AgnesNitt
07-13-2008, 08:36 PM
A friend gave me a book on the history of figure skating and I asked "So where did the toepick come from?" You can see in the early pictures (drawings mostly) of people on pond ice that there is no toepick, but those up curled blades (I assume to keep you from tripping on the irregular ice). Then through the early part of this century the quality of the photos is just lousy. You can see boots and a kind of dim blade against the white ice background, but you can't tell if there's a toepick or not. Then in the thirties there's clear pictures of toepicks.
So what happened? Did some guy break off the tip of his curved blade and discover he could do a different kind of jump? Who was it?
I have this huge expensive book on figure skating and it talks about everything (including boots, costumes, and obscure competitions in Canada), even the design of the rocker. But no info on toepicks.
Anyone know when they were introduced, and by whom?
So what happened? Did some guy break off the tip of his curved blade and discover he could do a different kind of jump? Who was it?
I have this huge expensive book on figure skating and it talks about everything (including boots, costumes, and obscure competitions in Canada), even the design of the rocker. But no info on toepicks.
Anyone know when they were introduced, and by whom?