Do athleticism, grace, strength and skill combine to make a sport? The debate has raged around figure skating for many years, is it a sport? Does it belong in the Olympic Games? Even more broadly, what is a sport? Without hesitation most people would categorize football, track events, soccer, basketball and volleyball as sports, but what about bowling, ballroom dance, or golf?

Webster's dictionary defines sport as a source of diversion or recreation. Obviously, given this definition, figure skating is most definitely a sport. However there are much more narrow definitions of sport that involve scores based on exact criteria or a race against the clock, and the subjective judging in figure skating does not fit the definition.

How should figure skating be categorized? Pleasant recreation, or true sport? Categorizing figure skating is not an easy task due to the wide variety of events within figure skating.

Few people will say that a figure skater who can propel themselves in the air and rotate four times before landing on a thin, steel blade, is not an athlete completing in a sport. But what about ice dancers who all skate the exact same dance to the exact same music? They do not jump, lift or spin? Are they participating in a sport? Yes, to the extent that ballroom dance is a sport, but whether or not it should be considered an Olympic sport is still up for debate. Besides ice dance, there are several other events where their true sporting nature could be questioned.

Synchronized skating is spectacular to watch and involves a great deal of practice and training, but is it really any different from a marching band's flag corp or drill team? Is drill team a sport?

Finally, skating figures, like figure eights, requires a great deal of precision, concentration, and practice; but few people will break a sweat doing it. In many ways it could be compared to the mental game of chess. Figure skaters who skate figures are very talented, but do they compete in a sport? Doubtful.

Figure skating is a diverse and beautiful athletic pursuit that requires years of training and work to become proficient. Pairs and singles skating is easy to categorize as a sport given the high level of athleticism needed. However, categorizing ice dance, synchronized skating, and skating figures as sport would be misguided. These categories require the years of practice and work as pairs and singles skating but they don't fit a narrow definition of sport.

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