Figure Skating at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Dates 25 – 27 April 1920
Medal Events 3

Figure skating had been contested at the 1908 Olympics in London, but was not included on the program in 1912 in Stockholm. The scheduled 1916 Olympic Games did include figure skating events for Berlin, but the Olympics had to be cancelled in that year. At Antwerp in 1920, it was decided to introduce some winter sports to the Olympics and both figure skating and ice hockey were contested in Antwerp. Skiing was also placed on the tentative program, according to the Official Report, but it was decided it was impossible to contest that sport in Belgium.

The International Skating Union (ISU) did not conduct the 1920 Olympic figure skating events. The ISU was of the opinion that all ISU member nations should be allowed to compete, including the defeated Axis nations from the War. When they were not invited to Antwerp, the ISU refused to participate in the Olympic figure skating events. The program noted that the competition was under the rules of the “International Skating Federation”, but presumably it was conducted by the Brussels Ice Hockey and Skating Club.

After the close of competition, the three champions repeated their programs in an exhibition of free skating on Thursday, 29 April. Count Henri de Baillet-Latour then gave out the prizes.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Singles, Men Olympic 25 – 27 April 1920 9 6
Singles, Women Olympic 25 April 1920 6 4
Pairs, Mixed Olympic 26 April 1920 16 6
26 (14/12) 8 (8/7)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Singles, Men Gillis GrafströmSWE Andreas KroghNOR Martin StixrudNOR
Singles, Women Magda JulinSWE Svea NorénSWE Theresa WeldUSA
Pairs, Mixed FinlandFIN NorwayNOR Great Britain 1GBR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Sweden SWE 2 1 0 3
Finland FIN 1 0 0 1
Norway NOR 0 2 1 3
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1
United States USA 0 0 1 1