International Skating Union
International governing body for competitive ice skating / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating.[8] It was founded in Scheveningen, Netherlands, in July 1892,[2] making it one of the oldest international sport federations. The ISU was formed to establish standardized international rules and regulations for the skating disciplines it governs, and to organize international competitions in these disciplines. It is now based in Switzerland.
The International Skating Union (ISU)[lower-alpha 2] was founded in 1892[10] in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen.[9] The meeting was attended by 15 men, as the national association representatives from the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany/Austria, and two clubs from Stockholm (Sweden) and Budapest (Hungary).[9] The ISU was the first international winter sports federation[9] to govern speed skating and figure skating,[11][12] as it laid down the rules for speed skating, shortly followed by figure skating.[9] In 1895, the organization streamlined its mission to deal only with amateur competitors, not professionals, and hosted its first amateur skating championship in February 1896 in St. Petersburg, Russia.[13]
The United States and Canada formed a competing organization, the International Skating Union of America (ISUA), in 1907.[14][15] Over the next two years, 12 European nations had joined the ISU, while the ISUA had only its original two members.[16] The ISUA folded in 1927.[17]
European and North American figure skaters rarely competed against each other because of differences in their styles of skating.[18] The ISU had "systematized and arranged" the sport of figure skating,[18] with competitions including "a selection of ten or twelve numbers from the ISU programme, ... five minutes' free skating to music, ... [and] special figures" on one foot.[16] In 1911, Canada joined the ISU, leaving the United States as the only major competitor to not be a member.[18] This changed in 1923, when the United States Figure Skating Association joined the ISU[19] and in 1926, the Japanese sport governing body followed to acquire ISU membership.[20]
The first ISU competitions to emerge were the World and European Speed Skating and Figure Skating Championships.[9] Both disciplines were included in the official program of the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924.[21] The discipline of ice dancing was introduced at the Innsbruck Games in 1976.[22] After 1945, the ISU slowly continued to grow with accession of members from other countries in Europe, Oceania, and (Southern) Africa.
In 1967, the ISU adopted short track speed skating,[9] and the first official ISU World Championships took place in 1981.[9] Short track speed skating became part of the official Olympic program in 1992.[9] The earliest speed skating competitions hosted by the ISU, between 1976 and 1980, were held under different names but have retrospectively received World Championship status. The discipline was known as "indoor speed skating" at first, until being renamed "short track speed skating" when indoor rinks for the longer speed skating events were introduced.[23]
By 1988, 38 nations had joined the ISU. Over the next few years, the organization abandoned one of its long-held practices, eliminating the use of mandatory figures in the singles' figure skating competitions and reducing their use in ice dancing.[24] During the 1970s and 1980s, several Asian countries joined the ISU, followed in the early 1990s by many new countries emerging from the breakup of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. In 1994, synchronized skating was formally recognized as a separate discipline,[9] and the first ISU World Championships were held in 2000 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[9]
After the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, the ISU implemented changes to many of its events.[25] The ISU approved the use of video replay, when available, to review referee decisions.[26] The rules for judging figure skating were also overhauled as a direct result of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. According to Ottavio Cinquanta, former president of the ISU, "'Something was wrong there,' ... 'Not just the individual but also the system. It existed for 70 years. Now we are trying to replace one system with another.'"[27] A new judging system for figure skating took effect in 2005,[28] replacing the 6.0 system of "perfect" scores and instead giving points for various technical elements.[29][30][31]
Since the 2000s, the ISU has experienced a new wave of expansion, with several countries in Asia and Latin America joining the organization. In 2019, skating federations from Chile,[32] Peru,[33] Turkmenistan,[34][35] and Vietnam[36] acquired membership of the ISU.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ISU issued Communication No. 2469, banning all Russian and Belarusian athletes from events until further notice.[37][38] On 28 March 2023 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a statement recommending that Russian and Belarusian athletes be allowed to compete under a neutral flag.[39][40][41] On 11 June 2023 the ISU responded to the IOC 28 March statement, saying that the ISU Council "decided to explore the feasibility issues with regard to potential pathways to implement the IOC recommendations within ISU Sports. ...The Council will continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine and its impact on the ISU activity as well as the decisions and their implementation within the Olympic Movement. In the meantime, ISU Communication 2469 remains in force".[42] On 28 July the IOC responded to questions about its position.[43]
Regions
List of 80 Countries (101 Association, Some nations have 2 or 3 organ member) in 5 Zones (Updated at 10 April 2022):[44][45]
- Four Continents (4C) (non-European countries): 35 Members
- European Countries: 45 Members
Number | Region | Countries |
---|---|---|
Four Continents (4C) | ||
1 | Africa | 3 |
2 | Asia | 21 |
3 | Oceania | 2 |
4 | Americas | 9 |
European | ||
5 | Europe | 45 |
Total | World | 80 |
Year of Membership
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