Athletics and dance, tempo, jumps and pirouettes, this special mix is what makes figure skating into more than just a competitive sport. It’s a real art form that is expressed in thin air on the ice. Ice-skating is by no means a new discovery. People have been moving across frozen water for centuries. The first skates made of animal bones have now developed into high-tech skates. The purely practical means of locomotion on frozen canals in mediaeval Europe has now developed into a global sport of professionals. The general interest in figure skating increases dramatically during Olympic winters. For a few fleeting moments the stars of this sport will perform before the eyes of the world, circling the rink as veritable dancing queens and kings. Every top performance demands talent, discipline and a great deal of hard work, whether in sport or in the art of coinage. In both cases the jury only awards good marks for a perfect combination of technical precision and aesthetic impression. An elegant figure skater is thus a perfect subject for a coin. In addition to elegance, verve and music this coin from Mongolia is impressive due to the particularly high degree of technical difficulty involved: the high relief of the coin set off by a real diamond.