roller skating, gliding on a hard, smooth, durable surface on
skates with rollers or wheels, in recent years has become a
popular adult sport. Skates mounted on wooden rollers date from
the 1860s, and soon wooden wheels replaced the rollers. The
ball-bearing skate wheel was invented in the 1880s. The origin
of roller skates is obscure (perhaps they were first used in
Holland), but the sport became popular among children throughout
the world. When figure skating and dance movements were adopted
from ice skating, roller skating gained a large adult following.
Numerous roller-skating rinks were built in the United States in
the 20th cent., and several roller-skating tournaments are now
held annually. Following World War II, the roller derby, a
spectator sport involving team competition on banked indoor
tracks, gained prominence. Since the 1980s in-line skates, which
have their wheels, or rollers, arranged in a single line and
afford the skater more stability, have largely superseded the
older skates. The Columbi