Wikipedia:WikiProject Figure Skating/Terminology

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This page in a nutshell: Figure skating is a complex sport with a long list of technical terms and competition rules. This page gives an overview of the most important terms, their correct spelling, abbreviation, and distinction from each other. At the same time, it gives guidance in how to make figure skating articles accessible to the widest possible general audience.

The WikiProject Figure skating terminology guide applies to articles within the scope of WikiProject Figure skating. It is based on the official rules and scoring guidelines published by the International Skating Union and the terminology and style guidelines presented by U.S. Figure Skating and Skate Canada. At the same time, it tries to meet the standards of Wikipedia's Manual of Style (especially MOS:TECHNICAL, MOS:JARGON, and MOS:NUM). This guide represents the consensus view of editors maintaining Wikipedia's articles about the sport of figure skating. However, if you notice any errors or disagree with certain recommendations, feel free to discuss them on this talk page.

Figure skating is a complex sport and performing art with a long list of technical terms. It is subject to continuous changes in performed elements, competition rules, and judging systems, which require a high degree of sensitivity and accuracy in wording. However, figure skating is a sport that casual readers may only watch every four years at the Winter Olympics, not being familiar with its rules and terms. This guide gives an overview of the most important terms, their correct spelling, abbreviation, concise definition, and distinction from each other, while giving guidance in how to make figure skating articles accessible to the widest possible general audience.

The terminology and style guidelines presented on this page are based on the latest official terminology and style guidelines published by the International Skating Union (ISU), U.S. Figure Skating, and Skate Canada as of April 2024:

• ISU Special Regulations & Technical Rules: Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance, published in September 2022

• ISU Technical Panel Handbooks, published in July 2023 for singles and pairs, and in August 2023 for ice dance

• ISU Scale of Values, published in 2022 for singles and pairs, and in 2023 for ice dance

• ISU Judges' Details per Skater, based the official score sheets used for the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships

• ISU Judging System, accessible on the ISU's official website

• ISU Figure Skating Statistics, accessible on the ISU's official website

• U.S. Figure Skating Style Guidelines, published in December 2019

• Skate Canada Info Centre, official figure skating terminology glossary provided by Skate Canada

Spell out technical terms

In the prose part of articles, with few exceptions, figure skating-specific terms should generally be spelled out at every mention. This goes especially for technical elements, competition names, and segments. Abbreviations like "3Lz+2T", "GPF" or "SP" should not appear anywhere in the prose on their own. If appropriate, the official abbreviation can be added in parentheses after the spelled-out term at first mention, which is common practice in articles about the term itself.

In tables or templates, abbreviations can be used to keep columns and table cells at reasonable size, but each abbreviation must be introduced with the full spelled-out term either in an explanatory legend placed above the table or with an annotation using the template {{abbr}}. If the term has its own article on English Wikipedia, a respective link should be added. Always keep in mind that casual readers may not be familiar with the ISU's official abbreviations.

Use technical terms sparingly

It is recommended to only use figure skating-specific terms in articles if they are (a) notable in content or (b) essential to understand the context.
Example: Only mention special scores like the "technical element score" (TES) if it is a notable record, personal best, a required minimum score to qualify for a competition or an otherwise important score.

Use more general terms

It is recommended to simplify and generalize figure skating terms, especially technical elements, without compromising the meaning of the sentence or the term itself. Omit technical additions like "backward" or "flying" if the context allows it.
Example: Instead of writing "The flying sit spin with change of foot got invalidated", it is often sufficient to reduce it to "The sit spin element got invalidated". The core statement is still true, but much easier to understand.

Write in descriptive style

It is recommended to visually describe or explain complex terms, especially in the case of technical elements.
Example: Instead of writing "counter triple Axel", it is better to describe the element as a "triple Axel jump entered by a counter turn" or "triple Axel jump performed with a difficult counter turn entry". Even if the reader doesn't know what an Axel or counter is, the phrasing "jump entered by a (difficult) turn" helps to visually imagine what the element looks like.

Explain all parts of a compound term

It is recommended to only use complex compound terms like "counter triple Axel" if every part of that compound is important for the context. In that case, all parts of the compound should be sufficiently introduced to the reader, either in the prose (recommended) or an explanatory footnote using {{NoteTag}} or a similar template. The single terms should be linked to the respective articles like Axel jump and counter turn, providing easy access to precise definitions.

Be consistent and avoid ambiguous terms

Note that the ISU is not always consistent in the use of figure skating terms themselves. On the summary page of the ISU Judging System for example, the term "presentation" is ambiguously used for the full "program component score" (PCS) on the one hand and "presentation" (PR) as a single program component on the other. Another issue is the variety of different terms used for the same subject like "total element score", "technical element score", and "technical score", which all refer to the same score (officially abbreviated with TES).

Key rule: Be consistent with the choice of terms. Do not use "total element score" in the first sentence and "technical element score" in the second. Stick with one of the two, otherwise it may be confusing to the reader. This page gives some guidance in which terms to use to avoid ambiguity, inaccuracy, and vague or confusing wording.

Capitalization of terms

Note that the ISU has a strong preference for using uppercase letters for all types of nouns, which does not comply with Wikipedia's Manual of Style guidelines in many cases. For that reason, the following recommendations regarding capitalization are based on the U.S. Figure Skating Style Guidelines.

General rule of thumb: only the names of governing bodies, judging systems, competitions, ice shows, pattern dances, program titles, and technical elements named after people should be capitalized.

American English vs. British English

The International Skating Union as the main governing body of figure skating uses American English in their official documents. There are many common figure skating terms like "short program" (instead of "short programme") or "backward" (instead of "backwards") spelled in American English. Hence, it is recommended to write figure skating articles in American English to avoid awkward compromises, but it is also accepted to use British English as long as it is applied consistently in the article.

To inform editors which variation is used in the article, place one of these two templates at the top of the article:

• {{Use American English}} (Example: {{Use American English|date=April 2024}})
• {{Use British English}} (Example: {{Use British English|date=April 2024}})

Use of no-break spaces

Following MOS:NBSP, make sure to use a no-break space with the markup code {{nbsp}} or   in the following cases, especially in the prose part of articles:

Note: The standard no-break space does not work with the season format 20XX–YY.
Example: 2018–19{{nbsp}}season may be displayed with an unwanted line break after the en dash.

To properly enforce a no-break space after a season, use the template {{nowrap}}.
Example: {{nowrap|2018–19 season}} forces the full content into one line if desired.

• If not otherwise stated, the recommendations presented in this section are based on the U.S. Figure Skating Style Guidelines.

• The titles of specific figure skating competitions are written with uppercase letters like "World Championships" or "2014 Winter Olympics". When referring to competitions in general like "19 records in international competition", it is lowercased.
• Disciplines and competition segments are all written with lowercase letters.
• Abbreviations should only be used in tables or templates, not in the prose part of articles with exception of JGP to mark competitions of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series and CS for competitions of the ISU Challenger Series. See examples below.
• If not otherwise stated, the recommendations presented in this section are based on the ISU Special Regulations and Technical Rules and U.S. Figure Skating Style Guidelines.

• Terms for scores and marks should be written with lowercase letters, following the guidelines for mathematical terms (see MOS:MATH).
• In the article about the ISU Judging System, official abbreviations should be added at first mention after the spelled out term in parentheses.
  In general articles, it is recommended to spell out the terms for scores and marks at every mention, while the use of abbreviations should be limited to tables and templates. Only exception is the unit "GOE", which can be placed after a specific score like "1.24 GOE", but it is important to spell out the full term "grade of execution" at first mention.
• In general figure skating articles, the mention of scores should be limited to total segment scores (SP/RD, FS/FD, combined total). Exceptions are encyclopedically notable scores like records and firsts or judging controversies. Same goes for single marks.
• If not otherwise stated, the recommendations presented in this section are based on the ISU Judges' Details per Skater (official competition score sheet), the ISU Judging System (overview), and ISU Figure Skating Statistics.

Standard markup code for the explanatory footnote on the change of the ISU Judging System in 2018:

{{NoteTag|name=HR|With the change of the [[ISU Judging System]] in 2018, the [[International Skating Union]] decided to start the recording of [[List of highest scores in figure skating|highest scores]] statistics from zero and declared all records [[List of highest historical scores in figure skating|historical]] that were achieved before the [[2018–19 figure skating season|2018–19 season]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.isu.org/media-centre/press-releases/2018-8/18119-new-grade-of-execution-2018-final/file|title=The new range of Grade of Execution|work=[[International Skating Union]]|location=[[Lausanne]]|format=PDF|date=September 26, 2018|archive-date=December 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201031850/https://www.isu.org/media-centre/press-releases/2018-8/18119-new-grade-of-execution-2018-final/file|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Renders as

• Technical elements are written with lowercase letters, unless they are named after a person.
• In the prose part of articles, the name of the element or skating movement should always be spelled out. In the article about the element itself, the official abbreviation can be added after the spelled-out term in parentheses at first mention.
• In tables and templates, abbreviations should be annotated with the spelled-out term for readers who are not familiar with the ISU's abbreviation system.
• Technical terms should be used sparingly, and elements should only be mentioned if they are encyclopedically notable like a skater's signature moves, elements of particular difficulty or record score, costly mistakes or elements with controversial judging.
• If not otherwise stated, the recommendations presented in this section are based on the official ISU Technical Panel Handbooks and ISU Scale of Values.

• The general recommendations regarding style and usage are essentially the same as for singles and pairs above.
• The names of specific pattern dances are uppercased.
• Abbreviations in ice dance can be particularly long and complex with many required explanations like "SqTwW4+SqTwM3". They should only be mentioned if absolutely necessary.
• If not otherwise stated, the recommendations presented in this section are based on the official 2023–24 ISU Technical Panel Handbook and ISU Scale of Values for ice dance.

The naming of figure skating programs follows the general conventions for music titles as per WP:NCMUSIC and MOS:MUSIC. Here is a quick overview:

• International Skating Union (official website)
• U.S. Figure Skating (official website)
• Skate Canada Info Centre (official website)