How it works
Figure skating as an Olympic sport precedes the intoduction of the Winter Games. It first appeared in 1908 at the London Summer Games featuring events for singles and pairs. Ice Dancing did not come onto the Olympic programme until 1976 at the Innsbruck Games, Austria.
A panel of nine International Skating Union (ISU) judges measure the quality of the performance. Before each event a private draw is done to determine which judges scores will form part of the overall score (to avoid bias scores only seven of the nine scores are used).
Singles: Skaters must perform a short (maximum 2 minutes 50 seconds) and a long (4.5 mins for men 4 mins for women) including required steps, jumps, spins and combinations.
Free-skating (worth two-thirds of an athlete's overall score) requires the skater to show creativity, individuality and technical difficulty.
Pairs: this discipline involves the same format as Singles only the male and female athlete must work in unison. The routine can be a maximum of 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
Aside from performing required steps, jumps, spins and combinations, partners also incorporate lifts, throws and synchronized jumps.
Ice Dancing: made up of three performances - a compulsory dance (prescribed moves), an original and a free. There are a certain number of lifts, spins and sequences that must be included in the latter two performances.
In Ice Dance, unlike Pairs, partners remain in contact throughout most of the routine. It does not include overhead lifts and jumps. YouTube: Watch Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win gold in Sarajevo, 1984.
2010 British hopeful(s):
Siblings Sinead and John Kerr won a record seventh consecutive British Championship title in 2009.
The duo, ranked fifth in the world, won a bronze medal for GB at the European Championships and came 7th at the World Championships in 2009. (Watch YouTube)
They placed 10th at the 2006 Torino Games have a very realistic chance of winning Britain's first figure skating medal since Torvill and Dean 25 years ago.
Reigning Olympic Champions:
Men's singles: Evgeni Plushenko (Rus)
Women's singles: Shizuka Arakawa (Jap)
Pair skating: Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin (Rus)
Ice dancing: Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov (Rus)
Figure Skating - Pairs Short Program
Figure Skating - Pairs Free Skating
Figure Skating - Men Short Program
Figure Skating - Men Free Skating
Figure Skating - Ice Dance - Compulsory Dance
Figure Skating - Ice Dance - Original Dance
Figure Skating - Ice Dance - Free Dance
Figure Skating - Ladies Short Program
Figure Skating - Ladies Free Skating
Figure Skating - Exhibition Gala