Today In Black History: Surya Bonaly
The Fearless Pioneer Who Changed Figure Skating Forever
Issue #995 Today In Black History, Monday, February 23, 2026
I love watching both the Winter and Summer Olympics, even though I’m not good at any kind of sports. In addition to my daily yoga and Pilates workouts, I ride my bike outdoors (or my stationary bike indoors) five times a week for 10 miles each time. While all of that is great exercise, I am nowhere near an “athlete.” That’s why I love watching real athletes at their best.
I also enjoy the stories of the athletes, past and present.
Born on December 15, 1973, in Nice, France, Surya Varuna Claudine Bonaly was an orphan. At just eight months old, she was adopted by Suzanne and Georges Bonaly, a white French couple committed to simple living and self-sufficiency. Growing up in the picturesque French Riviera, Surya’s childhood was unconventional—her parents raised her as a vegetarian and instilled in her a deep commitment to discipline, athleticism, and pushing boundaries. These values would define not only her skating career but her entire life.
Surya began skating at age 12 in 1985, but her athletic foundation came from gymnastics, which gave her muscular strength and explosive power rare among figure skaters of her era. This combination of gymnastics training and skating prowess would become her signature—and her curse in a sport that valued delicate, balletic femininity above all else.
By 1989, at just 15 years old, Surya won the first of her nine consecutive French national championships. Her rise was meteoric. Throughout the 1990s, she dominated European competition, claiming five European titles between 1991 and 1995. She also earned three World Championship silver medals (1993–1995), making her one of the most decorated skaters in French history.
But Bonaly’s technical brilliance came at a cost. In an era when figure skating valued grace and artistry above all, judges and commentators criticized her as “too muscular,” “too aggressive,” and “not graceful enough,” the same criticisms faced by most Black women athletes like Simone Biles and Serena and Venus Williams. Her powerful jumps and athletic style clashed with the sport’s narrow aesthetic standards. As a Black woman competing in a predominantly white sport, Bonaly faced not only stylistic criticism but also the subtle—and sometimes overt—racism that permeated figure skating’s judging panels.
Long before quadruple jumps became commonplace in men’s figure skating, Surya Bonaly was attempting them. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, she became the first woman ever to attempt a quadruple jump in Olympic competition. Though the jump didn’t count for scoring due to a technical ruling, it signaled her fearless approach to pushing the sport’s boundaries. It would take 30 years for another woman to successfully land a quad jump in the free skate at the Olympics.
Surya’s most iconic moment came at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. At 24, recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and knowing her competitive career was ending, Bonaly made a decision that would echo through Olympic history.
In her free skate, with nothing left to lose, she performed a backflip—landing on a single blade. This was no ordinary backflip. The move had been banned by the International Skating Union since 1977, officially for safety reasons but also because it violated the principle of landing on one skate. Bonaly knew the judges would penalize her. She did it anyway.
The crowd erupted in a standing ovation. The judges, however, were less impressed. They deducted points for the illegal move, dropping her from sixth place to tenth overall. But Bonaly had made her statement. That backflip—now known as the “Bonaly backflip”—became one of the most iconic moments in Olympic history: a Black woman, on the world’s biggest stage, choosing defiance over compliance, artistry over acceptance.
“I wanted to do something for myself. Something that was mine,” Bonaly later reflected. “I had nothing to lose anymore. I did it because I was an athlete.”
Bonaly retired from amateur competition shortly after Nagano, but her relationship with skating was far from over. She transitioned into professional skating, touring with Champions on Ice and performing in ice shows worldwide. For roughly a decade, she thrilled audiences with her signature backflips and triple jumps, finally experiencing the creative freedom that amateur competition had denied her.
However, her post-competitive career in France proved challenging. Despite her legendary status, the French Ice Sports Federation offered her no significant coaching or administrative positions. Feeling unwelcome in her homeland, Bonaly made a pivotal decision: she moved to the United States.
In 2004, on January 5th in Las Vegas, Surya Bonaly became a U.S. citizen. The gesture went beyond paperwork—it represented a choice of belonging. She settled in the American Midwest and later in Las Vegas, where she has built a quiet life away from the spotlight that once defined her.
Today, at 52, Bonaly works as a figure skating coach in Las Vegas, teaching students ranging from ages 5 to 18. She retired from professional performing in 2015 to focus full-time on coaching. Her dedication to the sport has come at a personal cost—she has spoken openly about sacrificing the chance to have children to pursue her skating career.
Beyond coaching, Bonaly has become an advocate for diversity in figure skating. She has worked with organizations like Figure Skating in Harlem, meeting with young skaters of color and serving as a role model for the next generation. She has also been a cultural attaché for the Monaco consulate and an ambassador for organizations fighting racism in sports.
In 2022, Bonaly published “Fearless Heart: An Illustrated Biography,” a children’s book co-written with author Frank Murphy that tells her story to a new generation of young readers. She has also been the subject of a graphic novel, “Le Feu sur la glace” (Fire on Ice), which chronicles her journey from French prodigy to American resident.
For decades, Bonaly’s backflip was remembered as a rebellious stunt, a moment of defiance rather than athletic brilliance. But in 2024, the International Skating Union lifted the ban on backflips in choreographic sequences, finally legitimizing the move she had pioneered nearly three decades earlier.
When American figure skater Ilia Malinin landed a backflip at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, the internet erupted with praise—and with long-overdue recognition of Bonaly’s pioneering achievement. Bonaly herself has been gracious about Malinin’s success, calling him a “warrior” and celebrating his willingness to push boundaries.
“I broke the ice for other skaters,” Bonaly reflected. “Now everything is different. People welcome anyone as long as they are good, and that is what life is about.”
Yet Bonaly remains clear about her broader legacy. She hopes to be remembered not just for the backflip, but as an athlete who was “fully committed to pushing sports beyond the limits”—someone who challenged the sport’s narrow aesthetic standards, who refused to conform to expectations, and who paved the way for a more inclusive, athletic, and diverse figure skating world.
“I’m also something else besides the backflips,” she said. “Hopefully, people remember me for the rest of my skating.”
Surya Bonaly came too early for a sport that wasn’t ready for her. But in doing so, she changed figure skating forever.
Today In Black History
In 1763, the first major slave rebellion in South America began with the uprising in the Dutch colony of Berbice (modern Guyana), lasting from February to December.
In 1895, William H. Heard, an AME minister and educator, was named minister to Liberia.
In 1965, Constance Baker Motley was elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective office held by a Black woman in a major American city.
In 1979, Frank E. Peterson, Jr. was named the first Black Brigadier General in the Marine Corps.
In 1990, Black businessman Arthur A. Fletcher was named Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) by President George W. Bush.
In 2020, Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery was shot to death after being chased by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia. A video of the killing emerged in May, and the men were arrested and tried.
You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.
