Figure Skating was the first Olympic sport on the program in 1908 and then again in 1920. In this sport, skaters perform moves and jumps on the ice to music.

There are many disciplines of figure skating:

• There is a singles competition for both men and women. Singles skaters must perform jumps, spins, and step sequences in their programs.
• The pairs competition is a partnered man and woman who must perform the elements in unison. Along with those elements, they must include throw-jumps in which the man throws the womans into a jump; lifts; pair spins, where both skaters spin about a commom axis; and death spirals, where the man swings the woman around him in a pivot low to the ice.
• Ice dancing also consists of a man and woman pair but differs from the pairs competition in that it focuses on difficult dance steps to the beat of the music rather than acrobatics. Ice dancers must perform dances with fixed steps and patterns to standard ballroom dancing rhythms.

Most skaters perform their jumps and spins in the counterclockwise direction. Some of the types of jumps include:

• toe loops
• lutzes
• salchows
• loops
• axels