!!!Eislaufsport

Ice Skating: The Wiener  Eislaufverein and its associated (since 1939) 
Ice Sports Club  Engelmann made significant contributions to the 
development of ice skating in Austria. Ice skating has been practised 
in Austria since the 18%%sup th/%  century (as documented in the 
Theresianische Akademie). In 1868 the performances of the dancer and 
figure skater Jackson Haines from Chicago decisively stimulated the 
development of modern figure skating in Vienna; theoretical and 
systematic rules of figure skating were laid down in the book "Spuren 
auf dem Eise" (1881) by D. Diamantidi, K. von Korper and M. Wirth 
(all members of the Vienna Ice Skating Club). Between 1891 and 1939 
Austrian ice skaters were among the best in the world (4 Olympic 
medals, 30 world and 25 European championship titles). Wolfgang  
Schwarz won in the Olympic Winter Games of 1968 and in the 1972 
Olympic Games, where Beatrix  Schuba also won a medal for Austria (she 
also became World Champion in 1972); in 1968 Emmerich  Danzer became 
world champion. The last person to win the European Championship for 
Austria was Claudia  Kristofics-Binder in 1982. In 1991, the 
compulsory figures position of the competitions was eliminated and 
this reduced the chances for Austrian skaters to win.

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In the discipline of speed skating Austrian skaters have been less 
successful (European champions in 1892, 1925, 1935). Michael  
Hadschieff (World Cup winner 1986 and 1989 over a distance of 
1,500 m) and Emese  Hunyady (winner of the European Championship 
in 1993, of the World Championship and Olympic Winter Games over a 
distance of 1,500 m in 1994) are outstanding skaters of recent 
years.

\\
The Austrian Ice Skating Association (OeEV) was founded in 1889, it 
includes 75 clubs with 9,642 members (as of 1993).

!Literature
H. Polednik, Sport und Spiel auf dem Eis, 1979.


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[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Eislaufsport|class='wikipage austrian']
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