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WorldNet Service Installation Disk - Cybercathlon Games and Interactive Tour of Olympic Museum (1996).ISO
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00840_Field_wt3.txt.txt
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1996-06-03
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People had been ice skating in
Holland since the middle ages, but it
took an American ballet teacher in
the 1860s to add the twists, spirals
and glides that form the major
moves of figure skating. Figure
skating first appeared at the
Summer Olympics in 1908, one of
the few sports that women
competed in along with men.
Skates have been modified through
the years to maximize speed,
maneuverability and precision. The
most noticeable feature of the
figure skate is the toe pick, which
allows skaters to make the sudden
stops and jumps required in
competition.
In the early days of the sport,
Britain dominated along with
Sweden. But at the very first
Winter Olympics, an 11 year old
Norwegian girl who finished last
would make the biggest impression
on the sport. Sonja Henie would
win the next three Olympic Gold
Medals, as well as nearly 1500
other trophies, cups and medals,
and then went on to a very
successful movie career in
Hollywood.
Since the Soviets entered Olympic
competition they have dominated
pairs skating and ice dancing, but
several countries have produced
spectacular singles skaters,
including Great Britain and the U.S.
The U.S. has had five women Gold
Medalists, beginning with Tenley
Albright in 1956, through Kristy
Yamaguchi in 1992. But the only
woman, other than Henie, to win
back-to-back Gold was East
German Katarina Witt, who owned
the ice in 1984 and 1988.
American men have been equally
successful on the ice, bringing
home the Gold six times. Dick
Button won in 1948 and 1952 and
most recently, Scott Hamilton and
Brian Boitano won in 1984 and
1988.
The total domination of the Soviets
in ice dancing since its inception as
an Olympic event in 1976 was
broken only once, by the perfect
performance of Britain's Torvill &
Dean, dancing to Ravel's Bolero in
Sarajevo in 1984. The Soviets
have also had a lock on the pairs
competition, winning every Gold
since 1964. A star was born at the
1994 Olympics when 16 year old
Oksana Baiul edged out the U.S.'s
Nancy Kerrigan for the Gold in
Lillehammer.
The compulsory figures portion of
the Olympic program, where the
skaters had to etch figure 8s, loops
and triple-lobed figures on the ice,
was dropped from competition in
1992, allowing the skaters to
concentrate more on their leaps
and jumps, showcasing their
creative abilities rather than their
technical ones.