Surya Bonaly

In 1984, Surya Bonaly watched the Winter Olympic Games and discovered there the skater Katarina Witt: she then decided to do the double axel and broke her ankle. She had to wear a cast for two months, and decided to continue practicing the flute until the summer.[14] When she returned to the ice rink, the French team trained by Didier Gailhaguet took every available space on the ice, preventing Surya from training. Suzanne Bonaly then asked Didier Gailhaguet to give her daughter an hour on the ice, and the coach agreed. She tried again to do a double axel with her broken ankle, which impressed Gailhaguet, who later claimed that "France had no hard fighters". He then proposed to Bonaly and her mother to come for each training session, which would last three weeks.[15] At the end of the course, Bonaly has almost reached the level of the members of the French team, already managing to land a double axel and a triple jump despite a short time spent on the ice.[16] Gailhaguet asked her to move to Paris to train with him all year round.[17]

The Bonaly family then moved to Paris. For six months, while training in Champigny-sur-Marne, she was home schooled and lived in a van with her parents.[18] Philippe Candeloro mentions the fact that the family was accompanied by five dogs at that time. He also notices the severity of her mother, who pushes Surya to train hard but also very closely governs the social life and hobbies of her daughter.[19] A year later, she joined the French National Team. She then became the center of the media attention among the French figure skaters, by being constantly put in the spotlight by Gailhaguet.[20] At the age of twelve, under the impulse of Gailhaguet, she learned to do a backflip on the ice: Gailhaguet claims to have only transposed onto the ice what she was doing on a regular basis. She made her first backflip on the ice and in public at a gala in Annecy in 1986.[21] Also in 1986, at the age of thirteen, she became a junior tumbling champion at the World Championships.[22] The same year, again in tumbling, she won a silver medal in team at the World Championships with Sandrine Vacher, Corinne Robert and Isabelle Jagueux at the Palais omnisports of Paris-Bercy.[23]

During the 1987-1988 season, Surya Bonaly became the French junior champion of figure skating in Cherbourg. At the French Senior Championships in Grenoble, she ended up in fourth place and was then sent to her first ISU Championship, the 1988 Junior Worlds in Brisbane, Australia and finished 14th.

During the summer of 1988, she watched the Summer Olympics and noticed the sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner dressed in a colorful running suit and decided to take inspiration from her for her skating costumes which would later become more original and colorful, something considered unusual back then in figure skating.

Bonaly usually makes eight to nine jumps during her programs, while conventional programs usually contain six.[24]

The following season, Bonaly won the bronze medal at 1989 World Junior Championships and her first senior national title. She also began appearing on the senior level, placing eighth at the 1989 European Championships and tenth at 1989 World Championships.

Bonaly was awarded the silver medal behind Japan's Yuka Sato at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She finished fourth at the 1990 European Championships and ninth at the 1990 World Championships.

Bonaly began the season with a pair of senior international medals – gold at the 1990 Grand Prix International de Paris and bronze at the 1990 Skate Electric. Making her final junior appearance, she stood on top of the podium at the 1991 World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary. After taking her third national title, she competed at the 1991 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was awarded the gold medal ahead of two German skaters, Evelyn Großmann and Marina Kielmann. During the invasion of Kuwait, she designed a gala skating program that included a magic trick in which she made a dove appear, a symbol of peace.

Bonaly placed fifth at the 1991 World Championships in Munich, Germany, where she came very close to the first ever ratified quad by a female skater, but had other errors.[25]

In January 1992, Bonaly outscored Kielmann and Patricia Neske for the gold medal at the European Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. In February 1992, she took the athlete's oath at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. During a practice session, she landed a back flip close to Japan's Midori Ito and was told by officials not to do it again because they believed that other skaters might be intimidated in practice sessions.[26] Her costumes were custom made by Christian Lacroix.[27] She became the first woman to attempt a quadruple toe loop in competition but the jump was not fully rotated in the air and she had to complete the rotation on the ice. Due to the under rotation, the quad would be downgraded under the ISU Judging System.[28] Although the door was open for her to win a medal after Ito and Harding had finished in 4th and 6th in the short program, and Kristi Yamaguchi and Nancy Kerrigan both made major errors in the long skating just before her, she placed 6th in the free skate and 5th overall.

After the Olympics, Bonaly parted ways with Gailhaguet and joined André Brunet, who coached her for one month.[29][30] She concluded her season at the 1992 World Championships in Oakland, California. Ranked tenth in the short and 12th in the free, she finished 11th overall, making a number of jumping errors in both programs. She was so distraught with her poor performances and how she was marked that she considered turning pro midway through the event.[31]

Bonaly was coached mainly by her mother from April to September 1992 and also made two month-long visits, in June and September, to Frank Carroll in southern California; although she wanted to stay with Carroll permanently, the French skating federation was opposed to its skaters training abroad.[30] Alain Giletti became her coach, commuting four times a week by train from Tours to Paris, and her mother filled in during his absences.[30] During the summer of 1992, Bonaly signed a contract to join Tom Collins' troop, Champions on Ice, two months a year. It's a way of showing her technical abilities without limitations, by performing somersaults prohibited in competition.

Bonaly won the 1993 European Championships in Helsinki, having placed first in both segments ahead of Ukraine's Oksana Baiul and Germany's Marina Kielmann. At the 1993 World Championships in Prague, she took silver behind Oksana Baiul, who narrowly took the title with higher presentation scores.[32] Bonaly had significantly more technical content than the winner. Bonaly performed seven triples, a triple-triple combination, and two triple lutzes, while Baiul performed five triples but did not attempt a jump combination.

In January 1994, Bonaly placed first in all segments on her way to her fourth consecutive continental title at the Europeans Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. The other medalists were Baiul and Russia's Olga Markova. A month later, she competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Ranked third in the short program and fourth in the free skate, she finished fourth overall behind Baiul, Nancy Kerrigan, and Chen Lu.

The media began to pay attention to Surya's mother, Suzanne Bonaly. There are many critics from the media against her: Surya being unable to enjoy a social life because of her schedules and her responsibility for Surya's skating style since Suzanne Bonaly is a physical education teacher and would rather tend towards having athletic prowess rather than having the grace of a dancer.[33] Surya goes to bed at nine, is forbidden to eat sugar, runs every morning, but for the young skater, it is a habit and not a constraint.[34] She allows herself to go out and have fun during the summer, where she performs without having to prepare for competitions. Suzanne Bonaly believes that the critics are rooted in jealousy.[35] Bonaly moves with her mother to Pralognan-la-Vanoise, where she trains far away from the public eye.[36]

Yuka Sato at the Stars on Ice 2010

At the 1994 World Championships in Chiba, Japan – where the three Olympic medalists did not compete – Bonaly's final overall score was equal to home country favorite Yuka Sato, who would be awarded the gold medal after a 5–4 tiebreaker decision.[37]

She expected the judges to reward her for improving her gracefulness, having stopped trying to land quadruple jumps and having improved from the previous championships, where she also finished second. Bonaly even cut her thickly braided ponytail because the judges didn’t like it.[38] She claims to have made concessions to better suit the expectations of the judges, without ever being rewarded for her work, Bonaly told the french podcast "Surya Bonaly, corps et lames" : «I did everything I could, but I didn't paint myself white, that's for sure».[39] Upset by the result, Bonaly stood beside the medals platform rather than on it. She eventually stepped onto the platform but took off her silver medal after it was presented to her; she was immediately booed by the crowd.[40] After the medals presentation, Bonaly's only statement to reporters was: "I'm just not lucky."

Later, the international judge Anne Hardy-Thomas, absent from this competition, commented on the judges' decision. She stated that the judges are under great pressure, their names being displayed opposite their notes; she herself said that she sometimes put second a French skater to avoid being accused of favoritism.[41] Two main clans stand out, the Anglo-Saxons and the countries of the former Eastern bloc: Surya Bonaly does not belong to either of these two coalitions. American judges look for a graceful skater who meets the beauty standards, while European judges favor athletics and creativity, which benefits Bonaly.[42]

The international federation first thought of punishing her for her behavior, then they changed their mind, believing that the justified disappointment of the skater was a sufficient mitigating circumstance.[43]

In 1995, Bonaly won the European Championships for the fifth time, overtaking short-program winner Markova. At the 1995 World Championships in Birmingham, England, she placed fourth in the short program but rose to second after the free skate. She was awarded her third World silver medal, behind Chen Lu of China.[44] For the third consecutive year she lost the gold medal by just one judge and one-tenth of a point. Her free skate had the most difficult technical content, with two triple lutzes, two triple-triple combos, and seven triples. For Bonaly to win, another skater would need to place ahead of short program leader Nicole Bobek.

In autumn 1995, Bonaly competed in the inaugural ISU Champions Series. She finished third and fourth at her assignments, which was not enough to qualify to the seven-woman final. Ranked first in the short program and second in the free skate, Bonaly took silver behind Russia's Irina Slutskaya at the 1996 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. She finished fifth at the 1996 World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, having placed seventh in the short where she fell on a triple lutz, and fifth in the free.

In May 1996, Bonaly ruptured her achilles tendon while doing acrobatics.[45] Due to the injury, she missed much of the following season.[46] The French federation initially decided not to name her to the 1997 European Championships in Paris, believing that she lacked fitness, but Bonaly successfully appealed.[45] She finished 9th overall after placing 6th in qualifying group B, 6th in the short program, and 10th in the free skate. She was not included in France's two-women team to the World Championships, passed over in favor of Vanessa Gusmeroli, the top French finisher at Europeans, and Laetitia Hubert who placed behind Bonaly at the same event.

During the season, Bonaly was coached by Suzanne Bonaly and Tatiana Tarasova in Marlborough, United States.[1] At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Bonaly placed 6th in the short program. Unable to complete her planned routine or a successful triple lutz due to injury, she decided to perform a backflip landing on one blade during the free skate. Backflips had been banned since 1976 from competitions held under ISU rules. Having landed it on one foot, Bonaly hoped to not get a deduction but she ended up having her points deducted.[47] Nonetheless, she was content with her decision to perform the move.[48][49] Bonaly is the only Olympic figure skater to land a backflip on only one blade. Anne Hardy-Thomas, the French judge of the event, is approached by the technical delegate, who tells her that Surya Bonaly was insolent and had an unacceptable behavior. The judge replied : "She did well for all the past years".[50] She finished tenth in Nagano and retired from amateur competition after the event.

Her skating clubs were CSG Pralognan[1] and CSG Champigny.[2]

With Anisina Bonali as a special guest at the 2012 World Championships

Bonaly toured with the Champions on Ice skating show for several years[51] until it went out of business after 2007. She also performed in shows in Russia with Evgeni Plushenko and was a guest skater at Ice Theatre of New York's December 2008 gala in NYC where she successfully performed her backflip.[52]

Bonaly was an off-screen character on the "Will on Ice" episode of NBC's Will & Grace which originally aired on 12 January 1999.[53] In 2010, she was a finalist on La Ferme Célébrités season 3.[54] In 2015, she underwent surgery after the discovery of numerous cysts along her spinal cord, ending her performing career.[55]

As of September 2016, Bonaly was coaching in Minnesota.[55] As of 2019, she works with figure skating camps and is a resident guest coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's School.

She appeared in the episode "Judgement" of a 2019 Netflix documentary series that explored the lives of heroic individuals who bounced back from loss or perceived failure. In Bonaly's case, the episode focused on her defiance, "longevity" on the ice, and refusal to submit to conventions.[56]