CBC News: the fifth estate - On the Edge of Glory

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Aired February 5,
2006 at 7pm
on CBC-TV

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WEB EXCLUSIVE: FIGURE SKATING FIRSTS

For decades, Canadian singles figure skaters have more than left their mark on the sport in competition. MORE

CANADIAN SKATERS: FIRSTS

For decades, Canadian singles figure skaters have more than left their mark on the sport in competition, and are credited with performing the first:

Triple Lutz (by Donald Jackson in 1962)
Triple Salchow (by Petra Burka in 1965)
Triple Axel (by Vern Taylor in 1978)
Quadruple Toe-Loop (by Kurt Browning in 1988)
Quadruple Combination Jump (a Quad-Toe/Double-Toe by Elvis Stojko in 1991)
Quadruple-Toe/Triple-Toe Loop Combination (by Elvis Stojko in 1997)

CANADA'S FIGURE SKATING STAR

Canada's sweetheart Barbara Ann Scott practices her figures on the way to Olympic gold. (Photo: Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images)

From 1945 to 1948, Ottawa's Barbara Ann Scott won the North American Figure Skating championships, and in 1947 became the first North American to win the European and World Championships.

She is also the first – and, to-date, only – Canadian figure skater to win an Olympic gold medal (in 1948 at the Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland).

Along with Scott (in 1947 and 1948), the other Canadian women who've been World Champions are Petra Burka (1965) and Karen Magnussen (1973).

The Canadian men who've been World champs are Donald Jackson (1962), Donald McPherson (1963), Brian Orser (1987), Kurt Browning (1989, 1990, 1991, 1993) and Elvis Stojko (1994, 1995, 1997).

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