I suspect that 2020 is a year that all of us will be happy to see the tail end of. The COVID-19 pandemic and other world events have changed all our lives, perhaps more than we even realize. This year, face masks and social distancing have become our "new normal" and anxiety is a beast we are all facing collectively.
Our White Christmases haven't been like "the ones we used to know". Instead of gathering around tables with friends and family near and far, many of us are connecting with loved ones via FaceTime and sending presents via Canada Post.
Figure skating has suffered setback after setback this year, but if there's one thing we can be certain of - it's that our sport will ultimately survive. It has survived two World Wars and a devastating plane crash. It has survived the elimination of school figures and a transformative judging system change. It has survived the deaths of irreplaceable coaches and rink closures... and it will survive this too.
As we look forward to a brighter future, I wanted to take some time to look back. Over the last twelve months, Skate Guard blog has shared over one hundred fascinating stories from figure skating's rich and colourful history. I wanted to end the year by sharing ten of my favourite pieces from 2020 that you may have missed.
Happy New Year to all of you... wishing you health, happiness and hope in 2021. Life will absolutely not get better instantly "when the ball drops", but it will get better in time.
10. THE 1960 WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2020 World Championships in Montreal were cancelled at the eleventh hour this past March, just five days after the World Health Organization confirmed the existence of a global pandemic. That same week, I published
my piece on the 1960 World Championships in Vancouver, which was supposed to go up during Worlds in Montreal. This year was the sixtieth anniversary of those Championships - the first Worlds ever to be held in Western Canada.
9. WHAT DID THEY DO IN '62?
As news broke of the cancellation of the 2020 World Championships in March, the skating world struggled to understand what the event's demise meant for the 2020/2021 season. Little did we know at the time that we'd be seeing more event cancellations this autumn! In an attempt to make sense of the confusion,
I looked back at how entries for ISU Championships were decided in 1962, the year after the World Championships were cancelled because of the Sabena Crash.
8. THE FLOATING ICE RINK AT CHARING CROSS
7. BRAVERY IN BUDAPEST: THE DÉNES PATAKY STORY
Photo courtesy Sean Pataky
In January, I had the privilege of
sharing the story of Dénes 'Dinko' Pataky, a medallist at both the European and World Championships prior to World War II. His incredible life story of bravery, survival and skating is absolutely worth revisiting.
6. THE 1997 CANADIAN FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
5. COCKTAILS IN CHICAGO: THE COLLEGE INN AND TERRACE GARDEN ICE SHOWS
The Great War and prohibition played backdrop to the golden age of the hotel ice show in Chicago.
This May blog looked back at the stories and skaters that shaped the story of a Windy City spectacle.
4. THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF SIDE-BY-SIDE JUMPS
From the first sober singles to Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford's trademark side-by-side triple Lutzes,
this May blog explored how side-by-side jumps evolved and became a benchmark in pairs skating.
3. PREMIER DANSEUR: THE ALFRED MÉGROZ STORY
Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France
Decades before John Curry brought ballet to figure skating's forefront, one trailblazing Swiss skater formed a troupe of classical ice dancers.
This September blog examined the story of Alfred Mégroz.
2. THOSE THAT STAYED: THE FATES OF FIGURE SKATING'S 'ENEMY ALIENS'
Photo courtesy National Archives, Kew - War Cabinet Memoranda
During World War II, anti-German sentiments in Great Britain led to the expulsion and internment of thousands of German-speaking civilians in Great Britain.
This June blog explored the fates of several figure skaters affected by these actions.
1. FIGURE SKATING IN THE EDWARDIAN ERA
Skate Guard's
third full-length feature, released this December, is a deep dive into figure skating at the turn of the century. Featuring biographies, results, pictures and forgotten histories, this piece offers a clear glimpse of the pulse and progress of the sport during a transformative time in history.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on
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please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating":
https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
