Ice dance joined as a medal sport in 1976 and a team event debuted at the 2014 Olympics.

The special figures contest was won by Russian Nikolai Panin, who gave his country its first ever Olympic gold medal.

Ice dance joined as a medal sport in 1976, after appearing as a demonstration event at Grenoble 1968.

There are 30 participants in each singles events (ladies and men), 20 pairs, and 24 ice dance duos.

In the past, skaters must represent a member nation of the International Skating Union and reach the age of fifteen before July 1 of the previous year.

80% of the Olympic spots (24 men/ladies, 19 dance couples, 16 pairs) are allotted to countries according to the results of the previous year's World Figure Skating Championships.

Following the World Championships, countries that have not qualified an entry in a particular discipline receive another opportunity in an international competition held in the autumn (usually the Nebelhorn Trophy) prior to the Olympic Games.

At some Olympics, the host country is automatically entitled to one entry in each discipline, e.g. in 1994,[8] 2010,[9] and 2018 if minimum scores are achieved.

The categories consist of skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music.

First, there is the technical specialist, who uses the rules developed by the International Skating Union to identify each element and its level of difficulty.

They do this by a great of execution score, GOE, that ranges from –5 to +5 and determines how many points can be added or subtracted from the base value of an element.

Within figure skating, there is a set minimum age limit for all elite competitors through the sport.

More importantly, it brought attention to the conditions young athletes are faced with physically, mentally, and emotionally[14] as they are preparing for this event, this not being the first time a situation such as this has occurred in post-Soviet states.

[15] This decision was based on preserving the physical, mental, and emotional health and wellbeing of figure skaters, and can be summarize by Eric Radford, three-time Canadian Olympic medalist, who stated, "Is a medal worth risking the health of a child or young athlete?"

[16] The ISU has been making efforts the past several years to "investigate, strategize and gather the information required for Synchronized Skating to be accepted as an Olympic discipline.