Editing Ice skating (section)

==History==
===Early history of ice skating===
[[File:SCENEONICE.jpg|thumb|''Skating fun'' by 17th century Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp|200x200px]]Research suggests that the earliest ice skating happened in southern [[Finland]] more than 4,000 years ago. This was done to save energy during winter journeys. True skating emerged when a steel blade with sharpened edges was used. Skates now cut into the ice instead of gliding on top of it. The [[Netherlands|Dutch]] added edges to [[ice skate]]s in the 13th or 14th century. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brokaw |first=Irving |title=The Art of Skating: Its History and Development, with Practical Directions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8lMAAAAYAAJ |year=1910 |publisher=Letchworth at the Arden Press & Fetter Lane |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=F8lMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA12 12] |access-date=6 May 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413055940/https://books.google.com/books?id=F8lMAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The fundamental construction of modern ice skates has stayed largely the same since then, although differing greatly in the details, particularly in the method of binding and the shape and construction of the steel blades. In the [[Netherlands]], ice skating was considered proper for all classes of people, as shown in many pictures from [[Dutch Golden Age painter]]s.

Ice skating was also practiced in China during the [[Song dynasty]], and became popular among the ruling family of the [[Qing dynasty]].<ref name=pdo130220/> Ancient ice skates, made of animal bones, were found at the bronze age Gaotai Ruins in [[North West China|north west China]], and are estimated to be likely 3,500 years old. Archeologists say these ancient skates are "clear evidence for communication between [[China]] and [[Europe]]" in the [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age era]], as they are very similar to bone skates unearthed in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-02 |title=Animal Bone Ice Skates Dating Back 3,500 Years Found In China |url=https://www.iflscience.com/animal-bone-ice-skates-dating-back-3-500-years-found-in-china-67780 |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=IFLScience |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author1=Tom Metcalfe |date=2023-03-07 |title=Bronze Age ice skates with bone blades discovered in China |url=https://www.livescience.com/bronze-age-ice-skates-with-bone-blades-discovered-in-china |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref>

===Rising popularity and first clubs===
[[File:Reverend Robert Walker (1755 - 1808) Skating on Duddingston Loch.jpg|thumb|''[[The Skating Minister]]'' by [[Henry Raeburn]], depicting a member of the [[Edinburgh Skating Club]] in the 1790s|208x208px]]
In England "the London boys" had improvised butcher's bones as skates since the 12th century.  Skating on metal skates seems to have arrived in England at the same time as the [[garden canal]], with the [[English Restoration]] in 1660, after the king and court returned from an exile largely spent in the Netherlands.  In London the ornamental "canal" in  [[St James's Park]] was the main centre until the 19th century.  Both [[Samuel Pepys]] and [[John Evelyn]], the two leading diarists of the day, saw it on the "new canal" there on 1 December 1662, the first time Pepys had ever seen it ("a very pretty art").  Then it was "performed before their Majesties and others, by diverse gentlemen and others, with scheets after the manner of the Hollanders".  Two weeks later, on 15 December 1662, Pepys accompanied the Duke of York, later King [[James II of England|James II]], on a skating outing: "To the Duke, and followed him in the Park, when, though the ice was broken, he would go slide upon his skates, which I did not like; but he slides very well."   In 1711 [[Jonathan Swift]] still thinks the sport might be unfamiliar to [[Esther Johnson|his "Stella"]], writing to her: "Delicate walking weather; and the Canal and Rosamund's Pond full of the rabble and with skates, ''if you know what that is''."<ref>[[Jacob Larwood|Larwood, Jacob]], ''St. James's Park'', Vol. 2 of ''The Story of the London Parks'', 118-119, 1872, Hotwood, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pxEHAAAAQAAJ&dq=skating+St+James's+Park+canal&pg=PA118 google books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413055955/https://books.google.com/books?id=pxEHAAAAQAAJ&dq=skating+St+James%27s+Park+canal&pg=PA118 |date=13 April 2023 }}.  Larwood notes that  Rosamund's Pond was also in St James's Park, see pp. 85 (map), 87.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Adams |first=Mary Louise |title=The manly history of a 'girls' sport': Gender, class and the development of nineteenth-century figure skating |journal=International Journal of the History of Sport |year=2007 |volume=24 |issue=7 |pages=872–838 |doi=10.1080/09523360701311752 |s2cid=143833638 |via=Taylor & Francis}}</ref>

The first organised [[figure skating club|skating club]] was the [[Edinburgh Skating Club]], formed in the 1740s; some claim the club was established as early as 1642.<ref name="skating">"In The Beginning...", ''Skating'' magazine, Jun 1970</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iceskating.org.uk/about-ice-skating |title=A Brief History of Ice and the National Ice Skating Association of Great Britain |last=Bird |first=Denis L. |publisher=[[British Ice Skating|NISA]] |access-date=28 October 2014 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005170117/https://www.iceskating.org.uk/about-ice-skating |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/figure-skating |title=Figure Skating |date=2011 |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=26 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726173625/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/figure-skating |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Adam van Breen, Skating on the Frozen Amstel River, 1611, NGA 150754.jpg|thumb|Adam van Breen, ''Skating on the Frozen Amstel River'', 1611, [[National Gallery of Art]]|201x201px|left]]An early contemporary reference to the club appeared in the second edition (1783) of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]:

{{Blockquote|The metropolis of Scotland has produced more instances of elegant skaters than perhaps any country whatever: and the institution of a skating club about 40 years ago has contributed not a little to the improvement of this elegant amusement.<ref name="skating"/>}}[[File:Z zabawy na lodzie odbytej d. 26 lutego r. b. - Rysował C. Jankowski (59016).jpg|thumb|Ice skating party in [[Warsaw]] in the 1880s|235x235px]]From this description and others, it is apparent that the form of skating practiced by club members was indeed an early form of [[figure skating]] rather than [[speed skating]]. For admission to the club, candidates had to pass a skating test where they performed a complete circle on either foot (e.g., a [[compulsory figures|figure eight]]), and then jumped over first one hat, then two and three, placed over each other on the ice.<ref name="skating" />

On the [[Continental Europe|Continent]], participation in ice skating was limited to members of the upper classes. Emperor [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] enjoyed ice skating so much, he had a large ice carnival constructed in his court in order to popularise the sport. King [[Louis XVI]] of France brought ice skating to [[Paris]] during his reign. [[Madame de Pompadour]], [[Napoleon I]], [[Napoleon III]], and the [[House of Stuart]] were, among others, royal and upper-class fans of ice skating.

The next skating club to be established was in [[London]] and was not founded until 1830.<ref name="skating"/> Members wore a silver skate hanging from their buttonhole and met on The Serpentine, [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] on 27 December 1830.<ref>{{cite news|title= Skaiting Club|newspaper= Bristol Mirror|date= 1 January 1831|page= 1}}</ref>
By the mid-19th century, ice skating was a popular pastime among the British upper and middle classes. [[Queen Victoria]] became acquainted with her future husband, [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], through a series of ice skating trips.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.followthebrownsigns.com/ice-skating/ |title=Ice Skating |website=followthebrownsigns.com |access-date=28 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028155237/http://www.followthebrownsigns.com/ice-skating/ |archive-date=28 October 2014}}</ref> Albert continued to skate after their marriage and on falling through the ice was once rescued by Victoria and a lady in waiting from a stretch of water in the grounds of [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref>{{cite news|title= British News|newspaper= The Atlas |date= 13 February 1841|page= 5}}</ref>

[[File:Glaciarium Ice Rink.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of the [[Glaciarium]] in 1876|200x200px]]Early attempts at the construction of artificial ice rinks were made during the "rink mania" of 1841–44. As the technology for the maintenance of natural ice did not exist, these early rinks used a substitute consisting of a mixture of hog's [[lard]] and various salts. An item in the 8 May 1844 issue of Littell's 'Living Age' headed the '[[Glaciarium]]' reported that "This establishment, which has been removed to Grafton Street East' [[Tottenham Court Road]], was opened on Monday afternoon. The area of artificial ice is extremely convenient for such as may be desirous of engaging in the graceful and manly pastime of skating."
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===Emergence as a sport===
[[File:Fenskaters ronden ton.jpg|thumb|19th-century [[fen skating]]|200x200px]]
Skating became popular as a recreation, a means of transport and spectator sport in [[fen skating|The Fens]] in England for people from all walks of life. Racing was the preserve of workers, most of them agricultural labourers. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century racing was well established and the results of matches were reported in the press.<ref name="Handbook">{{cite book |title=Handbook of Fen Skating |year=1882 |last1=Goodman |first1=Neville |last2=Goodman |first2=Albert |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookfenskat00goodgoog |ol=25422698M |location=London |access-date=15 March 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610205539/https://archive.org/details/handbookfenskat00goodgoog |archive-date=10 June 2015}}</ref> Skating as a sport developed on the lakes of Scotland and the canals of the [[Netherlands]]. In the 13th and 14th centuries wood was substituted for bone in skate blades, and in 1572 the first iron skates were manufactured.<ref name="Ice Skating">{{cite web |last=Greiff |first=James |title=History of Ice Skating |url=https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ice-skating/ |publisher=[[Scholastic Corporation]] |access-date=26 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229172243/https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ice-skating/ |archive-date=29 December 2017}}</ref> When the waters froze, skating matches were held in towns and villages all over the Fens. In these local matches men (or sometimes women or children) would compete for prizes of money, clothing, or food.<ref name="Cycling, 19 January 1895, p 19">''Cycling'', 19 January 1895, p 19.</ref>

The winners of local matches were invited to take part in the grand or championship matches, in which skaters from across the Fens would compete for cash prizes in front of crowds of thousands. The championship matches took the form of a Welsh main or "last man standing" contest ([[single-elimination tournament]]). The competitors, 16 or sometimes 32, were paired off in heats and the winner of each heat went through to the next round. A course of 660 yards was measured out on the ice, and a barrel with a flag on it placed at either end. For a one-and-a-half-mile race the skaters completed two rounds of the course, with three barrel turns.<ref name="Cycling, 19 January 1895, p 19"/>

[[File:Fen Runners.jpg|thumb|left|Fen runners|200x200px]]
In the Fens, skates were called [[patten (shoe)#Other uses of the term|pattens]], fen runners, or [[Whittlesey]] runners. The footstock was made of [[Beech tree|beechwood]]. A screw at the back was screwed into the heel of the boot, and three small spikes at the front kept the skate steady. There were holes in the footstock for leather straps to fasten it to the foot. The metal blades were slightly higher at the back than the front. In the 1890s, fen skaters started to race in Norwegian style skates.

On Saturday 1 February 1879, a number of professional ice skaters from [[Cambridgeshire]] and [[Huntingdonshire]] met in the Guildhall, Cambridge, to set up the [[National Ice Skating Association|National Skating Association]], the first national ice skating body in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/6297 |title=The History of Long Track Speed Skating |publisher=[[British Ice Skating|NISA]] |date=18 July 2014 |url-status=dead<!--deleted, not moved--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028175114/https://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/6297 |archive-date=28 October 2014}}</ref> The founding committee consisted of several landowners, a vicar, a fellow of [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]], a magistrate, two members of parliament, the mayor of [[Cambridge]], the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridge, journalist James Drake Digby, the president of [[Cambridge University]] Skating Club, and Neville Goodman, a graduate of [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]] (and son of [[Potto Brown]]'s milling partner, Joseph Goodman).<ref name="Bird">DL Bird 1979 ''Our Skating Heritage''. London.</ref> The newly formed Association held their first one-and-a-half-mile British professional championship at Thorney in December 1879.

===Figure skating===
{{Main|Figure skating}}
[[File:Jackson Haines.png|thumb|Jackson Haines|291x291px]]
[[File:NSAPINY9 EXTR.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Central Park]], Winter – The Skating Pond'', 1862 lithograph by [[Currier and Ives]]|200x200px]]
The first instructional book concerning ice skating was published in London in 1772. The book titled ''The Art of Figure Skating'', written by a British artillery lieutenant, Robert Jones, describes basic [[figure skating]] forms such as circles and figure eights. The book was written solely for men, as women did not normally ice skate in the late 18th century. It was with the publication of this manual that ice skating split into its two main disciplines, speed skating and figure skating.

The founder of modern figure skating as it is known today was [[Jackson Haines]], an American. He was the first skater to incorporate ballet and dance movements into his skating, as opposed to focusing on tracing patterns on the ice. Haines also invented the [[sit spin]] and developed a shorter, curved blade for figure skating that allowed for easier turns. He was also the first to wear blades that were permanently attached to the boot.

The [[International Skating Union]] was founded in 1892 as the first international ice skating organisation in [[Scheveningen]], in the Netherlands. The Union created the first codified set of figure skating rules and governed international competition in speed and figure skating. The first Championship, known as the Championship of the Internationale Eislauf-Vereinigung, was held in [[Saint Petersburg]] in 1896. The event had four competitors and was won by [[Gilbert Fuchs]].<ref>Hines, p.75</ref>
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