Joy of Watching Olympic FIgure Skating

What a joy to be able to watch three hours of figure skating on Sunday afternoon.  Most people were getting ready to watch the Super Bowl.  I was thrilled to watch the Olympic team finals in real time and was mesmerized by both the technical skills and the artistic talents of the athletes.  Yes, the top two in each category were outstanding but so were those that placed in third, fourth and fifth.  Their scores count too.  An example is the US pairs couple of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea who placed fourth.  The extra point they made by placing fourth instead of fifth contributed to the United States winning the gold medal for the team competition.  Kam and O’Shea caught my attention for their enthusiasm and commitment to helping their team.

Yesterday evening I was able to replay the three hours of pairs rhythmic skating.  There were 23 pairs competing in this short program which is part of ice dancing.  A lot of them were not outstanding, yet I enjoyed watching them and knowing how hard they worked to be able to represent their country at the Olympics even though they had no chance of winning a medal.  The pride they took in completing their program and the enthusiasm with which their coaches greeted them after their performance was heartwarming.  The crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena applauded the efforts enthusiastically.  I thought of how much the skaters had given up for these few minutes so I was happy to be part of the audience watching them.

My own history with figure skating goes back to when I was a teenager taking lessons on Friday in an after-school program at the Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh has a long history with ice skating, both figure skating and hockey.  John Harris, an entertainment executive from Pittsburgh, got the idea for the Ice Capades when he brought in Olympic figure skater Sonja Henie to entertain the audience between periods of hockey games in the late 1930’s.  The performance was so well received that in 1940 he got together with arena managers from eight other cities and proposed an ice show that could tour to each of their towns.

In researching I found that the Ice Capades held skate classes at the Duquesne Gardens in the 1940s on Saturday morning.  I think that the figure skating class I went to on Friday after school was taught by a sister or family member of John Harris, but I don’t have any way to verify that.  I loved it.  It was a very technical class, where we learned how to use our inside and outside edges.  We did lots of figure eights and made patterns of a three that I think required us to switch the side of edge we used.  We had different skill levels we had to master and when you reached one level, you were promoted to the next.  I quickly progressed to the highest level and was thrilled when I could do a little jump using the picks of my skate or going down with one leg in front in what was called “shoot the duck.”  At the end of one semester of classes I was invited to continue in the advanced class. I dreamed of being in the Ice Capades.  The problem was that it was held on Saturday morning, when I was expected to attend Rodef Shalom’s religious school (through confirmation, which was several years off).  I begged to be able to take the ice-skating advanced class on Saturday but my parents’ response was once I was confirmed I could go.  By then I was very serious about dance, and skating was just for fun.

The love of watching figure skating and understanding how hard it is has stayed with me.  I have enjoyed going to ice skating shows like the Ice Capades and watching figure skating competitions on television.  Indeed, it is a joy to be able to watch so much beautiful skating on TV right now.