Ice Skating (21225)

Ice skating is traveling on ice with skates, narrow (and sometimes parabolic) blade-like devices moulded into special boots (or, more primitively, without boots, tied to regular footwear). It is mainly done for recreation and as a sport. more...

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It is possible on frozen rivers and lakes and at indoor and outdoor skating rinks with natural or artificial cooling.

History

Prehistory

The exact time and process by which humans first learned to ice skate is not known, though archaeologists believe the activity was widespread. The convenience and efficiency of ice skating to cross large, icy areas is shown in archaeological evidence by the finding of primitive animal bone ice skates in places such as Russia, Scandinavia, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. The runners were made from bones of cattle. They were ground down until they formed a flat gliding surface, and thongs tied them to the feet.

Earliest historical documentation

The first concrete mention of ice skating is found in a book written by William Fitzstephen, a monk in Canterbury. In his book about Thomas Beckett, he writes the following, a description of a scene taking place below the northern city walls of Canterbury during the winter:

...if the moors in Finsbury and Moorfield freeze over, children from London play. Some of the children have attached bones to their ankles, and carry well-worn sticks. They fly across the ice like birds, or well-fired arrows. Suddenly, two children will run at each other, sticks held high in the air. They then attack each other until one falls down. Often, the children injure their heads or break their arms or legs...

The sticks that Fitzstephen refers to were used for movement, as the primitive bone-made ice skates did not have sharp gliding edges like modern ice skates.

The first description of ice skating in a work of art was made in the 15th century by the Dutch artist Johannes Brugman. The picture of Saint Lidwina, patron saint of ice skaters, falling on the ice was the first work of art by a major artist to feature ice skating as a main theme. Another important aspect of the painting is a man seen in the background who is skating on one leg. This means that the ice skates the man was wearing must have sharp edges similar to those found on modern ice skates.

Development of skates

Adding edges to ice skates was invented by the Dutch in the 13th or 14th century. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement. The construction of modern ice skates has remained largely the same. The only other major change in ice skate design came soon after. Around the same time period as steel edges were added to ice skates, another Dutchman, a table maker’s apprentice, experimented with the height to width ratio of the metal blade of the ice skates, producing a design that remains almost unaltered to this day. The user of the skates no longer needed to use sticks for propulsion, and movement on skates was now freer and more stable.

Read more at Wikipedia.org