Remembering Surya Bonaly’s Revolutionary Skating
Figure skating fans of the 90s had a front row seat to admire the greatness. Some (especially little black girls) knew there was something special going on with Surya Bonaly’s gravity-defying backflips – landed on one leg no less – given that she was the only one at the time who could perform them in competition. Others were disgusted (in a way I still can’t understand three decades later), because she wasn’t “following the rules.”
Surya successfully performed her “Bonaly backflip” at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, where she was heavily penalized and placed 10th overall. In addition to being known for her backflip, she was also one of the first skaters to attempt a quad jump at the 1992 Olympics.
Today, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, American figure skater Ilia Malinin was congratulated for being the first athlete to “legally” land a single-legged backflip. He was even nicknamed the “Quad God”.
For those following the math, that’s 34 years after Surya’s quad.
This is in no way a knock on Ilia’s achievements. At 21, he wasn’t even alive when Surya wowed and delighted the Nagano crowd – she received a standing ovation before she even began her program – but was humiliated by the jury. This further proves how technically difficult it is to attempt what she has done in her career. And there’s no denying that Ilia is extremely talented and destined for Olympic greatness. But revisionist history just won’t work on this one, given that the ridicule Surya has faced throughout his career has been so widely publicized.
Surya has been relatively quiet since her last Olympics in 1998, but she has been featured in the Netflix docuseries. Losers (like seriously, title, come on!), where she talks about her experience in the predominantly white world of figure skating, and what she’s been doing since.
The most striking thing about her episode is that viewers meet a bubbly woman — not a scorned sore loser like so many people have tried to make her out to be — who is excited about her impact and humbled by all the accolades she’s received from her fans. She shared that athletes outside of her sport surprised her with high praise: “The hockey players, the bobsledders, the skiers, they were like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen! It’s the bomb!’
Surya, now 52, coaches young children in Minnesota in figure skating. Her Instagram is one of the healthiest places on the internet.
For those unfamiliar with Surya Bonaly’s Olympic impact, here’s a bit of her story and the blatant racism she faced:
Surya Bonaly made her Olympic debut at the 1992 Olympics in her native France. During a practice session, she was chastised for performing her backflip “too close” to Midori Ito (a Japanese figure skating legend in her own right and 1992 Olympic silver medalist). The judges suggested she used her athletic skills of backflip and quad jump to intimidate other skaters.
At the 1994 World Championships, she won her silver medal on the podium, because she was frustrated by the judges’ decision not to classify her as a gold medalist after an ambitious routine and an almost too close count. Critics called her a sore loser who was just throwing a tantrum.
During his last Olympic Games – in Nagano in 1998 – Surya achieved his big one. As she planned to turn professional after the Games, she finished her Olympic career on her own terms. Surya successfully completed his “Bonaly flip” on one edge, earning a standing ovation from a delighted crowd. She thought she could avoid a penalty, since the ban technically applied to a two-footed landing. But that wasn’t the case.
At the end of her performance, she turned her back on the judges and bowed to the fans. In return, the judges dropped his ranking from sixth to tenth place. As a young figure skating fan, I remember feeling like his scores didn’t matter because what I had just seen on live TV was legend.
After her run at the Olympics, Surya began her professional career, where she was finally allowed to perform at her best, without outdated rules. She was a star of “Champions on Ice” until 2007. Surya retired from figure skating in 2015. She has since coached young skaters in Minnesota. Talk about a mentor.
As a kid watching Surya on the ice, I didn’t have the words to call it a microaggression, but I definitely understood the way she was treated compared to my other childhood favorites like Kristi Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski. I remember the constant pecking at her costumes and makeup choices. And to some extent, I internalized it as a little brown girl. I remember her being described as flashy, ostentatious and intimidating; never graceful or beautiful like her counterparts.
It has been motivating to see Surya finally getting the praise she deserves. Fans don’t allow any deletion of Surya:
“Surya Bonaly caused the backflip at the Winter Olympics and was penalized for it. She should have won the gold medal. Today the Olympics are celebrating another skater for her move. The Olympic Committee owes her an apology and a gold medal.”
“In the face of racism in sport, Surya Bonaly achieved the forbidden backflip on one foot and still made history.”
“Just to let everyone know, Surya Bonaly looks good and she still has it. Bless you.”
“Reducing Surya Bonaly’s entire career to a backflip performed during one of her last competitions (completely neglecting to mention her 3 world silver medals, 5 European championship titles, 9 French national titles and her junior world title) is a crime that should [be] liable to prosecution.”
“A black woman, Surya Bonaly, did it first and did it better…just saying.”
“Day 8 – Surya Bonaly looked up to her when she was little, she was the only figure skater who looked like me. She was a force on that ice and skated her way! Authentic, bold and unapologetic BLACK woman. Hello.”
“Yeah. She could do it, no one else could, so instead of giving her an incredibly high score, they banned it and still penalized her when she did it. She was considered “too athletic.” Code for “unladylike, because, you know…”
“She was spectacular – I’m not sure there’s another woman I loved watching skate more than her.”
“It’s crazy! I literally saw someone do a flip while ice skating for the first time TODAY while competing in the Olympics (it was a man). I thought he must be the first person to do that, but I guess I was wrong. I’d never heard of Surya until now, but it was amazing!”
“That foot was legendary. I remember looking at it and getting chills. She deserved a gold medal. A true athlete who never received any flowers.”
“Surya made his backflips look elegant. Most other figure skating backflips look like hastily thrown cheerleader standing fulls.”
“Surya was the perfect blend of artistry and athleticism on the ice.”
Surya Bonaly deserves all the belated praise and then some. It’s not easy to remember all the names of figure skating gold medalists throughout history, but Surya is an Olympic treasure that’s hard to forget.
Do you remember Surya’s performances on ice? Share your memories in the comments!
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