Sheffield’s ice-skating community was furious after the Government failed to support ice-skating rinks throughout the three national lockdowns.
This news came after the Government categorised ice-skating rinks as entertainment facilities, instead of sports venues during the pandemic.
Eleanor Hayes,19, an elite figure skater from Sheffield was ‘extremely annoyed’ after she was unable to train for over six months last year, which stopped her from competing in national competitions.
Miss Hayes said: “The fact that the Government classed figure skating as entertainment rather than a sport is disgraceful.
“Figure skating is the oldest winter Olympic sport, it meant that I couldn’t train for months because the ice rinks weren’t allowed to open however, other sports such as football and athletics were able to continue.”
She added: “Ice skating is one of the hardest sports and gets no recognition from the Government.”
The Government measures meant that many ice-skating rinks including IceSheffield faced months of closures.
David Hartley, President of British Ice Skating based in Sheffield, said: “Now would be a busy period for ice rinks who are now struggling after being categorised as entertainment, which has had a massive impact and the government are not giving a reason why.
“I think they see skating as leisure rather than sport, if you’re classed as an Olympic sport and attend the Olympic games you’re classed as a sport not entertainment.”
Despite the reopening of ice-rinks to the under 18’s from 12 April, Mr Hartley hoped the government would do more in the future to support the younger generation of athletes.
He said: “I think one of the things they need to do is really focus on getting kids back into sport and getting them active again, this should be a priority of the government because kids have been so inactive under the lockdown restrictions.”