The US has won multiple medals in figure skating at every Olympics except for one since 1994. The last time they won more than three though was in 1960. With a new event this year can the US win their most medals in 54 years?
The reigning Olympic men’s gold medalist is an American, but he’s not here this time. The US has been great in the ladies’ event, but they were held without a medal in Vancouver. Ice dancing has become a strong point for the US in recent years, but can the US medal for the third straight Olympics after not medaling in seven straight? If the US can medal in those three events (and that’s a big if of course) then a medal in the team event would give the US four. Certainly a possibility for the US in Sochi…
Figure Skating’s Olympic History
Figure Skating has been a part of the Olympics games longer than the Winter Olympics have existed! The first figure skating competitions were held at the 1908 Summer Olympics and again in the 1920 Summer Olympics. When the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 men’s singles, ladies’ singles, and pairs events were a part of it and have remained ever since. Ice dancing became an Olympic event in 1976 and the program had remained unchanged since then until the new mixed team event will debut this year.
The US tops the medal chart by quite a bit with 46 medals. Their closest competitor is Russia who has 22 medals. Of course that doesn’t count the medals won by the old Soviet Union (24) which shows you just how intense the rivalry between the US and Russia/the Soviet Union has been. 92 of the 240 total medals have been won between them. The US has 14 gold medals to the 12 by Russia. With Russia its been pretty make or break… 12 of their 22 medals are gold while the US has been pretty even with 14 golds, 16 silvers, and 16 bronzes.
How the Figure Skating Competitions Work
In mens, ladies, and pairs figure skating the short program is 2 minute and 50 seconds and the free skating is four minutes for ladies and 4 and a half minutes for men and pairs. In the short program there is a list of required elements that must be performed and if you go over the time limit you are penalized. In the free skating you are not, as you might think from the name, free to do whatever elements you want. There is more freedom, but they still restrict the types of elements they want in a program. You are to finish within 10 seconds of the limit either way in free skating.
These programs are scored using the ISU Judging System and to try and explain that in depth would take ages. Just know that there is no “perfect score” in figure skating anymore… this is not going for a perfect 6. Scores will be based on what elements are completed and how well they are executed. Sum the scores from the two parts (short and free) and you have your final scores. In these events the free skating competition will be limited to only the top performers from the short program. In Vancouver this was the Top 24.
Ice dancing uses the same scoring system but doesn’t involve throws and jumps. Think of it as… dancing… on ice. It involves a short dance, which is 1/2 a required pattern and 1/2 your own routine, and a free dance which is more up to the skaters (with the obvious required elements).
This will be the first time the team event is contested at the Olympics. It will involve one man, one woman, one pair, and one ice dancing couple competing in both the short and free routines. Add up the scores from everyone and you’ll have the team score.
US Team
The US Team is composed of two men and three women who will compete individually. There are also two couples who will be competing in the pairs event and three who will be competing in the ice dancing event. Four people on the team are back from Vancouver.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
US Figure Skating
Men:
Jeremy Abbott*
Jason Brown
Ladies:
Polina Edmunds
Gracie Gold
Ashley Wagner
Pairs:
Nathan Bartholomay & Felicia Zhang
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir
Ice Dancing:
Evan Bates* & Madison Chock
Meryl Davis* & Charlie White*
Alex Shibutani & Maia Shibutani
* – Was on team in Vancouver
A Sochi 2014 Figure Skating list on twitter including all of these athletes
US Team’s Olympic History
Jeremy Abbott competed for the US in the men’s singles event in Vancouver. Abbott fell behind in the short program when he finished 15th but was better in the free program when he finished 9th and was able to pull his total score up enough to finish 9th overall, well behind 8th.
In Vancouver we saw Evan Bates compete in the ice dancing competition, but with a different partner in Emily Samuelson. Their compulsory dance (the event has changed some) routine left them in 14th and out of medal contention. They did improve on that in the original dance portion with an 11th place finish. Then there was a 3rd part, a free dance, where they also finished 11th. They ended up in 11th for their final standings.
Meryl Davis & Charlie White are back for their 2nd straight Olympics and will look to improve on Vancouver, though there isn’t much room for that! They started things off with a 3rd in the compulsory dance and despite finishing 2nd in both the original dance and free dance portions they couldn’t get any higher than 2nd overall.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Thursday, February 6th
10:30 AM – Team Men’s Short Program
12:10 PM – Team Pairs’ Short Program
Saturday, February 8th
9:30 AM – Team Ice Dance Short Dance
11:10 AM – Team Ladies’ Short Program
1:05 PM – Team Pairs’ Free Skating
Sunday, February 9th
10 AM – Team Men’s Free Skating
11:05 AM – Team Ladies’ Free Skating
*12:10 PM – Team Ice Dance Free Dance
Tuesday, February 11th
10 AM – Pairs’ Short Program
Wednesday, February 12th
*10:45 AM – Pairs’ Free Skating
Thursday, February 13th
10 AM – Men’s Short Program
Friday, February 14th
*10 AM – Men’s Free Skating
Sunday, February 16th
10 AM – Ice Dance Short Dance
Monday, February 17th
*10 AM – Ice Dance Free Dance
Wednesday, February 19th
10 AM – Ladies’ Short Program
Thursday, February 20th
*10 AM – Ladies’ Free Skating
Saturday, February 22nd
11:30 AM – Gala Exhibition
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
The World Figure Skating Championship is held every year with the most recent in March 2013 in London, England.
Two of the ladies’ singles team competed in the World Championship. Ashley Wagner was 5th after the short program while Gracie Gold was in 9th. Wagner was 6th in the free program but still finished 5th overall while Gold was 5th in the free program and ended up 6th overall.
In the pairs’ event one of the US Olympic couples, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, competed and finished 13th in the short program and 12th in the free program to end up 13th overall.
Ice dancing is the most interesting to look at as all three US Olympic couples, Evan Bates & Madison Chock, Meryl Davis & Charlie White, and Alex Shibutani & Maia Shibutani, took part. The Shibutanis came in 8th in the short dance and 9th in the free dance to place 8th overall. Chock and Bates finished 7th in the short dance and 6th in the free dance but ended up 7th overall. Finally, Davis and White were the top couple in both the short dance and free dance to take home the gold medal. Davis and White were the only Americans to medal at the World Championship.
US Olympic History
The US as a country has won the men’s singles competition seven times, but only once since 1988. That was just four years ago when Evan Lysacek ended a Russian run that had reached four Olympics in a row. The US only has one bronze and one silver in addition to Lysacek’s gold since 1988.
The US has had seven gold medals as well on the ladies’ side, but their success has been more recent with 3 of the 5 gold medal winners from 1992-2002 coming from the US. The last two Olympics have not been kind for the US though as Sasha Cohen’s silver in Torino is the only medal for the US. In Vancouver the US was held without a medal on the ladies’ side for the first time since 1964; though Mirai Nagasu came close, finishing in 4th.
The US has never won the pairs competition and all three of their silver medals were won by 1984. The last US pair to medal, Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard, won bronze in 1988. In Vancouver the top scoring US team of Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig finished in 10th.
For many years ice dancing was perhaps the hardest figure skating event for the US to medal in. After grabbing a bronze in the debut of the event in 1976 the US did not win another medal until 2006. Now the US has won 2 straight silver medals and is looking to grab that elusive gold in Sochi. Meryl Davis and Charlie White are back for their 2nd straight Olympics after grabbing the silver in Vancouver.
The new team event has no Olympic history so far.
