How did our figure skater manage to win the Summer Olympics? She almost retired because of the lawsuit.
Anastasia Matrosova July 26, 2024, 11:45 Moscow time
The great Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin and his Olympic gold, unique in every sense.
The first Olympic champion in the history of our country is a figure skater. Moreover, a figure skater who won gold at the Summer Olympics, and this is not a mistake at all. Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin won the country’s first Olympic gold in 1908 and until 1952 he was the only Olympic champion from Russia.
How did figure skating end up at the Summer Olympics and what surface did the athletes compete on? The fact is that the 1908 Summer Olympics lasted from April to the end of October. Most of the awards were given out in July, and several sports were postponed to October: football, field hockey, rugby, lacrosse, boxing and figure skating.
Before the Olympics, Panin-Kolomenkin managed to become a silver medalist at the World Figure Skating Championships and win two medals at the European Championships, becoming a six-time champion of Russia. Panin missed many international tournaments because he could not come, but if he did come, he always fought for medals.
Important materials about the 2024 Olympic Games:
It is curious that Panin-Kolomenkin withdrew from the men’s singles skating tournament before the free program. He could have competed for a medal in this event, but a scandal involving refereeing prevented this. The competition at that time consisted of two stages: compulsory figures and free skating.
In terms of numbers, Panin-Kolomenkin was far ahead of their rivals, as confirmed by a separate tournament in this discipline. However, in the men’s competitions he received a rather low rating. Two judges from Russia and Germany placed Panin in first place, a referee from Great Britain in second place, and judges from Sweden and Switzerland in fourth. The Russian’s main rival at the tournament was the Swede Ulrich Salchow, who had a significant advantage in refereeing. The Swiss representative was a friend of his, and the British judge was of Swedish origin. In addition, Salkhov behaved inappropriately: as witnesses of that confrontation recalled, the Swede shouted loudly behind each of the Russian’s figures and ridiculed him.
Nikolay Panin-Kolomenkin
Photo by: RIA Novosti
Salkhov received some criticism and eventually won the compulsory pieces, which helped him win the men’s all-around competition. The protest from the Russian side was ignored and the representative of the Russian Empire withdrew from the competition, not agreeing with the course of affairs.
In which discipline did Panin-Kolomenkin manage to win? He won gold in special figures, as it was a separate discipline at those Games. Ulrich Salchow has already retired from these competitions. Two British skaters, Arthur Cumming and John Hall-Say, took silver and bronze. Panin-Kolomenkin’s result at that time was phenomenal: he received 219 points out of 240 possible (over 90%). Initially, Nikolai wanted to withdraw from this tournament, but he was persuaded to stay and he very accurately completed the most difficult program.
Medals from the 1908 Olympic Games, in which Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin participated
Photo by: RIA Novosti
Four years later, Panin-Kolomenkin took part in the Olympic Games again, but in a completely different sport: pistol shooting. We were just short of a medal: in the team competition our team came fourth, and in the individual competition the athlete came eighth.
After 1908, figure skating was removed from the Olympic Games programme and did not reappear until 1920 (Summer Games in Antwerp). And the discipline of special figures has completely disappeared forever, so the victory of our skater is truly unique.
Read more about Panin-Kolomenkin:
Military instructor and creator of the skating squadron. How a great skater helped during the war
