In a change, figure skaters are now “women” instead of “ladies”

In the lead-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics, figure skating’s marquee event saw a small – but significant – change. In June, the International Skating Union announced that moving forward, “ladies'” figure skating would be rebranded as “women’s.”

“I thought it was awesome,” said 2021 U.S. champion Mariah Bell, who will make her Olympic debut in Beijing. “Ladies are great, but women are empowered and mature.”

The name change is the result of a 2018 IOC gender equity review, which recommended that international sport federations use equivalent terminology when referring to men’s and women’s events.

“The equivalent of ‘ladies’ would be ‘gentlemen,’ and the ‘men’s’ event has been the ‘men’s’ event for as long as I know,” said Ashley Wagner, a 2014 Olympian who will be a correspondent for Peacock’s Olympic Ice show during the 2022 Winter Olympics. “Bringing in that element of gender equality – no matter how small and superfluous… It’s a big moment.”

Figure skating is not the only sport that needed to make this change. The international sports federations that oversee skating (the International Skating Union) and skiing/snowboarding (the International Skiing Federation) previously used “ladies'” as the official name for all women’s events, but in no sport was this as ubiquitous as figure skating.

While the terminology change has been implemented for international figure skating competitions, it hasn’t yet been adopted domestically. When Bell won her first national title last month, she was referred to  as the “ladies’ champion.”

A spokesperson for U.S. Figure Skating said the organization is “in the process of reviewing the impact of (the ISU announcement) and how the change will be implemented domestically.”

Wagner, who