Figure Skating Pro Shop
Private Ice is pleased to distribute (in the US and Canada) Sonia Bianchetti's tell-all memoir and expose of her years as an ISU official Cracked Ice.
Cracked Ice
Go behind the scenes with insider Sonia Bianchetti as she spins true tales of figure skating's powerful and autocratic leaders. Skating is neither pure nor glittering nor glamourous—it's politics and intrigue, money and back room deals.
In the wake of the 2002 Olympic judging scandal, Bianchetti puts the new secretive and complex judging system in historical context and outlines— with the clarity of vision that has made her a legend—what must be done to save figure skating.
About Sonia Bianchetti
When no woman held a position of power in the International Skating Union (ISU), Italy's Sonia Bianchetti was the first. In a career spanning 40 years, she helped shape figure skating into the sport we know today.
Bianchetti agitated to modernize figure skating. She fought to end the hegemony of compulsory figures, finally ensuring their demise in 1990. Bianchetti introduced the short program as a third part of the men's and ladies' singles events. She led the charge to change the scoring system to be more fair and honest.
As chairperson of the ISU Figure Skating Technical Committee, Bianchetti instructed generations of judges through international seminars she designed and manuals she wrote. She led the fight against corruption in judging by severely sanctioning incompetent and corrupt judges.
Whether recounting the beginnings of figure skating programs in Japan and China or praising memorable programs she has judged, Sonia Bianchetti's respect and affection for the skating world resounds from every page of Cracked Ice.
World delivery.
