Skate Guard Blog

If The Team Event Always Existed, Olympic Figure Skating History Might Look Different

During the Milano Cortina Games, I received a fascinating question by email: what if the Olympic team event had always existed? Which countries might have stood atop the podium decades earlier? It's impossible to know for certain. Performances, strategy, and athlete selection would all played very important roles in this. However, we can absolutely take look at some data to get a sense of which nations may have excelled under a team format.

To explore this idea, I pulled every country that had at least one entry in each discipline at a given Games and recorded the placement of that country's top finisher in the corresponding individual events. By adding those placements together, we get a rough indicator of overall team strength - essentially a snapshot of how competitive a country was across the board. It certainly isn't a perfect science, but it gives some indication of what teams may have been successful (with a little luck) in different eras.

There are, of course, plenty of caveats. Under today's rules, countries without an entry in a particular individual discipline can still add one for the team competition. It's impossible to know which countries may have added skaters in historical events, if any, and how they may have performed. In several instances, nations that performed exceptionally well overall were missing a skater in just one discipline. Had they fielded even one entry, they might have been serious medal contenders. It's all hypothetical, of course - but half the fun of figure skating history is asking "what if?" and letting the data spark debate.

With those caveats in mind, here's a look at how countries might have fared if a team event had been contested prior to 2014. If a country isn't listed, they didn't have at least one entry per discipline.

2010 OLYMPICS

Canada had a very realistic chance of winning the team event in their home country at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, but it woul have been a close battle with the United States and Russia.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
CAN	Chan	5	Rochette	3	Dubé/Davison	6	Virtue/Moir	2	16
USA	Lysacek	1	Nagasu	4	Evora/Ladwig	10	Davis/White	2	17
RUS	Plushenko	2	Leonova	9	K/Smirnov	4	D/Shabalin	3	18
ITA	Contesti	18	Kostner	16	DM/Kocon	12	Faiella/Scali	5	51
GER	Lindemann	22	Hecken	18	S/Szolkowy	3	Beier/Beier	18	61

2006 OLYMPICS

With medallists in every discipline, a team event at the 2006 Torino Games likely would have been a runaway victory for Russia.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
RUS	Plushenko	1	Slutskaya	3	T/Marinin	1	N/Kostomarov	1	6
USA	Lysacek	4	Cohen	2	Inoue/Baldwin	7	B/Agosto	2	15
CAN	Buttle	3	Rochette	5	Dubé/Davison	10	W/Lowe	11	29
UKR	Kovalevski	20	Liashenko	17	V/Morozov	12	G/Goncharov	3	52

2002 OLYMPICS

Russia would have likely dominated a team event at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. They were the only country to have medallists in every discipline that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
RUS	Yagudin	1	Slutskaya	2	B/Sikharulidze	1	L/Averbukh	2	6
CAN	Stojko	8	Robinson	7	Salé/Pelletier	1	B/Kraatz	4	20
USA	Goebel	3	Hughes	1	I/Zimmerman	5	L/Tchernyshev	11	20
UKR	Dmitrenko	18	Maniachen.	12	S/Morozov	15	G/Goncharov	9	54
ITA	Dolfini	26	Fontana	10	Cobisi/De Pra	19	FP/Margaglio	3	58

1998 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano likely would have been dominated by Russia. Their team won medals in three of the four disciplines. Canada failed to qualify for a spot in the women's event that year, but they may have been a factor for a medal if they had.

Nation	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
RUS	Kulik	1	Butyrskaya	4	K/Dmitriev	1	Grishuk/Platov	1	7
USA	Eldredge	4	Lipinski	1	Ina/Dungjen	4	P/Swallow	7	16
FRA	Candeloro	3	Gusmeroli	6	A/Bernadis	6	A/Peizerat	3	18
UKR	Zagorodniuk	10	Liashenko	9	F/Marchenko	11	R/Yaroshenko	9	39
JPN	Honda	15	Arakawa	13	Arai/Amano	20	Kawai/Tanaka	23	71

1994 OLYMPICS

Of the teams with at least one entry in every discipline, Canada would have had a very good shot at a gold medal if a team event existed at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer - with a caveat. Russia won gold medals in three out of four disciplines at the Games, but they didn't qualify for a spot in the women's event. Two Russian women finished in the top five at that year's European Championships. Had one of them participated, a Russian team could have very well won.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
CAN	Stojko	2	Chouinard	9	Brasseur/Eisler	3	Bourne/Kraatz	10	24
UKR	Petrenko	4	Baiul	1	B/Maliar	16	R/Yaroshenko	7	28
USA	Boitano	6	Kerrigan	2	Meno/Sand	5	P/Swallow	15	28
GRB	Cousins	9	von Saher	15	S/Jenkins	15	Torvill/Dean	3	42

1992 OLYMPICS

With gold medals in three out of four disciplines, the Unified Team, consisting of skaters from the former Soviet Union, would likely have dominated in a team event at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
EUN	Petrenko	1	Vorobieva	14	M/Dmitriev	1	K/Ponomarenko	1	17
USA	Wylie	2	Yamaguchi	1	U/Marval	10	S-T/Witherby	11	24
CZE	Barna	3	Kulovaná	11	K/Novotný	4	M/Šimeček	10	28
CAN	Browning	6	Preston	8	Brasseur/Eisler	3	Petr/Janoschak	12	29
FRA	Pétorin	14	Bonaly	5	Haddad/Privé	16	D/Duchesnay	2	37
GRB	Cousins	12	Conway	18	P/Briggs	17	Bruce/Place	17	64
PRK	Li	28	Li	27	Ko/Kim	18	Ryu/Pak	19	92

1988 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary would have been a three-way race between the Soviet Union, Canada and the United States. All three countries had very strong teams that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
SOV	Petrenko	3	Ivanova	7	G/Grinkov	1	B/Bukin	1	12
CAN	Orser	2	Manley	2	B/Johnson	6	Wilson/McCall	3	13
USA	Boitano	1	Thomas	3	W/Oppegard	3	S/Gregory	6	13
FRG	Fischer	9	Leistner	6	Groh/Maletz	11	B/Becherer	9	35
GRB	Robinson	18	Conway	12	Peake/Naylor	12	Jones/Askham	13	55
CHN	Zhang	20	Jiang	26	Mei/Li	14	Liu/Zhao	19	79

1984 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo would have likely been a very close race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
USA	Hamilton	1	Sumners	2	C/Carruthers	2	B/Seibert	4	9
SOV	Fadeev	7	Ivanova	3	V/Vasiliev	1	B/Bukin	2	13
CAN	Orser	2	Thomson	12	U/Martini	7	Wilson/McCall	8	29
FRG	Cerne	4	Ruben	7	M/Azzola	13	B/Schönborn	9	33
GRB	Robinson	22	Jackson	17	G/Jenkins	14	T/Dean	1	54
CHN	Xu	18	Bao	22	Luan/Yao	15	Xi/Zhao	19	74

1980 OLYMPICS

If a team event existed at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, the United States would have had a very strong chance of winning - even moreso if Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, who were forced to withdraw from the pairs event due to injury, would have been participated. East Germany won medals in both singles events and pairs, but ice dancing was so unpopular in the German Democratic Republic that the discipline hadn't even been included in their National Championships since 1970.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
USA	Tickner	3	Fratianne	2	C/Carruthers	5	B/Seibert	7	17
SOV	Bobrin	6	Ivanova	16	R/Zaitsev	1	L/Karponosov	1	24
GRB	Cousins	1	Richardson	12	Garland/Daw	10	Torvill/Dean	5	28
FRG	Cerne	13	Lurz	3	R/Nischwitz	8	F/Steiner	10	34
CAN	Pockar	12	Kemkaran	15	U/Martini	9	W/Dowding	6	42

1976 OLYMPICS

Had a team event existed at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, it would have been a close battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union won medals in three disciplines to the United States' two that year, but their Achilles heel would have been the women's event.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
USA	Santee	6	Hamill	1	B/Gardner	5	O/Millns	3	15
SOV	Kovalev	2	Vodorezova	12	R/Zaitsev	1	P/Gorshkov	1	16
GRB	Curry	1	Richardson	15	T/Taylforth	11	Green/Watts	7	34
CAN	Cranston	3	Nightingale	9	Jones/Fraser	14	B/Porter	10	36
CZE	Pazdirek	12	Ďurišinová	19	S/Spiegel	13	P/Pokorný	11	55

1972 OLYMPICS

The gold medals in the singles events at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics were won by skaters from Czechoslovakia and Austria, but their countries didn't field entries in every discipline. Both the United States and East Germany would have had strong chances of winning a team event that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Shelley	4	Lynn	3	Starbuck/Shelley	4	11
GDR	Hoffmann	6	Morgenstern	6	Groß/Kagelmann	3	15
CAN	Cranston	9	Magnussen	2	Bezic/Bezic	9	20
SOV	Chetverukhin	2	Sanaya	18	Rodnina/Ulanov	1	21
GRB	Oundjian	7	Scott	11	Connolly/Taylforth	14	32
JPN	Higuchi	16	Yamashita	10	Nagasawa/Nagakubo	16	42

1968 OLYMPICS

If a team event existed at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, it would have most likely been won by the United States.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Wood	2	Fleming	1	Kauffman/Kauffman	6	9
GDR	Zöller	11	Seyfert	2	Steiner/Walther	4	17
AUT	Schwarz	1	Schuba	5	Schneider/Bietak	15	21
SOV	Chetverukhin	9	Shcheglova	12	Protopopov/Protopopov	1	22
FRG	Krick	12	Feldmann	10	Glockshuber/Danne	3	25
CAN	Humphry	7	Magnussen	7	Forder/Stephens	16	30
CZE	Nepela	8	Víchová	21	Šrámková/Šrámek	10	39
GRB	Williams	15	Stapleford	11	Bernard/Wilson	18	44

1964 OLYMPICS

If a team event existed at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, it would have likely been a close battle between the United States and Canada.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Allen	3	Fleming	6	Joseph/Joseph	3	12
CAN	Knight	9	Burka	3	Wilkes/Revell	2	14
GER	Schnelldorfer	1	Paul	14	Kilius/Baumler	2	17
AUT	Danzer	5	Heitzer	2	Schönbauer/Bietak	12	19
CZE	Divín	4	Mašková	15	Wlachovská/Bartosiewicz	9	28
SUI	Germann	19	Schmidt	23	Johner/Johner	6	48

1960 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley would have almost certainly been a victory for the United States. The American team was the only one to win medals in every discipline that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Jenkins	1	Heiss	1	Ludington/Ludington	3	5
CAN	Jackson	3	Tewkesbury	10	Wagner/Paul	1	14
GER	Schnelldorfer	8	Martin	14	Kilius/Bäumler	2	24
AUT	Jonas	13	Heitzer	7	Hinko/Döpfl	8	28
AUS	Spencer	17	Shaw	24	Mason/Bower	12	53

1956 OLYMPICS

At the 1956 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the United States would have had a very good shot at winning a gold medal if the team event existed.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Jenkins	1	Albright	1	Ormaca/Greiner	5	7
AUT	Felsinger	7	Wendl	3	Schwarz/Oppelt	1	11
CAN	Snelling	8	Pachl	6	Dafoe/Bowden	2	16
GRB	Booker	6	Sugden	4	Coates/Holles	10	20
GER	Gutzeit	10	Pettinger	10	Kilius/Ningel	4	24
CZE	Divín	5	Kramperová	20	Suchánková/Doležal	8	33

1952 OLYMPICS

"That will put them in very good stead," Dick Button famously quipped. Well, an American team at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo - led by Button - would have been in very good stead indeed.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Button	1	Albright	2	Gerhauser/Nightingale	6	9
CAN	Firstbrook	5	Morrow	6	Dafoe/Bowden	5	16
GER	Stein	8	Busch	8	Baran/Falk	1	17
AUT	Seibt	2	Schilhan	16	Schwarz/Oppelt	9	27
SUI	Pache	9	Wirz	15	Grandjean/Grandjean	7	31
HUN	Czakó	12	Jurek	23	Nagy/Nagy	3	38

1948 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz would have likely been an interesting battle between the United States, Austria and Canada. All three teams had very strong competitors - as well as disciplines where they weren't as strong.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Button	1	Sherman	6	Sherman/Swenning	4	11
AUT	Rada	3	Pawlik	2	Ratzenhofer/Ratzenhofer	9	14
CAN	Distelmeyer	12	Scott	1	Morrow/Distelmeyer	3	16
GRB	Sharp	7	Adams	7	Silverthorne/Silverthorne	5	19
SUI	Gerschwiler	2	Hug	15	Unold/Kuster	12	29
HUN	Király	5	Saáry	17	Nagy/Nagy	7	29
ITA	Fassi	15	Barcellona	24	Barcellona/Fassi	13	52

1936 OLYMPICS

Though Norway's Sonja Henie was the big star at the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, her country did not have a competitor in the men's event that year. A team event would have been a close battle between Austria and Germany, though the UK had a very strong team that year as well.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
AUT	Schäfer	1	Stenuf	6	Pausin/Pausin	2	9
GER	Baier	2	Lindpaintner	8	Herber/Baier	1	11
GRB	Sharp	5	Colledge	2	Cliff/Cliff	7	14
USA	Lee	12	Vinson	5	Vinson/Hill	5	22
HUN	Terták	8	Botond	15	Rotter/Szollás	3	26
LAT	Auls	25	Dzeguze	23	Švarce-Gešela/Hiiop	17	65

1932 OLYMPICS

The gold medals in the men's, women's and pairs events at the 1932 Olympics were won by skaters from Austria, Norway and France. However, the only two countries that fielded entries in all three fields were the United States in Canada. Both teams were strong, and it could have gone either way.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Turner	6	Vinson	3	Loughran/Badger	2	11
CAN	Wilson	3	Samuel-Wilson	4	Wilson-Samuel/Wilson	5	12

1928 OLYMPICS

A team-event at the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz would have been a runway victory for Austria - the only country to win medals in every discipline that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
AUT	Böckl	2	Burger	2	Scholz/Kaiser	2	6
USA	Turner	10	Loughran	3	Loughran/Badger	4	17
FRA	Brunet	7	Joly	11	Joly/Brunet	1	19
CAN	Wilson	13	Smith	5	Smith/Eastwood	10	28
GER	Franke	12	Brockhöft	9	Kishauer/Gaste	8	29
GRB	Page	9	Shaw	14	Muckelt/Page	7	30

1924 OLYMPICS

As in 1928, Austria was the only country to win medals in all three disciplines at the Chamonix Games in 1924. If a team event existed, they likely would have won.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
AUT	Böckl	2	Szabo	1	Engelmann/Berger	1	4
GRB	Page	5	Muckelt	3	Muckelt/Page	4	12
USA	Niles	6	Weld Blanchard	2	Weld Blanchard/Niles	6	14
FRA	Brunet	8	Joly	5	Joly/Brunet	3	16
CAN	Rogers	7	Smith	6	Smith/Rogers	7	20

1920 OLYMPICS

Though Swedish skaters won both singles events at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Sweden didn't field a pairs team that year. Of the three countries that did have entries in all three events, Norway's team was perhaps the strongest.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
NOR	Krogh	2	Moe	5	Bryn/Bryn	2	9
USA	Niles	6	Weld	3	Weld/Niles	4	13
GRB	Williams	7	Johnson	4	Johnson/Williams	3	14

1908 OLYMPICS

At the very first Olympic figure skating competitions, held in conjunction with the 1908 Summer Games in London, only the host country had at least one entry in every discipline. By default, Brittania likely would have ruled the waves.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
GRB	Greig	4	Syers	1	Syers/Syers	3	8

We'll never really know for sure how things might have played out, but it's always interesting to consider how figure skating history might have looked if the record books had a few more names in them.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of eight fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

10 Unforgettable Figure Skating Moments from the 2026 Winter Olympics

Photo courtesy International Olympic Committee/Alisha Lovrich

Under the bright lights of the Milano Cortina Ice Skating Arena, figure skating once again proved why it remains the emotional heartbeat of the Winter Olympics. The 2026 Games edge-of-your-seat performances, historic breakthroughs and moments so raw they transcended sport.

These 10 unforgettable figure skating moments from the 2026 Winter Olympics will be remembered for years to come.

10. YUMA KAGIYAMA - TEAM EVENT SHORT PROGRAM

Olympic and World Medallist Yuma Kagiyama brought the house down in the team event's short program, delivering a clean skate featuring two quadruple jumps and decisively defeated reigning World Champion Ilia Malinin by over ten points. Kagiyama's performance played a major role in Japan's silver medal win in the team event.

9. LIA PEREIRA AND TRENNT MICHAUD - PAIRS SHORT PROGRAM

Canadian Champions Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud surprised everyone - most of all, themselves - by finishing third in the pairs short program. Their outstanding performance to Jessie Ware's "Say You Love Me" earned them a new Personal Best score of 74.60.

8. STEPHEN GOGOLEV - TEAM EVENT SHORT PROGRAM

Canadian Champion Stephen Gogolev said that his goal at the Milano Olympics was to "deliver two clean programs... I don't really think about the results." Gogolev's short program in the team event was the first of four outstanding performances he gave in Milano, and the results (including a second place in the men's free skate) spoke for themselves.

7. MIKHAIL SHAIDOROV - MEN'S FREE SKATE

Mikhail Shaidorov exceeded all expectations, landing four quadruple jumps in the men's free skate and making history as the first figure skater from Kazakhstan to win an Olympic gold medal. The country had not won a gold medal in any sport at the Winter Games in over thirty years.

6. PIPER GILLES AND PAUL POIRIER - RHYTHM DANCE

"She is fierce... on the catwalk"... Canadian Champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier brought the house down with their crowd-pleasing rhythm dance to RuPaul's "Supermodel" and Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy", stealing the show and earning a Season's Best score of 86.18.

5. ALYSA LIU - WOMEN'S SHORT PROGRAM

World Champion Alysa Liu earned a Personal Best score of 76.59 in the women's short program, delivering an exquisitely nuanced and technically difficult performance to "Promise" by Laufey, choreographed by Massimo Scali.

4. RIKU MIURA AND RYUICHI KIHARA - PAIRS FREE SKATE

An uncharacteristic error on a lift left World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in a surprising fifth place after the pairs short program. Miura and Obitano rebounded to deliver an inspiring and memorable performance to music from the film "Gladiator", winning the Olympic gold medal in the pairs event by nearly ten points. Miura and Kihara made history as the first team from Japan to win an Olympic gold medal - or a medal of any colour, for that matter - in the pairs event.

3. MATTEO RIZZO - TEAM EVENT FREE SKATE

4-time European Medallist Matteo Rizzo missed the 2024 World Championships due to a serious hip injury and wasn't named to the Italian team at the 2025 World Championships. The underdog from Sesto San Giovanni delivered the performance of a lifetime in the team event free skate, earning a Season's Best score of 179.62. There wasn't a dry eye in Milano after Rizzo's performance to music from the film "Interstellar" and his skate helped Italy win its first ever medal in the team event in Milano.

2. PIPER GILLES AND PAUL POIRIER - FREE DANCE

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier's haunting "Vincent" free dance lived up to the spirit of what John Curry once said - that great performances "have to move you… have to make you feel something." After years of being consistently undermarked and underappreciated despite their artistry, technical precision, and creativity, their long-awaited Olympic bronze felt, to many, like a medal that should have been silver or gold. Yet for Gilles and Poirier, the bronze was as good as gold, because the performance itself was vindication: the culmination of a comeback story told not through scores but through emotion, beauty, and storytelling. Their "Vincent" was the free dance of the night that truly reached people's hearts.

1. ALYSA LIU - WOMEN'S FREE SKATE

I first saw Alysa Liu's "MacArthur Park" program when Skate Canada was here in Halifax last season and I knew it had the potential to be something special. Little did I know that it would propel her to the top of the podium at last year's World Championships in Boston. By the time Alysa Liu reached the 2026 Winter Olympics – Milan-Cortina, her free skate had become a signature program. Dressed in gold from head to toe, she had the audience completely in the palm of her hand - not a step out of place, not a moment wasted. The performance was joyful and unmistakably real. Her confident and charismatic skate earned her personal-best score of 226.79, and she became the first American woman since Sarah Hughes to win a gold medal in the women's event at the Olympics. Hair flip... "That’s what I’m f***ing talking about!"

A Look Back At The 1948 Winter Olympics

What did Olympic figure skating look like in the late 1940s - before television coverage, slow-motion replays and the modern scoring system? This rare 16mm film offers a glimpse.

The footage features Jeannette Altwegg, Hans Gerschwiler and Barbara Ann Scott at the 1948 Winter Olympics - an event that marked a return to international competition after World War II. Their skating reflects a different era: long, controlled edges, measured pacing and an emphasis on compulsory figures and carriage.

The film itself has an interesting history. It was purchased by World Champion Frances Dafoe, later transferred to VHS and preserved by a private collector before ultimately being donated to the Skate Guard Archive in 2026.

Beyond the performances, what makes this footage special is its survival. Thanks to a chain of careful custodianship, this small piece of skating history remains available to view today.

A Magician From Milano: The Carlo Fassi Story

"The man operates at a level slightly below total hysteria." - unnamed reporter, "Skating" magazine, March 1968

"Skating is not all athletics. It is also an art. The choreography is much more important now than it ever was... I am lucky, I get along with kids. I get along with friendships and understanding; rapport is natural. I have order and discipline, and I get it by assuming that's the way it goes. Communicating is the key. With a top skater, you can't yell and scream; by that time, he can do it, or he can't, but don't waste practice... I try to be impartial with everyone. The pro must totally support the kids skating and the skaters must know that the pro is there." - Carlo Fassi, quoted in Howard Bass' book "Robin Cousins: Skating For Gold", 1980

Born on December 20, 1929 in Milano, Italy, Carlo Stefanoluigi Fassi was the son of Italian builder Riccardo Fassi. His grandfather ran the Palazzo del Ghiaccio, and family members of employees could skate for free. At the age of six, Carlo took to the ice, and by the age of twelve, he won the Italian junior men's title. He went on to utterly dominate in his home country, winning nine consecutive Italian senior men's titles and eight Italian senior pairs titles with his partner Grazia Barcellona. Carlo also won the coveted Cattaneo Cup at the Circolo Pattinatori Valentino Torino and was the first boy to win the trophy. His coach was a German named Harry Burghardt.

Poor training conditions in Milano following World War II led Carlo and Grazia to London, England, where they trained with Jacques Gerschwiler for the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Those Olympics hardly foretold the greatness to come; Carlo finished second to last in both the men's and pairs events.

Left: Grazia Barcellona and Carlo Fassi, Right: Carlo at the 1954 European Championships

Choosing to focus his attention primarily on singles skating, Carlo made a point of learning from the best. The November 29, 1951 issue of the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" noted, "[Fassi] was recently in Amorosa where he perfected in the free skating in the school of [Gustave] Lussi, the coach of world champion Dick Button. He then moved to England, where he was coached by [Arnold] Gerschwiler and [Piero] Talamona (the latter currently in Turin as a teacher). Under the guidance of expert instructors, Carlo Fassi has greatly refined his style and his performance."

Hugh Graham, Carlo Fassi, Hellmut Seibt and Donald Jacoby. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

From 1950 to 1954, Carlo won five medals at the European Championships (including the gold in 1953 and 1954) and the bronze medal at the 1953 World Championships in Davos behind Hayes Alan Jenkins and Jimmy Grogan. Turning down an offer to skate in the Ice Capades, he embarked on one of the most illustrious coaching careers of all time.

Carlo began his coaching career in Milano and then moved to Cortina d'Ampezzo, where he trained the Italian national team at the Stadio Olimpico Del Ghiaccio. It was at that rink in 1958 where he taught German skater Christa von Kuczkowski, who would in 1960 become his wife and the next year, Italian Champion.

The 1961 Sabena Crash effectively ended Christa Fassi's competitive career but launched Carlo's coaching career to the next level. Patricia Shelley Bushman's book "Indelible Tracings" explained that after the tragedy that killed the entire U.S. team, Thayer Tutt of the Broadmoor World Arena "wasted no time in finding a successor for Edi Scholdan. Tutt had already planned to contact 1953 World bronze medallist Carlo Fassi because Edi had requested an assistant and had suggested him. Tutt headed to Italy to plead with Carlo to replace the legendary Scholdan." Carlo (then thirty-three) and Christa traveled to the United States by steamship, first settling in employees' housing at the Broadmoor before buying a house in Colorado Springs. While busy on the ice coaching, they raised two sons, Ricardo and Lorenzo and a daughter, Monika.

Among Carlo's first students in America were Monty Hoyt, the 1962 U.S. Men's Champion and Washington siblings Judianne and Jerry Fotheringill, the 1963 and 1964 U.S. Champions in pairs skating. In 1965, he started working with Peggy Fleming. His exceptional teaching of sound school figure technique allowed her to improve drastically, and his decision (criticized by some at the time) to send her to work with a choreographer paid off in dividends.

Peggy Fleming and Carlo Fassi

As we all know, Peggy won the World titles from 1966 to 1968 and the gold in Grenoble at the 1968 Olympics. She was the first of an incredible four skaters Carlo would coach to Olympic gold. In an interview in the March 13, 1967 issue of "Sports Illustrated", he said of his first star pupil, "She has always been good, but we have to care tenderly for Peggy to keep her from getting tired. I think these other skaters sometimes practice too much, that is, practice all out. I don't think that Kansas boy [Jim] Ryun runs an all-out effort every day. You train too much, it gets you nothing but big legs." Peggy later said of her mentor, "I went to Carlo to perfect my school figures, but the lessons he taught me changed my life. He guided me through the maze of skating and the glare of an Olympic championship, and I will miss him with all my heart. I owe him so much. He was like your father, your mentor, your strength when you didn't feel you could do it. He always brought out the best in me, like no one else has ever done... He had a funny way of speaking English. He would chase me around the rink while I was doing figures and speak in this fractured English, and I would try to focus on what I was supposed to be doing, but I'd be laughing so hard, I couldn't breathe."

Carlo later 'set up shop' in Tulsa and Denver, where he built up the famous skating program at the Colorado Ice Arena. In the seventies, he incredibly coached both Dorothy Hamill and John Curry to Olympic gold at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. In Keith Money's 1978 book, John recalled his first meeting with Carlo thusly, "I walked into the rink at Denver one morning, very hot and very tired after a three-day drive that had seemed endless. It would be no more than the truth to say [that] at that time, I did not like Mr. Fassi and Mr. Fassi did not like me. We shook hands without either of us smiling. Mr. Fassi made basic pleasantries about my journey and then I departed to settle in. After a few days, I think Mr. Fassi realized that I was not the monster he thought I was, and I began to realize that he was not the monster that I had thought he was! We got along together; in fact we soon enjoyed each other's company. I can now say that, in my experience, Mr. Fassi is the best trainer in the world, not only because he knows the technique of skating inside out and backwards, but also because he knows how to prepare a person for a competition... Everyone thinks that the Italian background makes him temperamental. He is very bubbly and full of spirit, and yet he is the most consistent teacher one could find; his temperament is totally even. He does not have days when he arrives feeling bad, making everyone suffer for that; he does not have days when he is in such a good mood that one mistrusts him for that reason; one can totally rely on the evenness of his mood."

Olympic Silver Medallist and two-time World Champion Tim Wood recalled, "There were a couple of times where Ronnie [Baker] couldn't go to a competition, and Carlo Fassi was with me. I loved he and Christa very much. They were very fun. Carlo was so good because he knew how to get you away, to get your mind off it and have a little fun. He was really good at that... he understood that you just couldn't be all pressure, all the time."

Carlo and Christa Fassi

Carlo Fassi and Robin Cousins

In 1980, Carlo coached a fourth student to Olympic gold, none other than another British skating sensation, Robin Cousins, who later remembered his coach in saying, "A lot of people know how to cut diamonds, but very few know how to polish them. Carlo made you feel you were the best diamond you could be, whether you were a novice or Olympic Champion. He could make you feel the performance you were about to do with him was the best performance you could do in the world. He was an equal opportunity coach." At the time, there were rumours that Carlo used his wheeling and dealing skills to influence the judging of the men's and ladies events at the Lake Placid Games. When questioned by the press, his response was "I don't want to comment on anything so silly."

Having already coached four skaters to Olympic gold, Carlo embarked on perhaps the busiest decade of his coaching career - the eighties. He penned the instructional book "Figure Skating with Carlo Fassi", and he and Christa expanded their 'stable' of skaters to include champions from dozens of different countries. Two of their newest star students were, of course, Jill Trenary and Caryn Kadavy.

Carlo Fassi and Jill Trenary

Many would think the highest point in his career was 1976, when he coached two skaters concurrently to Olympic gold, but in the February 10, 1988 issue of "The Pittsburgh Press", Carlo described what he considered to be one of his best moments as a coach: when he encouraged Kadavy to press on after a disastrous fall in the short program at the 1987 U.S. Championships in Tacoma, Washington: "At that moment, I think, everybody thought that Caryn Kadavy was out of the team. The team would have been Trenary, Thomas and Tiffany Chin. I remember at the barrier I talked with Caryn, I said, 'You are good, you can do it, c'mon, go in and do it. She understood,, and she did it. I think you really have to make the kids believe they can do it. I think that was probably the best coaching piece of my life." Do it she did. Caryn rallied with a brilliant free skate at that event, made it on the World team and upset the apple cart by winning the bronze medal at that year's World Championships in Cincinnati. Not to be outdone, Carlo coached Trenary to the gold medal at the 1990 World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 1990, Carlo returned to the Palazzo del Ghiaccio in Milano to be closer to his ailing mother and served as the head coach and manager of the rink where he first skated. In 1994, after spending three summers teaching at the Blue Jay Ice Castle in Lake Arrowhead, he joined the facility's permanent staff and returned to the U.S. to make his home in California. That same year, he was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

In his later years, Carlo pushed not only for great skating but for great change in the sport. He served on the USFSA's Coaches and Skating Standards Committee and as chair of the ISU Coaching Commission and was a passionate advocate for the survival of school figures at the time the ISU was in the process of eliminating them from international competition. In her book "Cracked Ice", Sonia Bianchetti Garbato wrote, "I remember having long and tough discussions with Carlo Fassi on this matter... He became the leader of the movement defending the survival of figures. He claimed that figures were vital for the survival of the sport. He envisioned that without figures, all rinks would go bankrupt, the blade manufacturers would close, and in a couple of years, nobody would be able to execute a decent step sequence! Obviously, while fighting for the survival of figures, he was also fighting for his own livelihood. His extraordinary career in skating was surely due to his ability to teach the compulsory figures, rather than free skating. When the decision to drop figures was finally accepted, he confessed to me honestly that he was fully aware it was the correct thing to do. All of his fights, as well as those of other coaches, were only motivated by economic reasons."

Carlo also spoke out against the overemphasis of jumps in figure skating, the high rate of injuries as a result and the concentration of money at the top of the ladder that never seemed to trickle down. Quoted in the Ottawa Citizen, he said, "We have to choose soon which way we want our sport to go. Is it more jumps all the time? If the sport is going to more and more triples, in five years, the juniors will be better than the seniors.'' His words hearkened back to an earlier quote from the July 18, 1988 issue of "Sports Illustrated", when he (quite prophetically, looking at the state of skating today under the IJS system) said: "You watch. Our champions will start getting younger, so that they will soon be children, as in gymnastics. There will be fifteen other [Midori] Itos in the next Olympics. All they will be able to do is tricks.''

Carlo's larger-than-life personality made for some colourful stories. Lydia Paley Hume recalled one such story from the 1996 European Championships in Sofia in "American Skating World" magazine: "Coaches and officials flying in for the competition were greeted at the passport control by surly old bureaucrats demanding payment for Bulgarian visas. Poor Carlo Fassi... after refusing to pay what he thought was an exorbitant amount for an eight-day stay, he eventually negotiated the price of his visa down to about twenty dollars. His pleasure of winning this little war turned to obvious disgust when I told him that holders of U.S. passports were allowed free entry into Bulgaria for thirty days. 'Damn Communists,' he muttered."

Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine

This man who spoke five languages; this man with a passion for soccer, history, fine wine, politics and history; this man with such a driving passion to leave the sport better than he found it passed away on the afternoon of March 20, 1997 in the Canton Hospital University Vaud, after suffering a heart attack while in Lausanne, Switzerland as a coach at that year's World Championships. Carlo's death came only hours before one of his students, Romania's Cornel Gheorghe, was set to compete in the men's free skate. With heavy hearts, Gheorghe and Carlo's other student at that event, Nicole Bobek, courageously skated.

At Carlo's memorial service in Lausanne, Dick Button read a letter penned to Carlo. He said, "Carlo, I was really taken aback by you. You had the quickest grin, the fastest edges, and knew more about people than anybody. You skated over the entire ice surface, the snow from your edges flew everywhere, and your arms and legs were like your conversation. They never stopped. Thank you, Carlo, for making us smile. For exposing us to new directions. For never losing that little boy charm. For being the skating world's best diplomat. And most of all, for enriching our lives."

Later that year, Carlo was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and remembered in an intimate star-studded skating tribute in front of seventeen hundred people at the Ice Castle in Blue Jay, California. Among those who took the ice were his three surviving Olympic Gold Medallist students (Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Robin Cousins), Caryn Kadavy, Nicole Bobek, Paul Wylie and Lisa-Marie Allen.

With students from Italy, the United States, the UK, Romania, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Czecholovakia and everywhere in between, Carlo's influence touched all corners of the globe. His students all told the same stories: he loved his family, he believed in his skaters, and he knew the sport inside out. He remains, over two decades after his death, one of the most influential figures in figure skating history.

Italian Skating Legends: From Early Pioneers to Olympic Medallists

As the audiences at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games cheer on Daniel Grassl, Matteo Rizzo, Lara Naki Gutmann, Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii, Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini and Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri, why not take a look back at the Italian figure skaters who paved the way?

Italy’s history in Olympic figure skating may not be as medal-rich as some other countries, but it is full of pioneers and trailblazers. Here's a look back through the decades, highlighting the stories of the skaters who helped shape Italy's presence in the sport.

Anna and Ercole Cattaneo

1930s: The Pioneers – Anna and Ercole Cattaneo

At the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Anna (Dubini) and Ercole Cattaneo made history as the first Italians to compete on the Olympic stage. Anna (Dubini) and Ercole Cattaneo, both born in Milan - he on December 3, 1906, and she on August 23, 1911 - were pioneering figures in Italian figure skating.

Members of Circolo Pattinatori Artistico and representing Diavoli Rossoneri Milano, they trained at Milan’s Palazzo del Ghiaccio, an 1,800-square-meter indoor rink built in 1923 that was one of the largest in Europe at the time. The Cattaneos were Italy’s first Olympic figure skaters, competing in the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and finishing ninth. They also placed sixth at the 1937 European Championships and sixth and tenth at the 1937 and 1938 World Championships, respectively.

Domestically, they dominated the Italian Championships, winning singles and pairs titles multiple times - including a notable victory in 1936 at Madonna di Campiglio where they both captured the singles and pairs events, defeating the defending pairs champions Leila Bottini and Vittorio Maggi.

The Cattaneos contributed to the sport’s visibility through exhibitions in Milan, Bolzano, and Germany. Anna recalled in a 1937 "Daily Mirror" interview that their 1936 Olympic participation came on just four weeks’ notice and that she trained before breakfast under her mother’s guidance, as Milan was the only place in Italy with suitable facilities.

Wartime disruptions - including severe damage to the Palazzo del Ghiaccio - did not diminish their contributions to the sport, and they remained involved with clubs such as Circolo Sciatori Bolzano and C.P.A. Milano.

After retiring from competitive skating, Ercole served on the Italian Ice Sports Association’s Technical Committee and became an international judge and referee at numerous Olympics, World, and European Championships, while Anna was already coaching skaters, including Grazia Barcellona and Carlo Fassi, even before her competitive career ended. She later served as a national level skating judge.

The Cattaneos remained Italy's only Olympic pair to finish in the top ten until 2018, cementing their legacy as trailblazers in Italian figure skating.

1953 European Figure Skating Champions Carlo Fassi and Valda Osborn

1940s-1950s: Carlo Fassi and Italy on the Rise

Carlo Fassi became Italy's most notable male figure skater of this era. Competing internationally in the late 1940s and 1950s, Fassi was Italy’s first skater to reach the podium in international competitions, paving the way for future Italian skaters to compete at the highest level.

Born December 20, 1929 in Milan, Italy, Fassi emerged from a family connected to Milan's Palazzo del Ghiaccio. His grandfather ran the rink where he first took to the ice at age six. By the age of twelve, he had already claimed the Italian junior men’s title. Training under German coach Harry Burghardt, Fassi dominated skating in Italy, winning nine national senior men's titles and eight senior pairs titles with Grazia Barcellona.

Postwar conditions in Milan led him and Barcellona to train in London with Jacques Gerschwiler for the 1948 Winter Olympics. Between 1950 and 1954, Fassi won five European Championship medals - including golds in 1953 and 1954 - and a World bronze in 1953, before turning down professional skating offers to pursue coaching, first in Milan and then at Cortina d’Ampezzo, where he trained the Italian national team and met his wife, Christa von Kuczkowski.

After the 1961 Sabena Crash, he moved to the U.S. to replace Edi Scholdan at the Broadmoor World Arena, building a legendary coaching career that produced four Olympic Gold Medallists: Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, John Curry, and Robin Cousins.

Known for his keen technical insight and ability to motivate, Fassi coached champions from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Romania, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia.

At a time when the ISU was keen to axe compulsory figures, Fassi advocated for their survival and cautioned against overemphasis on jumps.

Fluent in five languages and passionate about history, politics, and culture, Fassi's influence spanned continents, shaping generations of skaters with a combination of discipline and vision.

He returned to Milan in 1990 to coach at the Palazzo del Ghiaccio and was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1994.

Fassi passed away on March 20, 1997, while coaching at the World Championships in Lausanne. Over two decades after his death, he remains widely regarded as one of the most influential coaches in skating history.

Anna Galmarini

1960s: Anna Galmarini - Italy’s Leading Lady

The 1960s brought Italy’s first standout female skater: Anna Galmarini. Galmarini was born on October 15, 1942, in Milan, Italy, and began skating at the age of ten, partly inspired by her older brother and partly because she disliked tennis. She quickly progressed, becoming Italian junior champion by the age of thirteen.

Galmarini left Italy to train in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and in 1957 she won her first of four consecutive Italian senior titles. Her early international outings were unremarkable - finishing nineteenth at the 1957 European Championships and twenty-first at the World Championships - but her charming free skating gradually drew attention.

By 1960, Galmarini had broken into the top ten at the European Championships, Winter Olympics and World Championships. The Italian newspaper "La Stampa-Domenica" called her style "very whimsical and elegant" and "quite different from what they are accustomed to [in] Europe."

After turning professional, she toured with Holiday on Ice in Europe and the U.S., eventually joining the Ice Capades. In 1965, she made history as the first Italian skater to win the World Professional Skating Championships in London, England.

Known for her versatility, multilingualism, and love of cooking, Galnarini remained involved in skating as a coach after her performing career ended. She passed away in 1997 at the age of fifty-four, leaving a unique legacy as a skater whose expressive style and adventurous career spanned continents.

1970s - Breaking New Ground – Rita Trapanese and Susanna Driano

The 1970s saw Italian skaters continue to make their mark. At the first officially recognized Olympic ice dancing event in 1976, Matilde Ciccia and Lamberto Ceserani finished in the top ten - but the country's most notable successes during this period were in the women's event.

Rita Trapanese

Born on May 8, 1951, in Milan, Rita Trapanese was a dominant force in Italian figure skating throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, winning eight consecutive national titles from 1965 to 1972. Known for her discipline and determination - rising at five each morning to train until evening - she steadily improved on the international stage, claiming bronze at the Richmond Trophy in 1969 and winning it the following year.

In Zürich in 1971, Trapanese made history as the first Italian skater to win a medal in the women's event at the European Figure Skating Championships, followed by a silver in Gothenburg in 1972, helping pave the way for future Italian competitors like Susanna Driano.

Trapanese also represented Italy at two Olympic Games, achieving a seventh-place finish in Sapporo in 1972, and posted her best World Championships result with fifth overall in Lyon in 1971.

After retiring from amateur competition, she performed professionally with Holiday on Ice before transitioning to journalism. She tragically died in a car accident in 2000.

Susanna Driano

Susanna Driano, born on January 29, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois, started her skating career in the United States, representing the Overlake Skating Club in Washington at the regional and sectional level. Her Italian-born father was a national-level skating judge and referee.

In 1974, Driano chose to leave the crowded ranks of U.S. figure skating behind and represent Italy internationally. The decision paid off when she won the Italian Championships six times in a row. She was one of the country’s leading ladies in figure skating during the late 1970s. Known for her consistency, she quickly established herself on the international stage under the guidance of coaches Barbara Roles Williams and Carlo and Christa Fassi.

In 1978, she earned her first major international medal with a bronze at the European Championships in Strasbourg and made history at the World Championships in Ottawa, winning Italy's first medal in the women's event.

She represented Italy at the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics, finishing eighth at the latter games in Lake Placid.

At the time, it was quite rare for skaters to represent countries other than the ones they were born, and Driano - like Californian-born Dianne de Leeuw representing The Netherlands - was an early example of a skater finding success by swapping countries.

1980s and 1990s - A Period of Transition

While Italy had produced several standout skaters in earlier decades, the 1980s and 1990s proved to be a relatively quiet period for Italian figure skating. Few athletes managed to break through on the international stage, and the country struggled to pose a challenge to the dominant skating nations of the time. There were certainly still trailblazers during this period.

Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola

Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola were Italy’s leading ice‑dance team in the late 1980s. The duo captured the Italian national title in both 1987 and 1988, establishing themselves as the country’s top representatives in the discipline.

Internationally, they placed in the top ten at the 1988 European Championships and Winter Olympics in Calgary, delivering solid performances that kept Italy visible on the world stage. Although they never reached the podium at major international competitions, Trovati and Pelizzola played an important role in sustaining Italian ice dance during a quiet era, helping to pave the way for the more competitive teams that would emerge in the 1990s and beyond.

Gilberto Viadana

Gilberto Viadana, born 9 February 1973 in Milan, was one of Italy’s leading men’s figure skaters in the 1990s, a two‑time Olympian (1992 and 1998) who also competed at multiple European and World Championships. He honed his skills under some of the sport’s top coaches, beginning with Silvana Grilli, then Günter Zöller, and later Carlo and Christa Fassie and earned the distinction of being the first Italian to land a triple Axel in competition. He later transitioned to coaching and served as an international technical specialist, passing on his expertise to the next generation of skaters.

Stefania Calegari and Pasquale Camerlengo

In Albertville in 1992, Stefania Calegari and Pasquale Camerlengo made history as the first Italian ice dancers to place in the top five at the Winter Olympics. Calegari was born in Milan; Camerlengo in Switzerland. The duo placed in the top ten at five World Championships. After Calegari's retirement, Camerlengo represented Italy at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano with fellow Swiss-born skater Diane Gerencser. After turning professional, Camerlengo coached a who's who of ice dancing, including Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat and Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali.

The 21st Century - A Breakthrough

As Italian figure skating moved into the 2000s, the nation experienced a renaissance on the ice. A new generation of skaters began to achieve consistent success in both singles and ice dance. While the 1980s and 1990s had been relatively quiet periods for Italy, the new millennium brought world-class athletes who combined technical prowess with beautiful artistry. Italy’s skaters became known not just for their skill but for expressive, character-driven performances that captured the attention of audiences worldwide.

Barbara Fusar‑Poli and Maurizio Margaglio. Photo courtesy Olindo Brodi.

Barbara Fusar‑Poli and Maurizio Margaglio were Italy’s trailblazing ice-dance duo in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They made history as the first Italian team to win the World Championships in 2000. The following year, they became the first Italian team to win the European Championships. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, they won Italy's first Olympic medal in ice dancing. Beyond their groundbreaking achievements, the duo’s charisma and competitive spirit inspired a generation of Italian ice dancers, proving that Italy could challenge the long-standing strength of Russia, France, Canada and the United States in the discipline.

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali were another highly successful Italian ice-dance duo in the 2000s, known for their charisma, strong technical skills, and compelling programs. Their career highlights included two medals at the European Championships and a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2010, in their home country. Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte continued Italy’s tradition of strong ice-dance performances. Known for inventive choreography, musicality, and strong technique, Capellini and Lanotte claimed both the European and World titles in 2014, making them the first Italian skaters to win two senior ISU Championships in the same year.

Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte. Photo courtesy Andrey Malgin.

Carolina Kostner emerged as Italy's most decorated singles skater of the 21st century, celebrated for her elegance and expressiveness. Making her senior international debut as a teenager, Kostner quickly gained attention for her fluid skating style and musical interpretation, which set her apart in an era increasingly focused on technical difficulty. In 2007, she made history as the first Italian woman to win the European Championships - the first of five victories at the event. In 2012, she made history as the first Italian woman to win the World Championships and in 2014, she became the first Italian woman to win an Olympic medal in singles. Many thought her "Bolero" at the Sochi Games was the performance of the night.

Carolina Kostner. Photo courtesy Margarita Voronkovskaya.

From the pioneering efforts of the Cattaneos to the artistry of Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skating has steadily grown from a minor presence to a respected force in the sport. As the spotlight shines on the incredible Italian skaters competing at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, the legacy of the skaters who came before reminds us that the country’s history on ice is one of steady progress, pioneering spirit, and remarkable firsts.

From Cortina to Milan: Italy's Olympic Figure Skating Legacy

Italy may not be the first country that comes to mind when thinking about Olympic figure skating, which is exactly what makes its history worth a closer look.

As the world turns its attention to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games, it’s impossible not to look back at the nation's earlier Olympics. From the crisp mountain air of Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, where skaters performed outdoors against the backdrop of the Dolomites, to the modernity of Torino's Palavela arena in 2006, Italy has provided some of the sport's most memorable stages.

The 1956 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games not only showcased medal-winning performances - they helped shape the evolution of figure skating itself. As Italy prepares to host the Olympics once again, the moment feels like a reunion with its own history: a chance to revisit the glories, surprises, and defining chapters of Olympic skating on Italian ice, and to imagine what stories today's generation will carve out on the ice in 2026.

Excerpt from U.S. Olympic Team Manager and Coach Theodore G. Patterson and Harry E. Radix's report from the 1956 Winter Olympics, recommending that all American skaters should travel together on the same flight if at all possible - five years before the 1961 Sabena Crash

Italy first played host to the Winter Olympic Games in 1956. The figure skating competitions at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics were the last in Olympic history to take place in an open-air, uncovered rink and the first Olympic figure skating competitions to be broadcast live on television to an international audience. Through a tape relay from RAI, skating fans in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom lucky enough to own a black-and-white television set could watch Salchows and spirals to their heart's content, from the comfort of their living room.

The Cortina Games produced several enduring snapshots: outdoor audiences bundled in blankets, the crisp sound of blades slicing natural ice, and the kind of atmospheric performances only possible in an open-air rink. Weather conditions occasionally added an element of unpredictability that modern skaters never face in climate-controlled arenas. Skaters contended with temperature fluctuations, bright glare from the sun and winds. In the women's event, the first compulsory figure was skated during a heavy snowstorm, and visibility was so poor that it was almost impossible for judges to see the tracings on the ice. Ice conditions were very poor for the men's free skating, and the glare from the sun was so bad that David Jenkins remarked that it "made it hard to tell where the ice was when landing a jump."

1956 Olympic Medallists David and Hayes Alan Jenkins

Many firsts were carved out on the ice the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Tenley Albright made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. In the men's event, a trio of Americans (Hayes and David Jenkins and Ronnie Robertson) took home top honours. It was the first time skaters from North America swept the podium in the men's event at the Winter Olympic Games. In the pairs event, Canada's Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden narrowly lost out on the gold medal to Austrian pair Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt.

1956 Olympic Medallists Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden

The late Mildred Richardson, wife of international judge and eminent British figure skating writer T.D. Richardson, recalled, "The main stadium stand, rising high above the two rinks, was beautifully designed; somewhat after the fashion of a wooden mountain farmhouse. With the rose red peaks of the Dolomites towering behind, it made a striking picture. There was only one snag for us and that was that the Press seats were right at the top and far too high above the ice for us to be able to see, with any accuracy, what was going on below. The seating was comfortable with good desks, and a form of gas heater or fire, running all along above our heads; very cosy! They employed this method to heat all the stands; an excellent and imaginative use by the Italians of their supply of natural gas. However at the rink, for us, no use so [T.D.] approached the rink manager – a most co-operative and charming man – and asked if we might have passes to the ice level. Although strictly speaking, this was forbidden except for trainers and those accompanying the skaters, we had no trouble in getting our permits. It was therefore from this unique vantage point that we were able to see all the figure skating and ice hockey events... It was very bad luck for the excellent Australian pair, Jacqueline Mason and Mervyn Bower of Sydney, who had worked so hard and profited so much from their training in St. Moritz, that after their arrival in Cortina, Mervyn had a nasty accident. I think he broke his ankle by hitting the barrier of the rink. To come so far and then have to withdraw from such an unfortunate injury was too bad... During the ladies free skating, there was nearly a riot. The ebullient crowd showed their disapproval of the marks awarded to Carol Heiss of America - a real little bombshell of a skater who took the silver medal - by hoots and whistles, cries of Banditti, and the hurling of bottles, cigarette cartons, oranges, tomatoes or what have you on to the ice, so that the judges had to take shelter. It held up the proceedings for about twenty minutes until order was restored and the ice cleared of rubbish. Needless to say, this had no effect on the marking and Tenley Albright got her well-deserved gold medal."

1956 Olympic Medallists Carol Heiss and Tenley Albright

The Italians loved their flying projectiles. In the pairs event, West Germans Marika Kilius and Franz Ningel's low marks were met with such ire that the judges and referee were pelted with oranges. So much fruit was thrown that the ice had to be cleared three times, amid a chorus of boos and screams.

When the Winter Games returned to Italy in 2006, Olympic figure skating was unrecognizable from the sport that it was fifty years prior. Gone were the school figures, and the rise of television and the internet had increased the profile and popularity of the sport immensely. Skating fans were very knowledgeable and instead of throwing produce when they didn't like the marks, they threw shade.

2006 Olympic Gold Medallist Shizuka Arakawa

The figure skating events were held indoors at the architecturally striking Palavela arena in Torino in 2006, and competitions were judged using the newly implemented IJS (International Judging System), marking a major shift from the 6.0 system. In the women's event, Shizuka Arakawa of Japan made history as the first Japanese skater to win Olympic gold, followed by Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia. The men's singles podium featured Evgeni Plushenko of Russia, Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland and Jeffrey Buttle of Canada. Two Chinese team stood on the podium together for the first time in the pairs event. Dan and Hao Zhang and Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao claimed the silver and bronze medals, behind Russian winners Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin. In ice dance, Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov became the first Ukrainian team to win an Olympic medal, earning the bronze medal, behind Olympic Gold and Silver Medallists Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov and Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto.

Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio at the 2006 Winter Olympics

One of the most memorable moments at the 2006 Olympics in Torino occurred during the original dance. Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, the team who made history as the first Italians to win an Olympic medal in ice dance four years prior at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, led after the compulsory dance. However, they took an uncharacteristic tumble late in their performance in their original dance. Their fall dropped them out of medal contention and the cameras captured Fusar-Poli's unforgettable glare at Margaglio - a look so fiery that it quickly became the stuff of legend. Long before memes dominated social media, her "death stare" - a brief, human moment of frustration - perfectly encapsulated the drama and emotion of Olympic figure skating, and it remains one of the most enduring images from the 2006 Torino Games.

Too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan, Lithuania's Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevičius will be crowd favourites in the ice dance event in Milano Cortina

Fast forward twenty years to 2026, and the stage is set once again for unforgettable moments on Italian ice at the Milano Cortina Games. If history is any guide, we can expect triumphs, heartbreaks, and the kind of performances that will be talked about for decades to come - proving once more that Italy remains a place where Olympic figure skating history is made.

Black History Month 2026

2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the motion introduced by The Honourable Jean Augustine to officially recognize February as Black History Month in Canada.

Black History Month is an opportunity to reflect on the achievements and legacies of skaters of colour who have shaped the sport through their talent, perseverance, and barrier-breaking contributions.

This year, the timing is especially fitting as the Olympic Winter Games take place in February.

Skate Guard Blog's Black History Month resources focus on Black history in figure skating, highlighting pioneers, trailblazers, and defining moments that helped shape the sport on and off the ice.

Together, Black History Month and the Olympics offer a powerful moment to celebrate reslience, excellence and diversity n figure skating history.

Head on over to the Black History Month page for blogs, recommended reading lists, timelines, photos and more: https://www.skateguardblog.com/p/black-history-month.html