Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia. The five events took place between 6–22 February 2014. For the first time at the Winter Olympics, a figure skating team event was held.

Records and firsts

The following new ISU best scores were set during this competition:

Other records and firsts:

* Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) set a new world record in the men's short program with a score of 101.45 points, the first score to break the 100 points barrier in the short program.
* Adelina Sotnikova's gold medal was Russia's first Olympic gold in the ladies event, making Russia the first country to have won Olympic gold medals in all four figure skating disciplines. Also, in winning the team trophy, Russia became the first nation to win gold medals in all five events.
* For the first time, in the men's singles event, all three of the medalists in an Olympic figure skating event were of Asian descent.
* Yuzuru Hanyu's gold medal was Japan's first Olympic gold in the men's event. It was also the first time that the men's event had been won by an Asian athlete.
* Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in ice dance.
* Denis Ten's bronze medal was Kazakhstan's first Olympic medal in figure skating.
* Carolina Kostner's bronze medal was Italy's first Olympic medal in a singles event.
* Evgeni Plushenko (RUS) tied the record of four Olympic figure skating medals (Gillis Grafström won four in the early years of the sport, in 1920–1932).
* Yulia Lipnitskaya (RUS) became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in figure skating under modern rules. She also became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in the teams discipline. Lipnitskaya was the second-youngest all-time figure skating gold medalist, behind Maxi Herber (pairs skater), who would have been too young to compete at the Olympics under modern rules.

Competition schedule

The following is the competition schedule for all five events.

All times are (UTC+4).

Medal summary

Medal table

Events

: *Indicates the athlete(s) only competed in the short program/dance.
: **Indicates the athlete(s) only competed in the long program/dance.

Controversies

Athlete selection

The United States' selection of Ashley Wagner over Mirai Nagasu for the Olympic team caused some controversy as Nagasu finished ahead of Wagner at the 2014 U.S. Championships. The results at the pre-Olympic nationals often play a major role in the decision process but U.S. Figure Skating never stated that they would be the only results considered. Wagner was selected on the body of her work, instead of her performance at that event.

This was the first time that U.S. Figure Skating selected a skater who had competed in the pre-Olympic nationals and lost over another on who had also competed. On previous occasions, this was done for skaters who had been injured and unable to compete at nationals.

The selection of Evgeni Plushenko by the Russia Olympic Team for figure skating caused some controversy, as he had been beaten by Maxim Kovtun at the 2014 Russian Figure Skating Championships. Plushenko said he won’t participate in European Championships and will give spot at men's singles for Kovtun and he will participate in the team event only. ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta cautioned the Figure Skating Federation of Russia, "If one of your skaters has sustained the same injury for years. You should not enter him or her." Plushenko skated strongly in the Short and Free Programs for the Team Event, however in the Men's individuals he withdrew right before the start of the Short Program which left host Russia without an entry since it was too late have Kovtun as a replacement. Russian figure skating officials defended the initial selection of Plushenko by noting that Kovtun had done poorly at international events.

Allegations of votes swapping

French sports newspaper ''L'Équipe'', quoting an anonymous Russian coach, alleged that Russia and the United States would swap votes, with the U.S. voting for Russian athletes in pairs figure skating and team events and Russia voting for the U.S. in ice dance. The allegations were categorically denied by U.S. Figure Skating.

Ladies' singles figure skating results

Immediately after the final scores were announced, journalistic questions arose regarding whether Russian 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova's performances deserved higher scores than the performances of 23-year-old Yuna Kim from South Korea. Questions over the judges, the judging system, and the anonymity of scores were also raised in the press.

Qualification

A total of 148 quota spots are available to athletes to compete at the games. A maximum of 18 athletes could be entered by a National Olympic Committee, with a maximum of 9 men or 9 women. An additional six quota spots were made available for the team event. A further ten team trophy quotas (two in each discipline) were distributed to countries qualifying for the team event, but not the discipline itself. This means up to a maximum of 158 athletes could partake.

Participating nations

149 athletes from 30 nations participated, with number of athletes in parentheses. Brazil and the Philippines made their Olympic debuts in the sport.

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References

External links

Sochi 2014 Figure Skating page


Official Results Book – Figure Skating

2014 Winter Olympics page
at the International Skating Union
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{{Record scores in figure skating

2014
2014 Winter Olympics events
Winter Olympics
International figure skating competitions hosted by Russia