Remembering Surya Bonaly’s Revolutionary Skating
Figure skating fans of the ’90s had a front seat to greatness. Some (especially young Black girls) knew there was something special going on with Surya Bonaly’s gravity-defying back pads – he sat on one leg too – considering he was the only one at the time who could put them on in competition. Some were disgusted (in a way I still don’t understand three decades later), because he “didn’t follow the rules.”
Surya earned him the “Bonaly backflip” during the Winter Olympics in Nagano in 1998, where he was heavily penalized and placed 10th overall. In addition to being known for her backflip, she was also one of the first female skaters to attempt a double jump at the 1992 Olympics.
Now, in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics, US skier Ilia Malinin has been hailed as the first athlete to “legally” achieve a single-leg backflip. He was even called “The Four Gods.”
For those keeping track of math, that’s 34 years after Surya’s quad.
Now, this is by no means a shot at what Ilia has accomplished. At the age of 21, he wasn’t even alive when Surya surprised and delighted the Nagano crowd – he received a standing ovation before he started his show – but embarrassed the panel of judges. It also proves how technically difficult it is to attempt what he does in his career. And there’s no denying that Ilia is extremely talented and destined for Olympic greatness. But revisionist history won’t work this time, considering the ridicule Surya received throughout his highly publicized career.
Surya has been out of the public eye since his last Olympics in 1998, but has appeared in Netflix docuseries. The losers (like seriously, the title, come on!), where he discusses his experience in the white world of skiing, and what he’s been up to ever since.
The highlight of her episode is that the viewers meet a bubbly woman – not a victim as many try to make her out to be – who is happy with her contribution and humbled by all the accolades she receives from her fans. He shared that athletes outside of his sport surprised him with huge compliments: “Hockey players, bobsledders, skaters, they were like, ‘Oh my god, that’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen! That’s the bomb!'”
Surya, now 52, coaches young children in Minnesota. His Instagram is one of the best places on the internet.
For those unfamiliar with Surya Bonaly’s Olympic impact, here is part of his history, and the apparent racism he faced:
Surya Bonaly made her Olympic debut at the 1992 Olympics in her home country of France. During a practice session, she was punished for taking her backflip “too close” to Midori Ito (a Japanese figure skating legend herself and 1992 Olympic silver medalist). The judges suggested that he use his backflip and quad jumping athleticism to intimidate other skaters.
At the 1994 World Championships, he threw out his silver medal on the podium, because he was upset with the judges’ decision not to include him as a gold medalist after a prestigious and close scoring process. Critics call him an angry bully.
In his last Olympics – Nagano in 1998 – Surya made his big one. As he plans to become a champion after the games, he ended his Olympic career on his own terms. Surya put him in a “Bonaly flip” on one edge, earning cheers from the cheering crowd. He thought he could avoid punishment, since the ban applied to landings of two meters. But it wasn’t like that.
At the end of his match, he turned his back on the judges and bowed to the fans. Subsequently, the judges lowered his ranking from sixth to tenth place. As a young figure skating fan, I remember feeling that his scores didn’t matter, because what I had just seen on live television was fiction.
After his Olympic run, Surya began his professional career, where he was finally allowed to fulfill his potential without outdated rules. He was the champion of “Champions on Ice” until 2007. Surya retired from skating in 2015. Since then, he has been coaching junior skaters in Minnesota. Talk about a mentor.
As a kid watching Surya on ice, I didn’t have the words to label microaggression, but I learned how he was treated compared to other childhood favorites like Kristi Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski. I always remember chicken-pecking her clothes and choosing makeup. And to some degree, I internalized it as a little brown girl. I remember her being described as flamboyant, showy, and intimidating; he is never as good or handsome as his counterpart.
It was reassuring to see Surya finally getting the credit he deserves. Fans do not approve of any erasure of Surya:
“Surya Bonaly invented the backflip at the Winter Olympics and was punished for it. He should have won a gold medal. Now the Olympics are celebrating another skater for making his move. The Olympic Committee owes him an apology and a gold medal.”
“Confronting racism in sports, Surya Bonaly got a banned one-foot backflip and made history.”
“Just to update everyone, Surya Bonaly looks great and still has it. Bless you.”
“reducing surya bonaly’s entire career to a backflip done in one of his last tournaments (completely neglecting to mention his three world silver medals, 5 european championships, 9 french national titles, and a junior world title) is an offense [be] may be prosecuted.”
“A black woman, Surya Bonaly, did it first and did it better…just saying.”
“Day 8-Surya Bonaly looking at her as a little girl is the only skater who looks like me. She was strong on that ice and she skated her way! Brave, unapologetic, a true BLACK woman. Salute.”
“Yes. He could do it, no one else could, so instead of making it a very high score, they banned him, and punished him when he did it anyway. He was considered ‘too athletic.’ Code for ‘dislike, because, you know…’”
“She looked beautiful – I’m not sure there was any other woman I loved more than her.”
“This is crazy! I literally saw someone do a flip while ice skating for the first time TODAY when he competed in the Olympics (it was a man). I thought he must be the first person to pull this off but I guess I was wrong. I’ve never heard of Surya until now but that was amazing!”
“That foot was legendary. I remember looking at it and getting chills. He deserved a gold medal. A true athlete who never got his flowers.”
“Surya did his backflips that look great. Most other skating backflips look like they’re full of cheerleading standing up fast.”
“Surya was the perfect mesh of art and skiing.”
Surya Bonaly deserves credit, and more. It’s not easy to remember all the names of figure skating gold medalists throughout history, but Surya is an Olympic gem that’s hard to forget.
Do you remember Surya’s performance on the ice? Share your memories in the comments!
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