Surya Bonaly

[Brenda_Bottems]

She knew she wasn't competitive for a medal which was no one's fault but she gave a big FU to the skating community anyway. I thought it was disgusting.

Agree. She has having a poor performance (even for her diminished standards) and decided to perform a vulgar illegal move. It made it all about her. Just like millennials today.

I don’t get reactions like this.

It's quite simple— you likely have questionable morals.

-BB

 

[Sylvia]

Olympic Channel feature on Surya that includes a 44-minute podcast interview with Ed Knowles (Oct. 28, 2020):

Why Surya Bonaly wants to remembered as a figure skating pioneer

France's figure skating legend landed a backflip on one blade at the Olympics in 1998.

www.olympicchannel.com

ETA two more items that were posted in other threads:

... 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

... Anastasia Bucsis' Player's Own Voice podcast interview with her [July 2020]:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/podcasts/players-own-voice/pov-podcast-surya-bonaly-1.5656256

·

 

[Lemonade20]

I loved SB! She gave us something different to enjoy. I always thought she had so much in common with Tonya in that they didn’t fit the typical ice princess mold. Yes, she wasn’t as smooth or graceful, but she was very memorable.

 

[Japanfan]

I just remember her big F-You to the judges when she threw a back flip in at the end of a competitive program. I think it may have been her last?

Loved that, just loved it.

 

[Erin]

I've been watching a lot of early 90s skating, which obviously included Surya, and one thing that struck me was her massive improvement in all aspects of her skating between 1992 and 1993. I would assume that her work with Frank Carroll helped, and perhaps Alain Giletti was able to influence her skating more than other coaches. Her "Four Seasons" long program was really a lot better than I gave her credit for at the time. Does anyone know who choreographed it?

While I was attempting to search for that answer, I came across a Phil Hersh article from 1993 with a couple of amusing anecdotes - my favourite being the one with Dubova and the Four Seasons music:

BONALY’S PLAN FOR REVENGE: THIS TIME, KEEP IT SIMPLE

In the past, it was the exotic qualities about Surya Bonaly that attracted attention. She was the child said to have been born on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, adopted by a French couple from…

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[Taso]

I've been watching a lot of early 90s skating, which obviously included Surya, and one thing that struck me was her massive improvement in all aspects of her skating between 1992 and 1993. I would assume that her work with Frank Carroll helped, and perhaps Alain Giletti was able to influence her skating more than other coaches. Her "Four Seasons" long program was really a lot better than I gave her credit for at the time. Does anyone know who choreographed it?

While I was attempting to search for that answer, I came across a Phil Hersh article from 1993 with a couple of amusing anecdotes - my favourite being the one with Dubova and the Four Seasons music:

BONALY’S PLAN FOR REVENGE: THIS TIME, KEEP IT SIMPLE

In the past, it was the exotic qualities about Surya Bonaly that attracted attention. She was the child said to have been born on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, adopted by a French couple from…

www.chicagotribune.com

I believe it was choreographed by the late Natasha Dabaddie (Volkova)

 

[mjb52]

I love her.

 

[Erin]

I believe it was choreographed by the late Natasha Dabaddie (Volkova)

Thank you! She did a really good job with it.

 

[VGThuy]

I love Surya Bonaly! I don’t think she was ever robbed of a title outside of possibly 1993 Worlds and 1998 Olympics SP, but those are debatable. I love that she had a distinct style and personality. I also love how much better her skating got as a pro, away from the games her mother and Didier were playing with them using her as a pawn and ignoring the substance. Surya with better skating skills could have been a multiple-times champion, no doubt. I actually love that whole two-year era with the pro class coming from it. Surya, Yuka, Katarina (I include her because 1994 comeback), Baiul, Kerrigan, Josee, joining the likes of Kristi and Kadavy, and Midori among others. Nobody really skated alike, and you really could tell them apart. Loved it!

 

[jenny12]

I really enjoyed Surya and think he presence and charisma is really missed in skating nowadays. I don’t think she was ever robbed of a title or anything but she always was a welcome part of the figure skating landscape.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I love this bit of dialogue from Will & Grace.


GRACE: [POINTING] Love her! Love, love, love her!
WILL: Who is it?
GRACE: Are you serious? It's Michelle Kwan.
WILL: Who? Michelle who?
GRACE: Michelle Kwan. Figure skater? Olympic silver medallist?
JACK: [STANDING UP] Goddess on ice!
GRACE: [TO JACK] You like...Michelle Kwan?
JACK: I love her!
GRACE: So! Do! I! She was so robbed at the Olympics!
JACK: Tell me about it!
GRACE: She's a billion times better than Tara Lipinski!
JACK: Don't even get me started with that little witch.
GRACE: She's cocky!
JACK: The cockiest. She's almost as cocky as Surya Bonaly.
GRACE: Oh, my god! The best! Surya Bonaly!
WILL: Who?
JACK and GRACE: Surya Bonaly!
JACK: She's French.
GRACE: She's powerful.
JACK: She's black.
GRACE: She wears blue eye shadow and does illegal backflips.
JACK: She scares me. I crave her...
GRACE: [TO JACK] You want a cookie?

 

[rrobinson]

I am literally alive today because of Surya Bonaly. Growing up a very dark-skinned Black girl in the 1980's, she was the first girl I saw on television who looked like me. I was an also an outsider in my community and frequently bullied due to this. It was like everything she went through; I went through. By age 16, I went through a serious depression and planned to just give up on life. But, as long as Surya hung in; so would I. Over the course of 6 years, our lives seemed parallel-bullying, rejection, poor choices, self-destruction, family strife... But, as she kept going; so did I. By the time her amateur career ended, I was done with High School. The day I finally met her at the Sports Center in Ohio, I enrolled in college. I never expected to live past 17. I'm now 46.

I wish people knew the effect Surya had on alot of people like us.

 

[skateboy]

I am literally alive today because of Surya Bonaly. Growing up a very dark-skinned Black girl in the 1980's, she was the first girl I saw on television who looked like me. I was an also an outsider in my community and frequently bullied due to this. It was like everything she went through; I went through. By age 16, I went through a serious depression and planned to just give up on life. But, as long as Surya hung in; so would I. Over the course of 6 years, our lives seemed parallel-bullying, rejection, poor choices, self-destruction, family strife... But, as she kept going; so did I. By the time her amateur career ended, I was done with High School. The day I finally met her at the Sports Center in Ohio, I enrolled in college. I never expected to live past 17. I'm now 46.

I wish people knew the effect Surya had on alot of people like us.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful and very personal story with us.

I hope you will post often here!

 

[Sylvia]

Welcome @rrobinson!

Feel free to check out this thread in the Great Skate Debate section on the topic of diversity in figure skating & recent initiatives that are underway: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...o-promote-diversity-in-figure-skating.107470/

 

[VGThuy]

I am literally alive today because of Surya Bonaly. Growing up a very dark-skinned Black girl in the 1980's, she was the first girl I saw on television who looked like me. I was an also an outsider in my community and frequently bullied due to this. It was like everything she went through; I went through. By age 16, I went through a serious depression and planned to just give up on life. But, as long as Surya hung in; so would I. Over the course of 6 years, our lives seemed parallel-bullying, rejection, poor choices, self-destruction, family strife... But, as she kept going; so did I. By the time her amateur career ended, I was done with High School. The day I finally met her at the Sports Center in Ohio, I enrolled in college. I never expected to live past 17. I'm now 46.

I wish people knew the effect Surya had on alot of people like us.

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story.

 

[Sylvia]

Skater Surya Bonaly’s story told in illustrated book by Lois Elfman (February 24, 2022):

Skater Surya Bonaly’s story told in illustrated book

As people note the absence of Black figure skaters at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, they also remember and celebrate one of the greats of the sport, three-time Olympian Surya Bonaly of France.

amsterdamnews.com

Now a coach living in Las Vegas, she still doesn’t see many young skaters of color, but at a recent book signing in Austin, Texas, she met several people of color who asked questions about her career. “It’s coming little by little,” she said. “I teach the Learn-to-Skate program at my rink in Las Vegas, and I do see a few kids of color. It’s nice to see.”
Longtime children’s book writer Frank Murphy contacted Bonaly about doing the book. She was a bit stunned that he wanted to write about her. “He said, ‘I want you to be involved. We have to write it together,’” she recalled. “I thought it was nice. I didn’t know him and he’s not involved in skating, but apparently he was inspired by the 2018 Olympics.”

“So far, people like it,” said Bonaly, who will be a spectator at the upcoming 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France, and is looking forward to seeing the current generation of competitors. “It was great timing for the book to come out just before the Olympics. It’s great inspiration.

 

[Sylvia]

Surya appeared at Oksana Baiul’s peace rally in Las Vegas this past Saturday - GSD thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ort-ukraine-peace-rally”-in-las-vegas.109513/

Surya’s “peace through sport” post on her Instagram account 5 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/CasfnT_vvYn/

 

[Barbara30]

I love surya

 

[Excidra]

I am literally alive today because of Surya Bonaly. Growing up a very dark-skinned Black girl in the 1980's, she was the first girl I saw on television who looked like me. I was an also an outsider in my community and frequently bullied due to this. It was like everything she went through; I went through. By age 16, I went through a serious depression and planned to just give up on life. But, as long as Surya hung in; so would I. Over the course of 6 years, our lives seemed parallel-bullying, rejection, poor choices, self-destruction, family strife... But, as she kept going; so did I. By the time her amateur career ended, I was done with High School. The day I finally met her at the Sports Center in Ohio, I enrolled in college. I never expected to live past 17. I'm now 46.


I wish people knew the effect Surya had on alot of people like us.

And this is why representation matters.

I got emotional reading your post. I am so glad you chose life.