The men's figure skating competition at the
1956 Winter Olympics took place at the
Olympic Ice Stadium in
Cortina d'Ampezzo,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. The competition was held on 29 January and 1 February 1956. Sixteen men from eleven countries participated in the competition. The event was dominated by the
American skaters who swept the medals.
Hayes Jenkins and his brother,
David Jenkins, won gold and bronze respectively.
[Findling and Pelle (1996), p. 261]
Competition
The event was held outdoors at the Ice Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the host city for the Games. This would be the last time that the figure skating events were held outdoors at an Olympic Games.
The Ice Stadium was the focal point of the Games. It was used not only for figure skating but also for the opening and closing ceremonies.
[Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956), pp. 124–133] The stadium was built to accommodate 6,000–7,000 people.
[ Temporary seating was added for the figure skating competition that swelled the stadium's capacity to 14,000 people. The ladies' competition was the first figure skating event held at the Games. It was followed by the men's competition and then the pairs. Ice dancing was not contested as it had yet to become an Olympic sport in 1956.
The competition was broken down into two disciplines. The first was a ]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 ...
competition, which counted for 60% of the score. This was held on 29 January under near-perfect ice conditions. After a nervous start on the first figure, Hayes Jenkins recovered to hold a narrow lead over his teammate Ronald Robertson at the end of the day, with David Jenkins only slightly behind.["The Olympics: 1956", ''Skating'' magazine, March 1960]
The second discipline was a free skating program, which counted for 40% of the final score. This final program was performed on 1 February.[ Due to the very cold weather, the ice was extremely hard, causing some of the competitors to skate cautiously. Hayes Jenkins' program, skated to the music "Scheherazade", included jumps and spins blended with connecting steps and choreography. Robertson's program emphasized showmanship with crowd-pleasing jumps and spins, but had less connecting choreography. Robertson narrowly won the free skating with six first places, but Hayes Jenkins' lead from the compulsory figures held up to give him the gold medal. David Jenkins struggled with the hard ice and fell twice in his program, but held his position after the figures to take the bronze medal.]Carol Heiss
Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins (born January 20, 1940) is an American former figure skater and actress. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the 1960 Olympic champion, the 1956 Olympic silver medalist, and a five-time World champion (1956†...
who was the women's silver medalist at the 1956 Games and gold medalist at the 1960 Games.[
]
Results
Source:[Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956), p. 662–667][Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956), p. 665]
See also
* 1956 Winter Olympics
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Figure skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics - Men's singles
Figure skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics
Men's events at the 1956 Winter Olympics