switzerland in 1886 when an Englishman, Wilson Smith, connected two sleighs with a board to travel from St. Moritz to Celerina.  Bobsledding was first practiced on the Cresta Run at St. Moritz but the run was not suitable for the faster bobsleds, so a separate bob run was constructed there in 1904, the world’s first.  Prior to that time, local roads around St. Moritz were used for bobsled races.  The first bobsled club was formed in 1896 by Lord Francis Helmsley of Britain at St. Moritz.

Bobsledding was on the program of the first Olympic Winter Games in 1924 with a single four-man event.  In 1928, the event was one for sleds with either four- or five-men.  In 1932, the current men’s program of two events, one for two-man sleds, and one for four-man sleds, began.  Bobsledding has been contested at all Olympic Winter Games except for 1960 at Squaw Valley.  Because of the distance to travel to California, only nine countries indicated that they would enter bobsled teams.  The Squaw Valley organizers thus decided not to build a bob run and the sport was not held that year.

Bobsledding at the Olympics was contested for men only through 1998.  In October 1999, the IOC approved the addition of women’s bobsled to the Olympic Winter program and women competed for the first time at Salt Lake City in 2002 in the two-woman bobsled event.

Bobsledding is governed world-wide by Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT).  As of November 2013, the FIBT has 64 affiliated member nations, all of which are recognized by the IOC.  This makes it the third smallest International Federation, after curling and luge, in terms of affiliated national federations.

The following nations are current members of the FIBT: American Samoa, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, US Virgin Islands, and Venezuela.

Figure skating

The First Olympic Winter Sports Champions

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The first thing you may have noticed about this blog entry is the title. Not “The first Winter Olympic champions” but specifically “The first Olympic winter sports Champions”. The reason is simple – before the creation of the Winter Games some of the events that were to become part of the winter Olympic programme were held at the Summer Games. Figure skating first appeared at the 1908 Games in London but all winter sports were dropped from the 1912 programme following protests by Scandinavian nations who wished to promote their own Nordic Games. Figure skating returned in 1920 alongside the new sport of ice hockey and this paved the way for the Chamonix Winter Olympics of 1924 to happen.
But who were those first figure skating champions of 1908? Take a look at their biographies below.
Full results from the 1908 Olympic figure skating tournament can be found at http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1908/FSK/

Ulrich Salchow (SWE)
Olympic champion – men

Ulrich Salchow was one of the most successful figure skaters of all-time and dominated figure skating in the early 1900s. His name was given to the figure skating jump “Salchow” that he performed for the first time in 1909. He was a specialist of the now defunct compulsories, which accounted for a large percentage of the total marks.
Salchow won 10 World Championships, 1901-05 and 1907-11. He did not compete in the 1906 World Championships that were held in Munich, as he feared that he would not be judged fairly against Gilbert Fuchs of Germany. His 10 titles are still a record, which he shares with Sonja Henie and Irina Rodnina. When figure skating was first contested at the Summer Olympics in London in 1908, Salchow won the title with ease. In addition, Salchow won the European Championships a record nine times (1898-1900, 1904, 1906-07, 1909-10, 1913), placed second in the World Championships three times (1897, 1899-1900) and once at the European Championships (1901). In his early career he was Swedish national champion in 1895-97. In 1976, he was inducted into the Figure Skating World Hall of Fame.
Salchow could not defend his Olympic gold medal at Stockholm in 1912 because organizers opted out of holding skating contests. When he made one last attempt at the Olympics in 1920, it ended in a fall, ironically while attempting his own jump, the Salchow. Despite this, the then 42-year-old managed to place fourth. In 1906, he published a handbook of skating, which was translated into several languages. He was also active in other sports, including cycling and bobsledding.
After his active career Salchow was President of the International Skating Union from 1925-37 and Chairman of the AIK in Stockholm from 1928-39. He was also chairman of the Swedish Cycling Association (1904-07), Swedish Skating Association (1917-20, 1923-32, 1935-38), and helped to found the Swedish Boxing Federation, where he was chairman from 1919-32, and he was a member of the board of the National Sports Confederation (1911-28).
Salchow was an active yachtsman and worked for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and Associated Press as a journalist. He was on the board of the Swedish Radio and a successful merchant and radio pioneer.

Nikolay Panin (Kolomenkin) (RUS)
Olympic champion – men’s special figures

As a youth Nikolay Kolomenkin did rowing, cycling, athletics and gymnastics and was introduced to figure skating after 1893, when he enrolled at St. Petersburg University (now St. Petersburg State University). Kolomenkin was fascinated by this new sport and soon became the top Russian figure skater at the turn of 20th century. But for fear of fellow student’s mocking him, Kolomenkin competed in figure skating under the pseudonym Nikolay Panin and used this name throughout his competitive figure skating career.

In 1908 Kolomenkin became the first Russian Olympic winner when he won the special figures event at the London Olympics. Kolomenkin also won silver at the 1903 World Championships in singles, another silver at the 1908 European Championships, and bronze at the 1904 European Championships. He also won the Russian singles title from 1901-05 and 1907. While studying at university, Kolomenkin was an all-around athlete, competing in cycling, rowing, athletics, swimming, skiing and played football and hockey.

After graduating university with a mathematics degree in 1898, Kolomenkin became a competent sports shooter, winning 23 Russian titles in pistol shooting (1906-17). He also competed at the 1912 Olympics as a shooter, finishing eighth in individual free pistol and fourth in team pistol. After winning his Olympic title, Kolomenkin retired from competitive figure skating and worked as a figure skating coach. From 1915-17 Kolomenkin was general secretary of the Russian Olympic Committee and from 1919-30 worked in various financial positions with the Petrograd (later Leningrad) province and oblast governments. From 1933 until his death, Kolomenkin worked as head of the figure skating department at the Lesgaft State Institute of Physical Culture (now Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health).

Madge Syers (GBR)
Olympic champion – women

Florence Madeline Cave, known to her friends “Madge” was one of fifteen children of Edward Jarvis Cave, a gentleman of independent means. Like many young girls in her position, she joined fashionable London Society at the Prince’s Skating Rink in Knightsbridge, but unlike most of her contemporaries, Madge took her skating seriously and it was through the sport that she met her future husband, Edgar Syers. Syers, who was 19 years her senior, wielded a considerable influence on Madge Caves development as a skater. He encouraged her to forsake the outdated “English” style with its minimal body movement, and in which she had won the 1899 Challenge Shield, and adopt the free and flowing “International’ style of skating. Madge Caves soon became the world’s leading woman skater. She won the first British pairs competition in 1899 with her future husband. The following year Madge and Edgar Syers were married and soon afterwards they finished second in one of the first international pairs competitions in Berlin.
Although the newly married couple was a formidable combination in pairs competitions, it was in individual events that Madge Syers really shone. As there was no rule prohibiting women from competing, she created a sensation by entering the World Championships in 1902 where – even more sensationally – she finished second to the great Ulrich Salchow of Sweden. The authorities immediately barred women from the championships, but in 1905 the ban was rescinded and the following year a separate ladies’ event was introduced at the world championships. Madge easily won this event in 1906 and 1907, but it was not until 1920 that these events were retroactively recognized as official world championships. She also won the first British singles championship in 1903, finishing ahead of Horatio Torromé, and in 1904 she defeated her husband to retain the title. With this record, Madge Syers was a clear favorite for the 1908 Olympic women’s singles and with all five judges placing her a clear first in both the compulsory figures and the free skating, she was an undisputed winner of the gold medal. She also won a bronze medal partnering her husband in the pairs event. After the 1908 Olympics, Madge Syers, who was also a prize winning swimmer and equestrienne, retired because of ill health and she died at the early age of 35.

Annie Hübler and Heinrich Burger (GER)
Olympic champion – pairs

In 1908 Annie Hübler and Heinrich Burger were the first Germans to won the pairs World Championship and they were the first German winter-sport Olympic Champions. They repeated as World Champions in 1910, and won German titles in 1907 and 1909.
Burger was also successful as a singles skater, winning three German Championships in 1904, and 1906-07. He was also runner-up at the World Championships in 1904 and 1906, and third in 1908. In 1905 he was runner-up at the European Championships. Burger later became a figure skating judge, serving on the jury at the 1928 Winter Olympics. He was a lawyer by profession.
Hübler later became an actress and a singer at the Bremen Town Theatre and the München Chamber Theatre. After her marriage to Ernst Horn, she managed the major department store “Horn” in München at the famous town square “Stachus”, which, with more than 1,000 employees, was the third largest catalogue company in Germany in that era. In 1969 she was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Uncategorized

Winter Olympic Competing Nations and Medalists

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Infostrada’s medal table predictions noted that they expect 26 NOCs to win medals, which would equal the record of Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010. How many nations have won medals at each Winter Olympics? And how many have won gold medals at each Winter Olympics? Here are the numbers, along with numbers of events available, and the number of competing NOCs.

Year          Events        NOCs    NOCMeds  NOCGolds

1908        4 events               6                    4                   4

1920        4 events             10                   7                   3

1924      16 events             16                10                  8

1928      14 events             25                12                  6

1932      14 events             17                10                  7

1936      17 events             28                11                  8

1948      22 events             28                13               10

1952      22 events             30                13                  8

1956      24 events             32                13                  9

1960      27 events             30                14               10

1964      34 events             36                14               11

1968      35 events             37                15               13

1972      35 events             35                17               14

1976      37 events             37                16               12

1980      38 events             37                19               11

1984      39 events             49                17               11

1988      46 events             57                17               11

1992      57 events             64                20               14

1994      61 events             67                22               14

1998      68 events             72                24               15

2002      78 events             77                24               18

2006      84 events             79                26               18

2010      86 events             82                26               19

For the record, there will be 98 events in Sochi 2014, and we expect about 90 NOCs to compete, although final qualifications and entry lists will not be known in all sports until 19 January.

There are 7 nations that we expect will be competing in the Winter Olympics for the first time – Eritrea, Malta, Paraguay, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Togo, Tonga, and Zimbabwe. Six of the seven have definitely qualified an athlete for Sochi, and Eritrea has a male skiier who is right on the cusp of qualifying – Canadian-born Shannon-Ogbani Abeda.

There are 6 nations that have previously competed at the Winter Olympics who will likely not compete, as follows: Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. The 6th is North Korea (technically the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPR Korea), although we await word on whether or not Dennis Rodman will be able to switch to a winter sport at the last minute.

You’ll learn more next week when we start publishing our Factsheets on the Winter Competing Nations.

Figure skating

Figure Skating Olympic Record Scores – All the 6.0s

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Olympic writer Alan Abrahamsson talked about the problems with figure skating, and noted in there that people do not understand the new scoring system, in place since the 2002 pairs figure skating controversy. Here are the records for Olympic figure skating, both under the current system, and a listing of all the perfect 6.0 scores, under the old system – that people understood. This can also be found in our Figure Skating Factsheets – just posted today.

Olympic Records for Scoring (Current System since 2006)

Men’s Total                    258.33  Yevgeny Plyushchenko (RUS-2006)

Men’s Short                     90.85  Yevgeny Plyushchenko (RUS-2010)

Men’s Free                    167.67  Yevgeny Plyushchenko (RUS-2006)

Women’s Total           228.56  Kim Yu-Na (KOR-2010)

Women’s Short            78.50  Kim Yu-Na (KOR-2010)

Women’s Free           150.06  Kim Yu-Na (KOR-2010)

Pairs Total                    216.57  Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo (CHN-2010)

Pairs Short                      76.66  Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo (CHN-2010)

Pairs Free                     141.81  Pang Qing / Tong Jian (CHN-2010)

Dance Total                 221.57  Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir (CAN-2010)

Dance Compulsory   43.76  Ok. Domnina/Mak. Shabalin (RUS-2010)

Dance OSP                     68.41  Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir (CAN-2010)

Dance Free                  110.42  Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir (CAN-2010)

 

Perfect 6.0s at the Olympics (old system – 1908-2002)

From 1908-2002 scoring in figure skating at the Olympic Winter Games was done on a basis of 0-6 points for each performance, with 6.0 being a “perfect” score, considered the ultimate performance. Following is a listing of the 55 times this was done at the Winter Olympics, fully 19 times by the British ice dance couple of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, 16 of them in 1984. The next most are 7 by Heinrich Hübler and Annie Burger in 1908 pairs figure skating. (Note that in 1908 scoring was only by ½-points, so the only score above 5.5 was 6.0, which slightly devalues those scores.) This is followed by 4 by Russian singles skater Aleksey Yagudin in 2002, and by the Soviet ice dance couple of Natalia Bestemianova and Andrey Bukin in 1988.

Year  Phase/Judge        ScoreType      Skater(s)                        NOC    Judge

1980 Singles-SP; J#7   Req. El’m’ts    Xu Zhaoxiao               CHN    GBR

1998 Singles-SP; J#3   Presentation  Elvis Stojko                CAN    CAN

1936 Singles-FS; J#2   Total Score     Verners Auls              LAT     GBR

1936 Singles-FS; J#7   Total Score     Verners Auls               LAT     TCH

1948 Singles-FS; J#3   Total Score     Per Cock-Clausen    DEN    USA

1988 Singles-FS; J#9   Tech. Merit     Brian Orser                 CAN    TCH

1994 Singles-FS; J#1   Tech. Merit     Viktor Petrenko       UKR    ROU

1998 Singles-FS; J#9   Tech. Merit     Philippe Candeloro FRA     FRA

2002 Singles-FS; J#3   Tech. Merit     Aleksey Yagudin       RUS    USA

2002 Singles-FS; J#4   Tech. Merit     Aleksey Yagudin       RUS    ROU

2002 Singles-FS; J#6   Tech. Merit     Aleksey Yagudin       RUS    GER

2002 Singles-FS; J#9   Tech. Merit     Aleksey Yagudin       RUS    AZE

1984 Women -FS; J#4 Tech. Merit     Rosalyn Sumners     USA    ITA

1908 Pairs-FS; J#1       Sport. Merit     Hübler / Burger        GER    GER

1908 Pairs-FS; J#2       Sport. Merit     Hübler / Burger        GER    SUI

1908 Pairs-FS; J#2       General Imp.  Hübler / Burger         GER    SUI

1908 Pairs-FS; J#2       General Imp.  Johnson / Johnson   GBR    SUI

1908 Pairs-FS; J#2       Sport. Merit     Syers / Syers               GBR    SUI

1908 Pairs-FS; J#3       Sport. Merit     Hübler / Burger        GER    ARG

1908 Pairs-FS; J#3       Sport. Merit     Syers / Syers               GBR    ARG

1908 Pairs-FS; J#4       Sport. Merit     Hübler / Burger        GER    GBR

1908 Pairs-FS; J#4       General Imp.  Hübler / Burger          GER    GBR

1908 Pairs-FS; J#5       Sport. Merit     Hübler / Burger        GER    RUS

1976 Pairs-SP; J#3       Req. El’m’ts    Rodnina / Zaytsev     URS    TCH

1994 Pairs-FS; J#8       Tech. Merit     Gordeyeva/Grinkov RUS   RUS

1998 Pairs-FS; J#6       Tech. Merit     Kazakova/Dmitriyev RUS   CZE

1984 Dance-OSP; J#1 Artistic Imp.    Torvill / Dean              GBR   HUN

1984 Dance-OSP; J#1 Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean               GBR   HUN

1984 Dance-OSP; J#7 Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean               GBR   ITA

1984 Dance-OSP; J#8 Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean               GBR   CAN

1988 Dance-OSP; J#9 Tech. Merit     Bestiamanova/Bukin URS FRA

1994 Dance-OSP; J#3 Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean               GBR   GBR

1994 Dance-OSP; J#5 Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean               GBR   UKR

1998 Dance-OSP; J#7 Tech. Merit    Krylova/Ovsyannikov RUS RUS

2002 Dance-OSP; J#1 Tech. Merit     Lobacheva/Averbukh RUS  POL

1976 Dance-FD; J#3    Tech. Merit     Pakhomova/Gorshkov URS URS

1984 Dance-FD; J#1    Artistic Imp.    Torvill / Dean               GBR  HUN

1984 Dance-FD; J#1    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                GBR  HUN

1984 Dance-FD; J#2    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                GBR  URS

1984 Dance-FD; J#3    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                GBR  FRG

1984 Dance-FD; J#4    Artistic Imp.    Torvill / Dean                GBR  GBR

1984 Dance-FD; J#4    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                 GBR  GBR

1984 Dance-FD; J#5    Artistic Imp.    Torvill / Dean                GBR  JPN

1984 Dance-FD; J#5    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                  GBR    JPN

1984 Dance-FD; J#6    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                  GBR   TCH

1984 Dance-FD; J#7    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                  GBR    ITA

1984 Dance-FD; J#8    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                  GBR  CAN

1984 Dance-FD; J#9    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                  GBR  USA

1988 Dance-FD; J#1    Tech. Merit     Bestiamanova/Bukin  URS  URS

1988 Dance-FD; J#5    Tech. Merit     Bestiamanova/Bukin  URS   ITA

1988 Dance-FD; J#9    Tech. Merit     Bestiamanova/Bukin  URS   FRA

1994 Dance-FD; J#1    Tech. Merit     Grishchuk / Platov       RUS   RUS

1994 Dance-FD; J#3    Tech. Merit     Torvill / Dean                  GBR   GBR

1998 Dance-FD; J#8    Tech. Merit     Grishchuk / Platov       RUS   ITA

1998 Dance-FD; J#9    Tech. Merit     Grishchuk / Platov        RUS   FRA

 

Perfect 12.0s at the Olympics (Both Scores) (old system – 1908-2002)

And under the old system, there were six occurrences when skaters received a perfect score of 12.0 for their performance, with perfect 6.0 score on both measured elements (which have differed over the years). This was done twice by the German pair of Heinrich Hübler and Annie Burger in 1908 (again with the caveat that scoring was only by ½-points), and four times by the British dance couple of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in 1984.

Year   Phase/Judge           Type    Skater(s)                NOC     Judge

1908  Pairs – FS; J#2         Both      Hübler / Burger     GER      SUI

1908  Pairs – FS; J#4         Both      Hübler / Burger     GER      GBR

1984  Dance – OSP; J#1   Both    Torvill / Dean         GBR      HUN

1984  Dance – FD; J#1      Both    Torvill / Dean         GBR      HUN

1984  Dance – FD; J#4      Both    Torvill / Dean         GBR      GBR

1984  Dance – FD; J#5      Both    Torvill / Dean         GBR      JPN

 

Skeleton, Sport factsheets

Skeleton Factsheet

Olympic History:     Tobogganing is one of the oldest winter sports.  Descriptions of it in the 16th century are found in literature.  As a racing sport, it can be traced to the mid-19th century when British tourists starting sledding on the snowbound roads of the Alps.  The original form of the sport was the skeleton sleds that were used on the Cresta Run at St. Moritz.

Skeleton sled racing owes it entire early history to St. Moritz and the famed Cresta Run.  The sport developed in that Swiss resort town as a plaything for the rich.  It was written by E. F. Benson in 1913, “There is one Mecca, there is one St. Peter’s, there is one Cresta.  As is Mecca to the Mohammedan, as is St. Peter’s to the Catholic, so is the Cresta Run at St. Moritz to the tobogganer.”

British and American vacationers built the first toboggan run near St. Moritz, on the Klosters Road in nearby Davos, as early as 1882.  In 1884, Major W. H. Bulpetts built a similar track down the Cresta Valley at St. Moritz.  The first toboggan Grand National took place there in 1885, attracting 20 contestants.  All sliders rode at that time in a sitting position.  The prone, head-first position of skeleton racing was introduced about ten years later.  The St. Moritz Tobogganing Club was founded in 1887, and Bulpetts developed the modern model of a skeleton sled in 1902.

For many years the most important races in skeleton, all held at the Cresta Run, were the Grand National and Curzon Cup.  Twice the sport was contested in the Olympics, in 1928 and 1948, both times when the Winter Games were contested at St. Moritz.  World Championships were first held in 1982 and a World Cup circuit for men and women was introduced in 1986.

At the IOC Executive Board Meeting in Athens on 2 October 1999, skeleton was given approval to return to the Olympic program for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, and it has remained on the Program since.

Skeleton is governed world-wide by the bobsled federation, the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT), not the luge federation, which might seem more appropriate.  As of November 2013, the FIBT has 64 affiliated member nations, all of which are recognized by the IOC.  This makes it the third smallest International Federation, after curling and luge, in terms of affiliated national federations.

The following nations are current members of the FIBT: American Samoa, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, US Virgin Islands, and Venezuela.

Figure skating, Sport factsheets

Figure Skating Factsheet

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Olympic History:          Figure skating began in the mid- to late-19th century in Europe, but two Americans are responsible for major developments in its history.  In 1850, Edward Bushnell of Philadelphia revolutionized skating technology when he introduced steel-bladed skates.  This allowed the creation of fancy twists and turns on the ice.  Another American, Jackson Haines, a ballet master, lived in Vienna in the 1860’s and added the elements of ballet and dance to figure skating.

Figure skating competitions were held in the 1880s and the International Skating Union was formed in 1892, the first true international governing body of any sport.  Originally men and women competed together, with the first world championship being held in what was then and is now St. Petersburg, Russia (formerly Leningrad) in 1896.  The first women’s championship was held in 1906.  Originally free skating was completely subordinate to the school figures, which entailed tracing pretty figures on the ice.

Figure skating is the oldest sport on the Winter program.  It was contested at the London Olympics of 1908 and again in 1920 at Antwerp.  Events for men, women, and pairs were contested through 1972, when in 1976, ice dancing, long a popular event, was added to the program as a fourth event.  It had been a demonstration event in 1968 at Grenoble.

Scoring has evolved during the century also, as the former predominance of school figures in the scoring gave way in the early 1970s.  In 1972, Janet Lynn of the United States finished third in the Olympics despite being the best free skater by a significant margin (some experts consider her the greatest free skater ever, relative to her era).  This gave impetus to the movement to decrease the importance of school, or compulsory, figures.  In the mid-1980s the ISU ruled that school figures would no longer be held at international competitions.  They last were contested at the 1990 World Championships and were not a part of the figure skating Olympic program beginning in Albertville.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, a great controversy occurred in the pairs competition, in which the Canadian team of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier was originally placed second behind the Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.  But it developed that the French judge had colluded to score the Russians higher in exchange for her French dance team being scored higher in that event.  The ISU and IOC intervened and declared the two teams co-champions.  But this led to a complete overhaul of the figure skating scoring system that was gradually put into place over the next four years.  The scoring moved away from an ordinals system, with places determined by majority ordinal placement, to a point-scoring system in which skaters received points for difficulty and execution.  Deductions were more mandatory and the entire system was very different.  It was used in 2006 for the first time at the Winter Olympics, but has remained very difficult for the public to understand, much more so than the old perfect 6.0 score system, and because of the emphasis on scoring points, some critics say it has turned all events into jumping competitions.

Figure skating is governed internationally by the International Skating Union (ISU), which was founded in July 1892, making it the oldest winter sport IF. The ISU governs all skating on the Olympic Program – figure skating, speed skating, and short-track speed skating.  As of November 2013, the ISU lists itself as having 87 affiliated national federations, but this is only technically correct.  There are actually only 68 nations affiliated with the ISU, as follows: Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, DPR Korea (North), Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Uzbekistan.

Seventeen nations have two federations – one for figure skating, and one for speed skating.  These seventeen nations are:  Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United States.  This would make 85 affiliated federations, but the ISU also recognizes two “Club” members, who were among the earliest members of the ISU.  These “Club” members represent Stockholm, Sweden (Stockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb) (1892) and Davos, Switzerland (Internationaler Schlittsschuh-Club Davos) (1896).

Biathlon, Sport factsheets

Biathlon Factsheet

Olympic History:  Biathlon consists of cross-country skiing in which the ski runner stops at intervals to shoot a rifle at a target.  Evidence for a skiing and shooting sport exists in cave paintings in Norway from about 2000 B.C.E., depicting hunters on skis while stalking animals for game.  The modern sport has a military basis, in which Scandinavian soldiers were trained to ski while carrying rifles and to periodically stop and shoot.  Biathlon-type events in Scandinavia were held as early as the 18th century.

The first modern biathlon probably occurred in 1912 when the Norwegian military organized the Forvarsrennet in Oslo, an annual event, which consisted initially of a 17 km. cross-country ski race with two-minute penalties for the shooting part of the competition.  A military patrol event was contested at the Olympic Winter Games as a medal sport in 1924, and a demonstration sport in 1928, 1936, and 1948, although it was not precisely the same as the biathlon.

Attempts to introduce a winter multi-event patterned after the modern pentathlon began in 1948, when the Winter Pentathlon was contested at the St. Moritz Olympics as a demonstration sport.  It consisted of cross-country and downhill skiing, and also shooting, fencing, and horse riding.  The first world championships in biathlon were held in 1958 at Saalfelden, Austria.  The sport quickly was placed on the Olympic program, showing up at Squaw Valley in 1960.  Women’s biathlon made its Olympic début in 1992 as a full medal sport at Albertville.

Olympic biathlon events have consisted of a single men’s race and a men’s relay until 1980 when a second individual event was contested.  The event is scored by time.  In the longer individual race a one-minute penalty is assessed for a missed shooting bulls-eye, and a two-minute penalty is assessed for missing a target.  In the shorter individual race and the relay, missing a target is penalized by requiring the biathlete to ski a 150 metre penalty loop.  For 2002, a new pursuit event of 12 km. for men and 10 km. for women was added to the Olympic program.  In 2006, a mass start sprint event for both men and women was added to the biathlon program.

Originally, biathlon was governed by the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB).  However, in 1993, biathlon separated from the modern pentathlon and formed the International Biathlon Union (IBU) to govern the sport independently.  The IBU currently has 68 affiliated national federations, as of November 2013.  All of the nations are also IOC member nations, with the lone exception of Greenland.

The current member nations are as follows: Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Guam, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, US Virgin Islands, and Uzbekistan.

Ice hockey

Five forgotten members of the Triple Gold Club

Arguably, the three biggest titles in ice hockey are the Stanley Cup, the World Championships and the Olympic Games. Only a select group of players can claim to have won all three of them – they are called the Triple Gold Club. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) even has a page on its site dedicated to the club.  However, this list is incomplete: five Canadian hockey players are missing from the list.

The list of Triple Gold Club members as given by the IIHF (and Wikipedia) starts with three Swedish players who won Olympic gold in 1994. These were the first Olympics where (former) professional hockey players were allowed to compete, so it is not a surprise Triple Gold Club members appeared in that year (It wasn’t until 1998 that the NHL stopped competition to allow players to compete in the Olympics). Tomas Jonsson, Mats Näslund and Håkan Loob are the first three members listed. 

The flaw of this list is that it starts counting World Championships only in 1930. From 1920 through 1928, the World Championships were held concurrently with the Olympic Winter Games – as is also seen elsewhere on the IIHF site. This means that the Olympic champions from these years were also World Champions. In fact, this practice was continued through the 1968 Olympics.

Of course, this makes the threshold of entering the Triple Gold Club somewhat lower, but this should not be a reason to exclude the five Canadians that also won the Stanley Cup in their professional careers.

The first hockey player to achieve the triple was Frank Frederickson. Like many of the Winnipeg Falcons that represented Canada at the 1920 Summer Olympics (!) in Antwerp, he had Icelandic roots. Playing for WCHL outfit Victoria Cougars, he won the Stanley Cup in 1925.

He defended his title in 1926, but Victoria lost to the Montréal Maroons, which featured Dunc Munro, player on the 1924 Olympic team. Two of his teammates with the Toronto Granites (the 1924 Canadian team) became the third and fourth member of the Triple Gold Club. Hooley Smith joined after winning the 1927 Stanley Cup with the Ottawa Senators (in 1935, he would win it again with the Maroons), while Bert McCaffrey won the Stanley Cup with the Maroons in 1930. McCaffrey’s name was never engraved in the trophy though (despite being qualified to win), as he had been sent off to the minors in Providence at the time of the play-offs.

Dave Trottier, who won Olympic gold with the University of Toronto Grads in 1928, was the last member to join before Jonsson, Näslund and Loob. A team member of Smith, he claimed the Stanley Cup in 1935. (Trottier, incidentally, is not related to Bryan Trottier, former New York Islanders star and Hockey Hall of Famer.)

Short track, Sport factsheets

Short-track Speedskating – Factsheet

Olympic History:     Speed skating has been on the program of every Olympic Winter Games, always contested in paired two-person time trials over a track of 400 metres in length, with one exception.  In 1932, the Olympic Winter Games were held in Lake Placid, and the Americans changed the speed skating format, electing to race the events in the American style of mass-start pack racing.  The Europeans protested and several of them, notably Finnish speed skating legend Clas Thunberg, refused to attend, but the Lake Placid Organizing Committee persisted and the events were held in that manner.

Speed skating in the United States and Canada has almost always been skated in mass-start pack races.  It is often contested indoors in this manner, but even the outdoor races were often held pack-style.  The style is actually more exciting than two-person time trials, because the risks are high, and the pack allows for drafting and bursts of very high speed.

In the 1970s short-track speed skating developed as a fully indoor sport in the American mass-start pack style.  The first international competition in short-track took place in Champaign, Illinois (USA) in 1976.  The sport’s popularity spread to Europe as well as North America and official World Championships were first held in 1978.  It is not well known that Bonnie Blair, who won five gold medals in full-track speed skating, started out and won the 1986 World Championships in short-track.

Short-track speed skating was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary.  It was added to the Olympic program as a full medal sport in 1992 at Albertville.  The program originally had one individual race and one relay race for men and women.  However, at Lillehammer (1994) and Nagano (1998), a second individual race was added.  For Salt Lake City in 2002, the individual 1,500 metres for men and women was added to the short-track speed skating program.  The program is almost the same for men and women with both racing individually over 500 metres, 1,000 metres, 1,500 metres, and a relay (5,000 metres for men, 3,000 metres for women).

The length of the indoor track for short-track speed skating has varied over the years.  It was initially set at 125 metres in 1967, but later changed to 110 metres (1977) and in 1980, changed to its current length – the rather unusual distance of 111.12 metres, which is nine laps to the kilometre, but corresponds to no known Imperial distance of any significance.

Short-track speedskating is governed internationally by the International Skating Union (ISU), which was founded in July 1892, making it the oldest winter sport IF.  The ISU governs all skating on the Olympic Program – figure skating, speed skating, and short-track speed skating.  As of November 2013, the ISU lists itself as having 87 affiliated national federations, but this is only technically correct.  There are actually only 68 nations affiliated with the ISU, as follows: Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, DPR Korea (North), Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Uzbekistan.

Seventeen nations have two federations – one for figure skating, and one for speed skating.  These seventeen nations are:  Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United States.  This would make 85 affiliated federations, but the ISU also recognizes two “Club” members, who were among the earliest members of the ISU.  These “Club” members represent Stockholm, Sweden (Stockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb) (1892) and Davos, Switzerland (Internationaler Schlittsschuh-Club Davos) (1896).

 

Freestyle skiing, Sport factsheets

Freestyle Skiing – Factsheet

Olympic History:          Freestyle skiing is a newer discipline within the sport of skiing.  It has roots in Scandinavia, similar to all skiing disciplines, but its primary development occurred in North America.  In the 1930s Norwegian skiiers used ski acrobatics in training for cross-country and alpine competitions.  It was considered an acceptable part of training but not a true competitive sport.

In the United States, freestyle skiing developed as a part of professional ski exhibitions early in the 20th century.  Standardized competitions began in the 1960s with the first freestyle skiing event taking place in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire in 1966.  The first professional competitions were held in 1971 and the World Cup freestyle tour began in 1980.  In 1979, the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) recognized freestyle skiing as an amateur sport.  The first World Championships were contested in 1986 in Tignes, France.

There are multiple different events in freestyle skiing – moguls, aeriels, halfpipe, slopestyle, and skiier-cross.  A combined event has also been contested at the World Championships, and ballet (later called Acroski) used to be a popular freestyle event, but less so in the 2010s.  Freestyle skiing was contested as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, with competition for men and women in moguls, aeriels, and ballet.  Freestyle became an Olympic medal sport beginning in 1992 at Albertville.  The only event at Albertville was moguls, but aeriels were added in 1994.  In 2010 a new event was added, termed skiier-cross, similar to the boardercross event in snowboarding. In 2014 at Sochi, halfpipe and slopestyle events will be added to the Olympic Program.

As of November 2013, there are 120 member nations affiliated to the FIS.  This makes it the largest International Sporting Federation for any winter sport.  The FIS governs what it terms six disciplines of skiing – alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing, and snowboarding.  Cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined are often termed one sport of Nordic skiing.

The 120 member nations of FIS are as follows: Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, DPR Korea (North), Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Marocco, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

 

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