Surya Bonaly made Knight of the French Legion of Honor

[layman]

There has been so much bad news in skating of late...now to lighten the mood...Surya Bonaly was decorated as a Knight of the French Legion of Honor on 12-13-19 in her hometown of Nice, France.

Surya Bonaly chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, décorée le 13/12/2019 à Nice par Christian Estrosi

youtu.be

 

[VGThuy]

Congrats to her. I’m so happy to hear she’s been acknowledged for all that she’s given to this sport.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Yes! best news all day!

A great skater who was held back by "lady-like bull-shit" and what women supposed to do on ice.

https://media2.giphy.com/media/LJeUdcI6y27U4/source.gif

 

[attyfan]

Mazel tov!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[FunnyBut]

Congrats to her, she looks great, too. I was hoping to see Suzanne, my favorite skating mom.

 

[barbk]

She looks great -- I'm very happy for her. A well-deserved honor.

 

[Loves_Shizuka]

Surya

 

[MAXSwagg]

Very odd, but good for her I guess.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Didn't know she's from Nice. There have been lots of events andI guess interest in skating there. Did that come as a result of her success?

 

[Frau Muller]

Wasn’t she discovered on the island of Reunion? Amazing story.

I always wondered how Surya would fare in PCS, under the current judging system.

 

[Orm Irian]

Wasn’t she discovered on the island of Reunion? Amazing story.

I believe that was a furphy put about by her first coach to make her sound 'exotic' (ugh). IIRC her birth mother was from Reunion, but Surya was born in France.

 

[nimi]

I believe that was a furphy put about by her first coach to make her sound 'exotic' (ugh). IIRC her birth mother was from Reunion, but Surya was born in France.

You can hear Didier himself admitting that he planted the stories about Surya being abandoned as a baby on a coconut-strewn beach and her eating birdseed for breakfast etc. in this Radiolab episode: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/edge

Scroll to 6:15 to hear the bit, or check the transcript

Latif Nasser: Pretty much as soon as she hit the scene, you started hearing these rumors that she had adopted been adopted from a coconut-strewn beach in Reunion Island, off the coast of Madagascar.

TV Announcers: An unlikely place to find a world-class figure skater.

Latif Nasser: And that she had, that she, what was it?

TV Announcers: Notice her hair-

Tracie Hunte: That she never cut her hair.

TV Announcers: Surya has not cut her hair since her birth.

Johnette Howard: That she existed on a diet of bird seed and you know, all these things.

Tracie Hunte: Yeah.

Robert Krulwich: I mean, the idea that she's some kind of black forest princess or something?

Latif Nasser: Exactly.

Tracie Hunte: Exactly, yes. Surya says, you know, at that age she really didn't know too much about what was going on.

Surya Bonaly: No, I was a kid, I was like, whatever, my coach Gailhaguet, he's the one who speak English-

Tracie Hunte: She could barely speak English, she was barely 16.

Didier Gailhagu: Yeah, she was still a young baby-

Tracie Hunte: I did talk to the guy who was coaching her at the time, this guy named Didier Gailhaguet. And he told me he planted these stories!

Didier Gailhagu: We used the press very well.

Jad Abumrad: Wait, what?

Tracie Hunte: He said that he made up the beach thing, he made up the hair thing, because he was trying to, she was the star-

Didier Gailhagu: And what do you want to hear? Stories, right? So, we made some stories. Some good ones, do you know what I mean? [crosstalk 00:08:04] I'm just saying that we making up stories because you want to hear them.

 

[sus2850]

Very odd, but good for her I guess.

What do you find „odd“?

 

[allezfred]

Yes! best news all day!

A great skater who was held back by "lady-like bull-shit" and what women supposed to do on ice.

https://media2.giphy.com/media/LJeUdcI6y27U4/source.gif

Surya was exciting to watch, but particularly during the early years of her eligible career her skating skills left a LOT to be desired. Since retiring and going on the pro circuit her skills really improved.