The United States are the current world leaders in Olympic Figure Skating, holding a total of 49 medals overall. Russia and Austria are the closest rivals with 26 and 20 medals, respectively. The Soviet Union also picked up 24 medals during their time in the competition. The overall objective in Figure Skating is to score the highest marks possible from the judges, although there are different ways to score points depending on the nature of the event. For all Figure Skating competitions, athletes are required to perform a number of different moves in order to obtain the highest possible score from the judges. During a typical performance, athletes will execute a selection of spins, jumps and steps.
