What was your first exposure to figure skating?

[noskates]

UGH - this is definitely going to date me. My first recollection and attraction to figure skating was at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. Carol Heiss won the ladies gold medal for figure skating. I was a junior in high school at the time. Having spent many vacations at Lake Tahoe (which is only about 15 miles or less from Squaw) we visited the area many times - mostly in the later years to play golf. You could still see the ski jump "bones" and for a long time the ice rink. It has since been replaced.

 

[lopsilceci]

First exposure was probably the Disney Channel movie about the girl who learns figure skating by being a physics nerd, lol.

Being serious though, I always liked sports, so in 2014 I watched the Winter Olympics for the first time. I particularly remember Yuna Kim, Mao Asada, Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova. I rewatched Yulia's Schindler List and Yuna's programs a few times after, while I wasn't actively watching or following fs.

Then Pyeongchang came and I watched all of the figure skating events again, except this time, I fell in love with the sport and have been watching and following ever since
I was lucky to be able to attend my first live competition already (IdF 2019).
I got my sister hooked to the sport too and we recently rewatched all of the main events from Pyeongchang while quarantined, now with the eyes of someone who actually understands what's going on

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I'm curious how different posters here were first introduced to the sport.

My first exposure was definitely on TV, but not an actual competition or anything like that.

I am nearly sure that I would have seen Torvill and Dean on children's magazine programme "Blue Peter" when I was a youngster. Or Robin Cousins. Or Nicky Slater. Or some other high profile British skater. But, I can't actually remember.

So, the first exposure I can definitely remember was when there was a feature about Jenna McCorkell on the local news when she was something like 10 or 11.

---

I know the question was not intended to be answered this way, but I liked what 4everchan did in his answer. So, I will copy him.

*Skating at a rink:

When I was 16, and the local youth club I went to did a trip to the Jet Centre in Coleraine (Jenna's home town). I did one lap clinging for dear life onto the boards, and vowed "never again"! But, now, I wouldn't mind trying again. The problem is that the Jet Centre rink is now closed (replaced by a cinéma), and it's too much bother to go all the way to Belfast just to have a go at skating again. I would need another reason as well.

*Skating on natural ice

Never done it. And I wouldn't have the nerve to take the chance. I would be terrified of it breaking, because I can't swim.

*Watching on TV

Strictly speaking, I've already answered this with wrote at the start of this post. But, I want to add about when I first saw figure skating in a competition context. It would have been around 2001 and 2002. I would be sitting in the kitchen doing my homework, and I would need a break. So, I would put on the TV to see what was on. Eurosport was normally the channel the satellite receiver was already on, and sometimes there would be figure skating on it. And I would sit and watch a few programmes, and then go back to my homework.

*Watching online

That is a good question. I'm not sure whether it would have been a Senior B or a National Championships. Or when it would have been, except that it wouldn't have been before 2010, as that was when we got broadband.

*In a movie

If we are talking about skating being shown in a movie, I haven't a clue! Maybe in one of the "Home Alone" films. But, if we are talking about a movie about skating, then it would be "Blades Of Glory". But it wasn't back when it was first released. No, it was about 10 years later when I managed to catch it on TV!

*Live competition

Never

*Live show

Never

*Print news media

Not sure. But it was probably a story about Jenna McCorkell in the local newspapers when she was around 10 or 11.

*Book

Haven't a clue! Was there ice skating in any of the "Narnia" books? Because if there was, it was probably there. (It's been so long since I read them that I can't remember all the little details).

*Other

Can't think of anything that fits this heading.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[WeakAnkles]

Wide World of Sports.

Jim McKay.

Dick Button.

Toller Cranston.

Broken leg camel spin, where everyone else even then looked hopelessly dated.

I was young. Who knew this innocent fascination would lead to getting up at unholy hours to watch 2 hours of couples skating the same compulsory dances on a screen the size of a large postage stamp and being grateful that thanks to the internet I could actually do this??? And willingly. Yes I say, willingly!

There is no cure.

 

[Silvia451]

The first competition I watched was Euros 2005, I was 9 years old at that time. I was switching between tv channels and I saw guys in strange costumes so I gave it a try. I remember that I was completely mesmerized by Plushenko, "how is that possible?". However, I think the first skater I really cheered for was Mao.

 

[macy]

honestly i'm not really sure. i'm sure i saw it in some form when i was very young, but i started skating after watching a friend of mine practice one day when i was 7 and the rest is history.

 

[Tolstoj]

2006 Olympics.

I knew nothing about this sport before (well understandably, i was 13 at the time and Figure Skating wasn't particularly popular in Italy unless you lived in snowy regions), but at that Olympics Italy out of nowhere did put a lot of pressure and expectations on Carolina Kostner and Fusar-Poli-Margaglio.

Kostner was chosen as flag bearer for the opening ceremony, people thought she could have aimed for a spot in the podium with two good skates, so even TV broadcasters who normally snub the sport, were suddenly all interested. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned, but i remember enjoying all the events anyway.

Since then, i started to watch figure skating occasionally, cause even after it was a bit hard to understand where to watch those competitions on television, they weren't promoted much, youtube was still a new thing so people didn't upload videos as now, etc.

I think it continued to be that way for me, just following some of my favourites like Mao Asada, Oda Nobunari, Miki Ando, Daisuke Takahashi, Carolina Kostner, Kavaguti/Smirnov, Denis Ten and others whenever i had the chance to watch them somewhere, up until Sochi 2014.

At Sochi 2014 Sky Italia had a fantastic full coverage of the whole event, completely free, they hired the commentators from Italian Eurosport and Silvia Fontana also did the commentary and i thought they were spot on, they managed to make those events informative and very entertaining, including the drama on the results from the ladies event (they went all out with the judging ). Looking at social media at the time, i think many italians discovered the sport that way. Since then i watched almost all competitions every year.

Today the internet between social media, youtube and communities like GS are a fantastic resource for newcomers and even us long time fans, to watch and rewatch all the most iconic performances and discuss, i'm happy all the federations and ISU are more and more embracing it, cause i think that's what Figure Skating needed for many years.

 

[ruga]

2014 GPF Ladies' Free. We were watching TV and accidentally came across live broadcast. The performance that basically caused me to become a fan was Liza Tuktamysheva's. People do criticize her programs, but at that time there was nothing better for me than Liza's techno-arabic free skate. Here it is for you all to enjoy: https://youtu.be/1XMPmbC24HI

 

[eppen]

What a lovely topic! I will follow 4everchan's model for replying

*Skating at a rink
I am Finnish and we have a regular winter, so you learn to skate and ski at an early age. I must have mostly used the local skating rinks frozen on school sports grounds. You would stay out skating as long as you were basically blue in the face. My mother would get me a big vat of hot water to melt my feet. But I have never learned to properly skate, ie that it would be technically sound. Two years ago I went to skate for the first time in about two decades and was quite proud that I remained on my feet the whole half an hour my feet could take the horrible rented skates! Muscle memory is an amazing thing!

*Skating on natural ice
I think I might have, but am not quite sure. The snow cover makes it unusual here to get a clean ice surface and in my home town there were really very few suitable bodies of water for skating.

*Watching on TV
I must have seen the 1976 Olympics etc. big events on TV - sports was big on our 2 TV channels at the time and skating was not discriminated - but I don't remember anything until 1980 Olympics. Robin Cousins. I blame him for my obsession with men's figure skating. That was the beginning of my fandom which has gone up and down in waves over the years. I recently started watching Worlds top 5 guys from 1980 onwards on YT and it has been educational! I think the late 80s was a slump because I was at the uni and busy with life, then early 90s was big with Petr Barna and Kurt Browning. This was followed by the most boring decade until Lambiel and Takahashi got me back to men after following ladies in the mean time. The development of online resources has had a great effect in getting me even deeper into this sport. Fall 2014 and being hit in the head with Javier Fernández has put the whole fandom thingy into big gear.

*Watching online
I think quite soon after it became possible? I have not had an actual TV since 2006, so watching competitions etc has depended on online streams and so on. Our national broadcasting company held the rights for FS competitions until recently and they showed most of the comps as online streams from very early on (2007 says Wikipedia).

*In a movie
Must have watched some before Blades of Glory, but that is the one I care to remember (some of it is so close to home!). The rest are pretty awful, but I have watched all sorts.

*Live competition
1993 Europeans in Helsinki, I think I went to see the men's competition at least. Then the Europeans 2009 again in Helsinki. Some Finlandia Trophies before Europeans 2015 which launched a 5-year period of spending most of my vacation days at rinks watching FS.

*Live show
And later that spring in 1993, I was in Rome and the world champions' tour came there. Or rather to Ciampino well outside the city center. That was my first adventure into my future research area also... I don't remember much of the skating, though.

*Print news media
Must have read all the news on FS, cannot really remember any significant events on this. Well, as a funny anecdote, in 2017 when the Worlds were in Finland, the biggest story in our biggest newspaper was actually on Javier Fernandez who met up with the local football (in the European sense) team HJK. An entire spread! The remaining days were featured in much less space...

*Book
A fave Finnish crime novelist Leena Lehtolainen is a huge FS fan and one of her books featured an FS related plot. It is available in English (and maybe other languages as well): Death Spiral (she is a pairs fan in particular). Recommended. Plus she uses family names of Russian figure skaters for Russian characters in all of her books which is funny! I really don't remember encountering FS in many other books that I might have read.

E

 

[McBibus]

It was an Olympic and Katarina Witt was the winner, so probably '86.
Live it was '89, a post world ex in Milano.
Midori just won her WC gold and showed her trixel so mad for axels for 30 years now.

 

[ladyjane]

When I was 9 it happened for the first time (well, for me) that I could skate on natural ice - I didn't even know rinks existed - and my parents got me a pair of Figure Skates. I went onto the ice, fell once, and after that skated right away. After that I wanted to know more, and my parents kindly let me watch the Figure skating at the Olympic Games on a black and white TV. We still had one of those, although colour TV was breaking through. We were all rooting for Dianne de Leeuw who got the silver medal. My next memory relates to the Olympics in 1984 because of Torvill and Dean and their phenomenal Bolero (although even then I liked their Paso Double even better, and I still do). Since then I've followed FS as much as possible when it was programmed on TV, although it wasn't possible to get lessons in FS for myself. I even did a bit of speed skating (and got to learn a for FS totally wrong technique in doing cross overs which still is a bit of a handicap to me), and it wasn't until 4 years ago that I finally got the opportunity to get FS lessons as there existed a Skating Club that also took on adult skaters. Before the only possibilities were for little girls, and when you're a lot older that doesn't fit very well. And now it's the only sport I'm interested in to watch, and also the only one I enjoy participating in. Although I also cycle, but more as a means of transport.

 

[LadyB]

I'm curious how different posters here were first introduced to the sport.

*Skating at a rink
*Skating on natural ice
*Watching on TV
*Watching online
*In a movie
*Live competition
*Live show
*Print news media
*Book
*Other

I don't know that I can make a poll here, so please reply in the thread.

Feel free to elaborate on your experience, including sharing when and where your first encounter with the sport took place if you feel comfortable doing so.

Wonderful thread!

My relationship with FS in chronological order:

Watching on TV
My mum loved FS and watched gala exhibitions from various shows that were randomly shown on German telly on long winter Sunday afternoons in the 1970s. She knew them all and admired many. I was bored to death
Then came a documentary on Toller Cranston ahead of the 1976 Olympics. The rest is history.

Skating at a rink
I skated for the first time in 1977, with my brand new hockey skates. I'll be forever first and foremost a hockey fan.

Watching online:
After the Battle of the Brians (which ended disappointingly for me) I only followed FS occassionally and returned slowly to it by tuning into Sochi 2014. The first event I completely livestreamed was Euros 2015.

Live competition
My first Rostelecom 2016 :luv17:

These were my FS firsts and I love every moment of that part of my life. I'm on the phone to my mum now every other day. Although she is 81 and almost blind, she still watches on Eurosport. We talk so much about the skaters and she remembers everything I say, so that she feels like she knows their IG accounts and bits of their life as much as I (think I) do. Bless.:agree:

 

[fallingsk8er]

My first exposure to figure skating?
Watching Tonya Harding crying with her foot up on the boards complaining to the judges after missing a jump at the Olympics.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

It was an Olympic and Katarina Witt was the winner, so probably '86..

If Kat Witt was the winner it was either 84 or 88.

 

[Seren]

Seeing Kristi Yamaguchi on TV sealed the deal for child me (although I became a Michelle Kwan superfan not long after that!). I told my mom I wanted to quit ballet and try skating instead. I'm from the midwest so skating rinks are not hard to find!

 

[Andy]

Definitely watching Peggy Fleming skate as a little girl...I was just mesmorized and have loved figure skating ever since.

 

[hanyuufan5]

Seeing Kristi Yamaguchi on TV sealed the deal for child me (although I became a Michelle Kwan superfan not long after that!). I told my mom I wanted to quit ballet and try skating instead. I'm from the midwest so skating rinks are not hard to find!

Kristi was my first favorite, too! I can't even remember when the first time I saw her skate was (probably age 2 or 3), but come the 1992 Olympics, I already considered her the epitome of grace and beauty and was apparently giving running commentary to my parents on her every move. :luv17:

 

[eloriee]

My very first memory of figure skating was watching Katarina Witt's Carmen at the 1988 Olympics. I was only seven and I thought it was the most beautiful, magical thing I've ever seen. If I close my eyes, even now, I can still feel the wonder. I’ll never forget it, and I still love when it happens today, with different skaters and different programs :luv17:

 

[RoyThree]

My first exposure was seeing the Ice Capades at the Hershey (PA) Arena as a kid. By some sort of fate, 30 years later I would meet the love of my life who skated with Capades during the late 60s-early 70s. He was probably performing in the show I saw. Sadly, he passed away last December, but we enjoyed 18 wonderful years together watching skating both on TV and in person.

 

[elliana]

Watching the '98 Olympics on television. For the longest time I didn't even know I could follow the skating season. I'm so glad NBC Sports Gold exists now.