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Figure skating was first contested as an Olympic sport at the 1908 Summer Olympics, in London, United Kingdom. As this traditional winter sport could be conducted indoors, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved its inclusion in the Summer Olympics program. It was featured a second time at the Antwerp Games, after which it was permanently transferred to the program of the Winter Olympic Games, first held in 1924 in Chamonix, France.
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In London, figure skating was presented in four events: men's singles, women's singles, men's special figures, and mixed pairs. The special figures contest was won by Russian Nikolai Panin, who gave his country its first ever Olympic gold medal. He remains the event's sole winner, as it was subsequently dropped from the program. Once a demonstration event at Grenoble 1968, ice dancing has been an official medal-awarding Olympic figure skating event since it was introduced in 1976.
Swedish figure skater Gillis Grafström (3 gold, 1 silver) and Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) (2 gold, 2 silver) are the champions and the most successful figure skaters in the sport's history, they have won four Olympic medals in four Olympics Games in a row, this is an absolute record for number of medals won by one skater at the Olympics. (ISU). Eleven figure skaters have won three medals: Sonja Henie (Norway) and Irina Rodnina (Soviet Union), winners of three consecutive titles in the ladies' singles (1928–1936) and pairs (1972–1980) events, respectively; Pierre Brunet and wife Andrée Brunet (France), 1928–1932 pairs champions; Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo (China), the 2010 pairs gold medalists; ice dancers Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko (Soviet Union and Unified Team); Artur Dmitriev (Unified Team and Russia); Beatrix Loughran (United States), medalist in both singles and pairs; ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White (United States); ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada).
Besides Grafström and Henie, only Karl Schäfer (Austria), Dick Button (United States), and Katarina Witt (East Germany) successfully defended their singles titles. Rodnina's two-time partner Alexander Zaitsev, Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov (Soviet Union), in the pairs, and Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov (Russia), in ice dance, also retained their gold medals. Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov are also two-time Olympic champions: they won the pairs competition in 1988 for the Soviet Union, and repeated the victory at the Lillehammer Games representing Russia.
On two occasions, one country accomplished a medal sweep: Sweden in the 1908 men's singles, and the United States in the 1956 men's singles. From 1964 to 2006, Russian figure skaters—representing the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, or Russia—have always won a gold medal in the pairs event, in what is the longest series of victories for one country in one event. A total of 240 medals (81 gold, 79 silver, and 80 bronze) have been won by figure skaters representing 25 NOC countries.
Men's special figures
Special figures has been discontinued as an Olympic event.
Pairs
From 1964 to 2006, Russian figure skaters—representing the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, or Russia—won the gold medal in the pairs event, in what is the longest series of victories for one country in one winter event.
Medal leaders
The record for the number of Olympic medals by an individual is held by Gillis Grafström (Sweden) and Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) who have each won four medals.
Athletes who won more than one medal at the Olympics are listed below.
Medal sweep events
These are events in which athletes from one NOC won all three medals.