10 Things Figure Skaters Don’t Tell You in Interviews

The word “skates” appeared in the 17th century in Europe. The first skates were made of wood and decorated with figures of horses that supposedly carried their owner. In addition, skates were initially used to cross frozen lakes during the winter, and only later did the practice become a sport. Figure skating has undergone many changes over the years, but today it is undoubtedly a sport full of glam and loved by many.

we, from awesome.club, we know that being a professional figure skating athlete is not easy and is even very dangerous. But these 10 curious facts about the sport left us quite surprised. Check out!

For a male figure skater, there are about 100 female figure skaters. So finding a partner becomes almost like the “Hunger Games”. Girls must make a lot of compromises if they want to find a partner to compete in pairs. Some of them even offer the boys financial compensation to cover the costs of training, materials and clothing, which can reach absurd amounts.

Athletes must perform complex movements, leaning over and throwing their head back. If an ordinary person did these poses, his body would lose balance and he would fall. According to researchers, however, skaters may be developing new neurons in the cerebellum that would prevent this instinctive body reaction.

The multiple turns around its axis do not seem to cause any discomfort for the athletes. In fact, they do feel dizzy, but not so much. When a normal person spins and then stops, the brain follows the motion of inertia, thinking that the spin should continue. What happens is that a part of the vestibular apparatus is located in the inner ear and is covered by fluid. Even if we stop spinning, the liquid continues to move by inertia, thus confusing the brain and causing vertigo. After years of practice, skaters manage to develop a way to decrease this biological reflex. Much depends on the focus of the gaze. After completing a pirouette, athletes try to focus their vision on a specific point, but to do so, skaters need to specifically train eye movement.

In professional competitions, you won’t see very different outfits. It is only allowed dresses or something similar to a bathing suit, as there is a rule that prohibits showing the abdomen. If any of the attire guidelines are not adhered to, the skater or skater may lose points. Also, girls’ dresses cannot be too “sassy” or “sexy”. This can refer to a neckline (by the way, a deep neckline is also not allowed for men) or the length and shape of the bottom of the garment. In 1988, athlete Katharina Witt left the jury quite embarrassed with her outfit, which was considered too “revealing” and “theatrical”. After that episode, they decided to create a new rule, called the “Katharina rule”: according to this guideline, the skater’s skirt must completely cover the groin area and thigh.

The attire, of course, needs to be cute and flashy. Usually, both women’s and men’s clothes are decorated with beads, sequins or rhinestones. But even such subtleties are strictly regulated by the rules: all these elements must be securely fixed. Any loose button or sequin can cost an athlete a few points, because even such an insignificant thing, if it lands on the ice, can make it difficult for competitors to perform. That’s why it’s very rare for skaters to choose clothes with feathers or fringes. For the same reasons, they avoid various accessories and even hair clips.

Skaters train not only on ice. A good part of the training time is devoted to ballet and gymnastics classes, because these are movements from both practices that athletes will perform on ice. Also, some coaches insist that their skaters take yoga and pilates classes.

Many think that the more pirouettes and jumps skaters do, the more points they will get. But the rules dictate that there must be a maximum of 7 elements in the air. There are also limitations on pirouettes that are acceptable and prohibited, so athletes don’t have as much freedom as we think.

This element is an essential part of a professional athlete’s attire. But gloves also have a practical application: they protect competitors’ hands from cuts and wounds when they need to touch ice during a performance.

Skaters cannot place their hands on the ice after a jump or finish any movement with their knees on the ice. In addition, in official competitions it is forbidden to sit or lie on the ice. In the past, such rules did not exist and competitors could be creative in the free part of the program.

Fans and spectators used to throw flowers to their favorite athletes after a performance. But the petals on the ice started to become a real nightmare: they covered a large part of the rink and it took a lot of time to clean. That’s when spectators started throwing teddy bears to athletes. But now, however, creativity has expanded and spectators throw in all kinds of “goodies”, such as chocolates, bags of chocolates, among other gifts. In 2015, for example, figure skater Gracie Gold received an oversized teddy bear that carried a backpack full of peanut butter candy.

When performing the movements, the skater needs to make sure that her clothing will stay in place. Therefore, choosing comfortable underwear is a very delicate topic that takes a long time to decide. Contestants choose their underwear very carefully to ensure they don’t reveal anything “extra”. For better fixation of tights, many skaters use hairspray or hairspray.

Do you like to watch ice skating? Do you know other interesting facts about this sport? Comment!