Olympic Pro Ice Skates that the professionals were with the solid boot cover to protect the RIEDELL leather boot and keep boot strings out of your way for saftey. The blade is gold. The Riedell 355 Silver Star, the most popular competitive boot in the industry, has just moved to a new level. Added features such as activitated form fit reinforcements, rolled top comfort collar, flex notch design and extended open throat design make the Silver Star a true gem for the intermediate competitive skater. These added comfort and performance features make the Silver Star the finest intermediate competitive figure boot on the market today. HISTORY OF ICE SKATING The oldest pair of skates known date back to about 3000 B.C., found at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland. The skates were made from the leg bones of large animals, holes were bored at each end of the bone and leather straps were used to tie the skates on. An old Dutch word for skate is "schenkel" which means "leg bone". Around the 14th Century, the Dutch started using wooden platform skates with flat iron bottom runners. The skates were attached to the skater's shoes with leather straps. Poles were used to propel the skater. Around 1500, the Dutch added a narrow metal double edged blade, making the poles a thing of the past, as the skater could now push and glide with his feet (called the "Dutch Roll"). In 1848, E. V. Bushnell of Philadelphia, PA invented the first all steel clamp for skates. In 1865, Jackson Haines, a famous American skater, developed the two plate all metal blade. The blade was attached directly to Haines' boots. The skater became famous for his new dance moves, jumps and spins. Haines added the first toe pick to skates in the 1870's, making toe pick jumps possible.