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The Science of Skating
Is there a recipe in figure skating to pull off the perfect double or triple twist and then land as if the ice and skater are one, together? That's what Montana State University is trying to find out.
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(Feb. 22, 2002)------ Thursday night, Sarah Hughes made it look almost effortless as she spun and twisted and landed each time in almost perfect syncronization with the ice. But there is not only an art in this kind of skating - but a science in how to pull it off. Our Science Specialist Ed Yeates reports.
Young Sarah Hughes had all the poise and confidence to pull off a gold medal dance on the ice. Researchers have already studied how figure skaters in single events train to do what they do so well. But they've never really evaluated pair skaters together, where two minds have to think as one.
Dr. Deborah King from Montana State University, though, has been doing just that during the Salt Lake games. She's used the same camera technology which has followed speed skaters at Utah's Olympic Oval.
As paired skaters match and join with aerial twists and turns, cameras followed the action.
"So what we really need to focus on is the lift off the ice and the woman twisting in the air, and the landing," says Dr. King. "What we want to look at in particular is the speed coming into the double and the triple, and how they might have to change."
Different countries have different philosophies on how to train athletes. But the United States Figure Skating Association is looking for specific recipes, the kind Dr. King and her colleagues might discover as they disect movements during actual events. MSU is looking at two different techniques.
"One is more the woman comes into the man and they stop and lift. Another is more like slingshot, am I moving too much, where the woman comes up and he slings her up into the air," Dr. King explains.
Which one produces better height - the woman above the man? What is the recipe for producing more triple or quadruple jumps? What's needed to not only pull them off correctly, but gracefully, giving judges that perfect visual imagery of figure skating at its best.
When finished, Dr. King's work will appear on web pages for coaches and athletes - along with video clips to demonstrate each recommended technique.
