The invention of the ice skate responded tothe same rationale as the i - PDF document

The invention of the ice skate responded tothe same rationale as the invention of the ski,namely to make it easier to travel on a hostilewere probably invented around the same timeHowever, their evolution and subsequent dif-fusion was quite different. Ice skates quicklylost their practical character and spreadthrough many countries as a form of sport.century,their use became structured, codified andgave rise to the creation of the various ice- The birth of skating and its diffusionThe first ice skates Confronted with the ice covered lakes, pondsand rivers for a good part of the year, manneeded to invent an appropriate means ofreindeer, elks and oxen) attached to the feetusing straps of animal skin. Very rudimentary,and quite precarious, it was necessary to usea pole to stay balanced. Archaeological digshave found some very primitive ice skates,particularly in the region of Bjoko in Sweden,. These discoveries show that icetries around the Baltic Sea, in Scandinavia, ineast Russia.skate in this part of the world arises. Was it alocal invention, or was the use of the ice skateimported with migration from the Altai regionused very early on in China (particularly inManchuria), in Siberia and even in NorthWith the advent of iron, metal blades wereScandinavia, even though the majority weremade from bones for a long time. TheScandinavian populations seem to have beenthe only ones (in Europe, in any case) to havelennium A.D. They were also responsible forthe continent by means of the Viking expedi- Spread through Europe by the Vikings Many ice skates similar to those used by theScandinavians have been found in countriesinvaded by the Vikings, such as England,France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, andeven as far as the valley of the Danube. Thesearriors naturally brought with them manyskate. The spread of ice skates therefore waseven greater when the Vikings settled in thecountries they had invaded, such as inIn Iceland, many sagas recount the use of thea means of transport, for hunting, and evensometimes in wars. One saga in particular tellshow a man escaped from his enemies by skat-ing away on ice skates. In Western Europe,the skate rapidly enjoyed a certain success,partly because of the development of sporting The development of games on ice After the end of the invasions that had punc-estern Europe enjoyed a period of relativestability, marked among other things, by con- Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 1 N © IOC/ noc dpt - cerso - 2002 A pair of ice skates made of bone dating from 20,000 years ago were found at th mouth of the river Vie in the Vendée area of FrThis prehistoric discovery would, however, appear to be an isolated case and the practice of ice skating does not appear to havdevelopped. Spread of ice skates through Europe by the Vikings siderable economic development and thegrowing strength of cities. This developmentas accompanied by the birth of many physi-and warrior-inspired. At the same time,Europe, particularly in France, and spreadparticularly to England (where, centuries later,these developments would occur in the justMoreover, it was during this same era that theFrench word "desport", a synonym for amuse-ment, was first used and was later taken up bytype of field hockey was played in FranceEngland ("cambuca", meaning a bishopscross). During the winter, these sports wereLond, England in 1174, noticed that youngfrozen Thames. He also described in a textcommon practice in France. TheScandinavians were also keenly practising thisbecame very popular in France, and was intro-Netherlands, where it was subsequently trans-formed into another game, called "ken jae- The development of skating in Holland The development of skating in Holland waslargely due to the very particular geographicconditions of the country. Its very flattopography and its numerous streams andrivers which very often froze over in winterwere conducive to the practice of skating.favoured the exchange of merchandise. Iceskates were an excellent means of transport inwinter, particularly for bringing food suppliesto constantly growing cities. The market inAmsterdam was supplied in this manner formany centuries. allel to its traditional use, ice skates weregeneral use of blades fabricated from ironcentury, (the blade wasmounted on a wooden base, which wasattached to the shoe with a leather strap),skating became much easier. Both men andcentury, speed races weresuccess. The racing technique (called theevents performed have remained practicallycentury, mak-mations. More than a simple leisure activity,became a true cultural phenomenon that stillexists today. The birth of curling In the other countries of Europe, the practicethe Renaissance. Their violent nature was thelevel of practice did continue. A painting byorbus from 1608 shows Parisians playing aform of ice hockey on the frozen Seine. As forspeed skating, it was known only in a fewhazardous game was developed in Scotland,some controversy because two countries claimto be the homeland of this sport. First, Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 2 Carving showing Lydwine Brugmann, the patronsaint of skaters in the Netherlands (taken from inscription Stirling 1511 was found. Secondly,Holland lays claim to curling, evoking an ice-based game played in the 15"Kulling", supposedly brought to Scotland byFlemish traders. They also cite in their supportthe painting by Pieter Brueghel from 1560,which shows a game very similar to curling.However, whatever the origins of the sport, itas in Scotland that its practice became struc-tured and organised. The first club was creat-the first rules were established in Perth in1716. Curling has developed very little sincethen, and remains very similar today. Skating outside of Europe Naturally, Europe was not the only continentpractice. In China, people enjoying skating on1279). Similarly, regiments of soldiers wear-ing ice skates played a vital role in a battle indynasty. To commemorate this victory, a largescale ceremony was organised every year inskaters. However, just as it had done for ski-century seems to have been responsiblefor the disappearance of the sport. after the arrival of the Europeans, notablyFrench explorers in Canada. Father Sagardrecounts in his 1632 book entitled "Longplaying on the ice, pushing a wooden ball withHowever, even though the practice did existelsewhere, the main developments andchanges which gave rise to the different sports The important role of the English The Stuarts, Royal Family of Scotland, exiledin the Netherlands during Cromwells dictator-ship, discovered ice skating in Holland, andthe British soon assured the development ofthe sport. The first club was created inas held at Fens in 1763 over a distance of24km. A skating treaty was elaborated in1772 by Robert Jones, an artillery lieutenantwho also founded a school in the same year.Within the space of one century, the Englishhad monopolised the sport (even though theskating had not yet come about, but the aris-tocratic ideas of the English saw the develop-as less and less athletic. This was the type ofpractised this form of skating from 1776). The Dutch, of course, remained very muchattached to the practice of speed skating, andorganised many competitions. In general,men. A 30km race open only to women waseven organised in Leeuwarden in 1805. Withthe large number of entrants in the race(nearly 130 women), the race was held over 2days, before more than 12,000 enthusiastic Sports on ice become more structured Curling began to spread and its practicecentury, by Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 3 Qing dynasty, 17t widespread diffusion of the sport encouragedthe creation of the "Grand Caledonian Curling"Royal Caledonian Curling Club" (RCCC) somefive years later. This association was a sort ofinternational curling federation, guarantors ofall the different clubs. There were anmany new clubs coming from other countries,such as New Zealand in 1848, Sweden in 1852and Russia in 1873. It can thus be seen thatcurling was one of the first sports to be struc-tured, and to spread across several conti-nents, even if its practice abroad wasmonopolised mainly by Scottish immigrants. the course of the century, notably with theplines. At the outset, the Dutch technique wasmainly used, with many competitions takingStates, Canada, and later, in Norway.Scandinavia began to rediscover skating, evensport. The practice of skating spread quickly,and in 1863, a big competition was organisedtators. In Canada, skating also became verypopular, and many open air skating rinks wereinitial speed skating form soon had to giverecreational activity. In fact, the beginnings ofartistic skating club was founded in London incise execution of precise figures and move-ments went on to have considerable influenceon the development of the discipline. Innovation in artistic skating One invention would beat at the origin of thedefinitive consecration of artistic skating as aseparate discipline. In 1850, an Americannamed E.W. Bushnell from Philadelphia, devel-made it much easier to perform movementsand figures on the ice. Ten years later, JacksonHaines, a ballet instructor in Chicago, begansteel blades to his boots in order to improvehis mobility, thus creating the first all-in-oneboot (the same system used today). Moreimportantly, however, he also introduced theeritable revolution in skating by the introduc-tion of many new free figures. Faced with thelack of interest in his own country which wasstruggling under the war of Secession, hedecided to travel to Europe to present his newformance was received in triumph. In 1867,the Vienna club was founded, based on thisnew technique, marking the start of theery attached to the supremacy of theirmaintained in the elaboration of figure skatingtransposed into the compulsory figure pro-gram and Haines technique reflected in thefree-skate program. century, the appearanceaged the practice of ice skating. The development of winter tourism century, the Alpswere progressively becoming more open andonly during the summer period. Winter wasespecially in the mountains. Many resorts inthe Alps, particularly in Switzerland andtions. However, winter tourism only began todevelop in the second half of the century, Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 4 P.Brunet)(Crédit photo - IOC Museum Olympic Collections) especially in the Swiss resort of Saint Moritz,thanks to the initiative of a local hotel ownercentury, more and moretourists, mainly wealthy city residents, fre-quented winter resorts. In order to attract amaximum of sportsmen, a wide variety ofMoritz, a curling competition was organised intion arranged by the Viennese in 1882.Gradually, winter resorts began to installpopular. However, although widely practised, itat the time were more like fashion shows than The first artificial skating rinks and the devel-opment of skating in cities France under the reign of the second empire,as practised on the frozen lakes of the Boisde Boulogne (the Skaters Circle was foundedin Paris in 1865). But this urban activity wasalways subject to the caprice nature of thetime there would be ice. Many of the majorproblem. The skating rinks were covered inimitated by many others, such as the Icealace in Paris in 1889. The advent of artifi-the number of places the sport could be prac-tised, even in places that would previouslyhave been unsuitable, (such as Nice, BuenosAires, Adelaide, Melbourne, or even Sydney, inble to anchor the sports in the city, and per-petuate their practice, and cities therebytion of competitive and recreational practicecould now be developed in new conditions. Creation of the International Skating Union(ISU) Artistic skating was undoubtedly very fashion- Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 5 Amsterdam practice of curling N LondonBerlinBruxellesLyonVienneBudapestTurinSarajevoSaint-PetersbourgManchesterVarsoviePrague Davos TorontoNiceGlasgowCopenhagueBuenos AiresAdelaïdeMelbourneSydneyAmsterdam artificial skating rinkovals© IOC / noc dpt - cerso - 2002Czorbar Ice sports at the start of the 20thcentury Scandinavia or Holland, it was not just thewealthy, idle elite who practised this sport, butather a considerable proportion of the popu-lation. Many races were organised, andattracted large numbers of participants. Insport. There were many problems, startingwith how to determine the distance of a raceand the length of the track. In general, theNorwegians raced over a distance of 1500lengths (950m), while the Americans racedfirst international meetings was organised atthe initiative of the National SkatingAssociation of Great Britain (NSA) atLeeuwarden, Holland in 1885. The rules werestandardised for the event, the mile (1609m)as adopted as the race distance, and theal (2 straights and 2 bends) was given pref-erence over the horseshoe shaped track.However, the various parties involved failed toreach any agreement about the creation of aninternational federation. The first speed skat-Britain, United States, Russia, and of courseUnion (ISU) was founded in Scheveningen inpionships were held in St. Petersburg inHowever, all these competitions were closed toISU had a very misogynist behaviour in theearly years. Consequently, a certain Mrs.NSA, decided to take part in the artistic skat-She took advantage of a loophole in the rulesand regulations of the ISU. In fact, while theworld championships would have only malesingles competitions, the texts for the 1901her participation was condoned with the helpfrom her husbands influence on the NSAwhich was organising the event. Mrs. Syerstion, and was placed second, ahead of manymale competitors, favorably impressing theobservers with the quality of her skating.However, even after Mrs. Syers second place,the ISU Congress of 1903 proposed excludingthe NSA, in 1905 the Congress decided to setwomen. The first official womens cham-pionships thus took place in 1906. But it waspion. This discriminatory nomenclature wasfinally abolished in 1923. Similarly, it was onlyevent was introduced into the ISUChampionships, and as for the womensevents, the title of world champion was onlyofficially accorded to the couples events fromAlthough women were integrated into artisticskating relatively fast, the same cannot besaid for speed skating. Considered as verydominated by the Scandinavians who were lit-tle inclined toward female participation, speedskating remained reserved exclusively formale competitors for a long time. Finally, the Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 6 (Crédit photo - IOC Museum Olympic Collections) organised womens competitions at the worldchampionships (the idea having first been pre-sented in 1929). The first womens worldCanada and the USA. Ice hockey in Canada The origins of ice hockey are very diverse, butit is the only ice-based sport that has neverreally caught on in Europe. Ice hockey is amore or less distant relative to the varioussports traditionally played on ice in Americaand Europe since the Middle Ages (bandy,shinney, hurling, lacrosse....). The first icehockey match took place in 1875 between thestudents of Mc Gill University in Montreal. Thefour years later. This new sport quickly spreadthroughout the country, taking advantage ofto develop a typically Canadian national sportand to reinforce their national identity. At thecentury, ice hockey hadtournament was organised in 1883 inears later. Out of fear of losing the organisa-tion of the sport, the clubs in Montrealfounded in 1886 the Amateur Hockeysented a sort of national federation. However,the very spectacular nature of ice hockey ledto great rivalry and many associations werecreated in order to control the sport that wascentury, ice hockey wassame time, first to Paris in 1894 where theHockey Club of Paris was created, then toPrinces Ice Hockey Club. These two clubswere to play a major role in spreading thesport throughout the rest of Europe by meansof exhibition matches. Ice hockey found itselfin competition with the English game bandy,which had developed in the early 19However, the more spectacular nature of icehockey when compared to bandy (a game ofthat hockey got the upper hand. Bandy con-tinued to be practised, especially inScandinavia, in Switzerland, and some coun-The International Ice Hockey Federation(IIHF) was founded in 1908, without theleagues in their own country. The United Ice sports: towards mutual independ-ence? international competition is an excellentpopular. A large competition emphasizes theparticularities of each country. Thus, foralso the two largest federations in terms oflicensed players (respectively 1,000,000 and60,000). However, very few other countriesare involved, which would tend to show thatthe practice of this sport is rather limited.The organisation of the ice hockey worldchampionships (first held in 1930) involves aas helped along by the increase in the num-ber of regions. Many large cities, especiallyafter World War II, were well represented. Icehockey is just the type of spectacular urbanshow that attracts a large audience and is thuseasily suitable for large cities. Europe is over- Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 7 © IOC / noc dpt - cerso - 2002 organising country ice hockey RFATCHNumber of events source : IIHF, WCF Organising the world championships: contrastbetween a lesser known sport, curling, and the represented in participation, contrary to NorthAmerica, where Canada for example has neverorganised a mens competition (only held onceArtistic skating is marked by the monopoly offrom Eastern European countries. The eventssports event and an artistic show, therebyattracting the attention of a wider public com-The cultural and historic aspects seem to beskating events. Scandinavia, particularlyNorway, and the Netherlands are well ahead ofinfrastructures required is also a limitingfactor.Short track speed skating has existed for ato speed skaters training in an ordinary icerink that is limited by the necessary infra-structure (racing oval). The first world cham-countries from the Far East are markedlyIce skating quickly moved from its utilitarianorigins to a recreational practice. The greatAges in Western Europe and the stronga sports activity, particularly under the Anglo-Saxon influence. Even though many ice-basedsports have the same origins, theirdevelopment remained individual to eachsport. Greater possibilities to develop thesenecessary infrastructures is a limiting factor.cultural stigmas remain a large impediment togreater development. Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 8 ©IOC / noc dpt - cerso - 2002 117 RFATCH Number of events © IOC/ noc dpt - cerso - 2002 organising country short track events organised 12254source : IIHF, ISU Figure skating world championships: the showŽaspect favoured by western countries Ice based sports: common origins, contrasting diffusion 9 © IOC/ noc dpt - cerso - 2002 source : IIHF, ISU, WCF 3,2001,500 270
à 5Number of artificial rinks presence of natural skating rinkssource : IIHF, ISU, national federations poorly developed Sources : IOC, international and national federations of skating, ice hockey and curling, ... Number of artificial ovals only artificial ovalsnatural skating ovalssource : ISU and national federations 29141 international high levelinternational levelno athletes in event