Figure skaters may be admired for their artistry on the ice, but most observers of the sport agree that it's science--not art--that is changing the way these athletes approach everything from practice sessions to Olympic competition.

And, UD's College of Health and Nursing Sciences, with its Ice Skating Science Development Center and programs in exercise science and biomechanics, is helping to lead this high-tech training revolution.

"We look at the mechanics of the jump," Jim Richards, professor of health and exercise sciences and director of the CHNS biomechanics laboratory, says. "We measure how fast the skaters rotate and how high they jump."

Although the jumps are different in the manner in which they are executed and the positions from which they are started, what Richards and his fellow researchers are looking for is how a skater is positioned during any particular stage of a jump.

Such jumps as the salchow and the toe or "Wally" loop, which are part of the competitive figure skating repertoire of required items, have taken on a new importance because many of today's athletes are attempting quadruple versions, which call for a skater to make four complete turns while in the air.

From his office in the Human Performance Laboratory at the Fred Rust Ice Arena, Richards employs software developed at UD that pinpoints the movements of individual skaters attempting such jumps, known familiarly as "quads."

The three-dimensional images that appear on the screen of Richards' computer are the results of an advanced photographic technology incorporating the use of eight high-speed cameras that capture the movements of skaters at 240 frames per second.

"We do this by placing round, reflective markers on different areas of a skater's body," Richards says. "The cameras see these disks as being lit up, and this is what they record."

With markers placed at 25 different locations, the combination of high-speed cameras and computing software makes it possible for Richards and his associates to re-create the position of the skater's body in any of the recorded frames and compare this with the position required to complete a successful quad maneuver.

The use of this reflective technology, Richards says, allows researchers to isolate such body parts as the head or forearm at each point in the jump, making the mechanical characteristics of the skater's movements available for examination and analysis.

"When we look at all the frames taken throughout the jump, we can measure the skater's motion," Richards says. "We calculate for each segment, and by adding these functional equivalents together, we can determine the result for the whole body."

Three areas of special interest that researchers look for in determining an individual's performance are rotational energy, angular momentum and jump height, Richards says. These qualities are considered essential for skaters if they are to execute the coveted quad jumps now considered by many in the sport as essential to capturing a medal in Olympic competition.

This was evidenced in the final round of the men's figure skating at this year's Winter Games, when American Tim Goebel jumped his way to a bronze medal and into the record books by completing a trio of four-rotation jumps.

While such factors as footwork and artistic merit hold more sway among most judges, who awarded first and second honors to Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko, it is worth noting that those gold and silver medalists each landed a pair of quad jumps.

Richards, who was quoted frequently during the recent Olympics in commentary and online articles written by NBC correspondent Roger O'Neil, explains how the world's top figure skaters are able to accomplish quads on a regular basis:

"Rotational energy is the fuel that skaters work with, and the more energy skaters leave the ice with, the more energy they have to work with," Richards says. "For a quad, you have to achieve maximum rotation." Although skaters need to develop as much rotational energy as possible while on the ice, it also is critical to achieve the best possible rotational position during the airborne portion of a performance, he adds.

To achieve something called angular momentum, Richards says, skaters must pull their arms as tightly against their bodies as they can--a position that results in both an increased level of spin and more time in the air. However, he says, too much effort spent developing this takeoff energy while on the ice can result in a skater being out of position in the air.

As a result, by trying to jump as high as possible, a skater may end up sacrificing the spin needed to pull off a quad jump.

"What a skater needs to do is find the proper balance while getting the best possible position in the air," Richards says. "The skater needs to optimize rotational energy, body position and jump height to achieve the best results."

At the biomechanics lab, just how well an individual is performing is reflected by a three-dimensional computer image of the skater going through the various stages of a jump.

Accompanying this representational figure on screen is a constantly changing yellow and green ellipse, which represents the numerical value of the skater's minimal inertial (arms pulled close to the body) at a certain point in time.

"Our job here is to help coaches and skaters see what each part of the body is doing," Richards says. "Then, we help them to figure out what they need to do to achieve maximum potential."

Coaches and athletes are sent to UD by the U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA), a co-sponsor of the program, along with UD and the camera manufacturer, Motor Analysis Co.

--Jerry Rhodes