Figure Skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics

By 1968, there was clamor in the figure skating world to reduce the importance of the compulsory, or school, figures. Since the beginning of Olympic competition, compulsory figures had contributed 60% of a skater’s final score from each judge. In 1967 at the International Skating Union Congress, this was finally changed, to a 50-50 split between compulsory figures and free skating. The other major change at the 1968 Olympics was that the pairs skated two programs. This had started at the 1963 European Championships and was also done at the 1964 Worlds, just after the Innsbruck Olympics. Originally called the compulsory and free programs, in 1967 these were renamed the short and long programs. The short program still had six compulsory elements that the couples were required to demonstrate. The figure skating events in Grenoble were contested in the Ice Stadium at the Parc Paul Mistral. Ice dancing had been contested at the World Championships since 1952, but was still not on the Olympic Program. However, in 1968 an ice dancing exhibition was given in Grenoble.