Figure skating at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...

took place at the Olympic Ice Rink in

St. Moritz, Switzerland St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality i ...

. Three

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

events were contested: men's singles, ladies' singles, and

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

Event summary

Barbara Ann Scott Barbara Ann Scott (May 9, 1928 – September 30, 2012) was a Canadian figure skater. She was the 1948 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1947–1948), and a four-time Canadian national champion (1944–46, 48) in ladies' singles. Kn ...

became the first Canadian to win the figure skating gold medal while

Dick Button Richard Totten Button (born July 18, 1929) is an American former figure skater and skating analyst. He is a two-time Olympic champion (1948, 1952) and five-time consecutive World champion (1948–1952). He is also the only non-European man to h ...

became the first American to win a figure skating title for the United States. Button also became the first figure skater to perform a

double Axel A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ' ...

in competition. The pair of Micheline Lannoy and

Pierre Baugniet Pierre Baugniet (23 July 1925 – 1981
retrieved 26 July 2 ...

became the first Belgians to win the figure skating gold medal as well as the first Belgians to win a gold medal at any Winter Olympics. The competition began with the men's

compulsory figures Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...

on 2 February. However, the next day, competition was postponed in the midst of the ladies' figures event due to a thaw that left puddles of water on the outdoor ice surface. On 5 February competition had to be resumed, regardless of poor ice conditions, in order to allow the Games to finish on schedule. The pairs event on 7 February was skated in a heavy snowstorm, with the ice having to be scraped after each program."The Olympics: 1948 and 1952", ''Skating'' magazine, February 1960

Medal summary

Medalists

Medal table

References

External links

*
Winter Olympic Memories: Men

{{Figure skating at the Olympic Games 1948 Winter Olympics events

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

1948 in figure skating International figure skating competitions hosted by Switzerland