MatveiM-Russia

 The First Russian Olympic Champion in Figure Skating
by Matvei M

Nikolai Panin won the gold medal in special figures in the 1908 Summer Olympics. Panin was Russia's first Olympic champion.

The so-called special figures event was an Olympic sport at the IV Summer Olympic Games in London. 1908 was the only year in which special figures was an Olympic event. As it was required then, Nikolai Panin sent the drawings of the figures he was going to trace on the ice to the judges before the games. The figures were so complex that many referees did not believe it was possible to trace them. But the seven-time world champion Swede Salchow believed it, but refused to do them. So Nikolai Panin became an Olympic champion.

// Images and more information can be found at: @http://www.smsport.ru/expo/katalog/f-kat/panin/ //