Which Winter Olympic sport involves skaters performing jumps and spins?

Figure skating is the Winter Olympic sport in which skaters perform jumps, spins, footwork, and choreographed routines on ice. Competitors are judged on both technical difficulty and the quality of their performance.

The sport developed from recreational skating in Europe during the nineteenth century. Early figure skaters traced geometric patterns on the ice, which helped give the sport its name. Modern competitions focus mainly on free skating, jumps, spins, lifts, steps, and musical interpretation rather than drawing figures.

At the Olympics, figure skating includes men’s singles, women’s singles, pairs, ice dance, and a team event. Pairs skating combines jumps and spins with lifts, while ice dance places greater emphasis on rhythm, edges, and close partner work. The sport first appeared at the 1908 Summer Olympics before becoming part of the Winter Olympics.

Curling involves sliding stones toward a target, speed skating is based on racing, and ice hockey is a team game. All use ice, but only figure skating centres on judged artistic and acrobatic routines.