The women's figure skating competition at the
1956 Winter Olympics
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( or ), were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956.
Cortina, which ...
took place at the
Olympic Ice Stadium in
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo (; , ; historical ) sometimes abbreviated to simply Cortina, is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomites, Dolomitic) Alps in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The competition was held on 30–31 January and 2 February 1956. Twenty-one women from eleven countries participated in the competition. The event was dominated by the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
skaters and who won gold and silver.
Tenley Albright
Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and ...
, who overcame a significant injury two weeks before the start of the competition, was the Olympic champion.
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] It 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 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 done on 30 January, with the competition beginning in such a heavy snowstorm that it was difficult for the judges to see the skaters' tracings. After the first day of competition Tenley Albright
Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and ...
had the lead with 9 of 11 judges' first-place ordinals, with 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 Figure skating at the 1960 Winter Olympics – Women's singles, 1960 Olympic champion, the Figure ...
second.
The second discipline was a free skating program, which counted for 40% of the final score. This final program was performed on 2 February.[ In the second day of competition Albright edged out Heiss by 1.6 points to claim the gold medal.
Albright won the event despite a serious leg injury sustained just weeks before the Olympics. While skating in practice Albright fell when her skate hit a rut in the ice. Her left skate blade sliced her right ankle to the bone, severing a vein. She also had to overcome polio, which she contracted in 1946. Carol Heiss won the silver medal. She later won gold at the ]1960 Winter Olympics
The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Valley ...
in Squaw Valley, and married Hayes Jenkins, the men's champion at the 1956 Games. Ingrid Wendl from Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
won the bronze medal, the only Olympic medal of her career.
Results
Source:[Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (1956), p. 671]
See also
* 1956 Winter Olympics
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( or ), were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956.
Cortina, which ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Figure skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics - Ladies' singles
Figure skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics
Fig
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...
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