Surya Bonaly is a
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
professionalA professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
figure skaterFigure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
. She is a three-time
World ChampionshipThe World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
silver medalist, a five-time
European ChampionThe European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...
, the 1991
World Junior ChampionThe World Junior Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which younger figure skaters compete for the title of World Junior Champion...
and a nine-time
French National ChampionThe French Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of France. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters compete at the senior level...
.
Surya Bonaly is a
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
professionalA professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
figure skaterFigure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
. She is a three-time
World ChampionshipThe World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
silver medalist, a five-time
European ChampionThe European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...
, the 1991
World Junior ChampionThe World Junior Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which younger figure skaters compete for the title of World Junior Champion...
and a nine-time
French National ChampionThe French Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of France. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters compete at the senior level...
.
Career
Bonaly was born in
NiceNice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France in 1973 and adopted by Suzanne Bonaly, a physical education teacher, and her husband Georges, an architect who worked for the government. Georges and Suzanne initially told the media that their daughter had been born on the island of
RéunionRéunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, because, as
David WallechinskyDavid Wallechinsky has worked as a commentator for NBC Olympic coverage and is the author of many Olympic reference books and other reference books. He is a Jewish-American. He is the author of The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics and The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics series...
's Complete Book of the Winter Olympics explains, they thought this origin sounded more "exotic". When Surya approached the age of 18 and began researching her birth history, George and Suzanne admitted that Surya's biological mother had been from the island but that Surya herself had not been born there.
Didier GailhaguetDidier Gailhaguet is a former French figure skater and the president of the Fédération Française des Sports de Glace ....
, who was Bonaly's first coach of her competitive career, admitted fabricating the story because he thought it would interest the press.
It was said that Gailhaguet discovered Surya when she was 10 years old and ice skating in a public session. Years later, however, Surya said she had wanted to skate in Gailhaguet's competitive skating group and actually asked to participate.
Bonaly went on to become a nine-time French National Figure Skating Champion (1989–1997) and won the European Figure Skating Championships five times (1991–1995). She was a three-time silver medalist at the World Figure Skating Championships (1993–1995), but she never managed to win a world title, despite her strong jumping ability. Nor did she ever win a medal in the Winter Olympics, placing 5th in 1992 in Albertville, 4th in 1994 at
LillehammerThe 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
, and 10th in 1998 at Nagano. Bonaly took the
Athlete's OathThe Olympic Oath is a solemn promise made by one athlete -- as a representative of each of the participating Olympic competitors; and by one judge -- as a representative of each officiating Olympic referee or other official, at the opening ceremonies of each Olympic Games...
at the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Formerly a competitive
gymnastGymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...
, Bonaly is famous for her backflip landed on only one blade; she is considered the only skater in the world capable of this move. She is also known for having attempted a quadruple
toe loop jumpThe toe loop is one of the simplest jumps in figure skating. It is usually the second jump learned after the salchow. It is a toe pick-assisted jump that takes off and lands on the same backward outside edge. - Toe loop technique :...
at the 1991
World Figure Skating ChampionshipsThe World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
- the first and only female skater to have done so. Though she landed the jump, she was not fully rotated in the air and had to complete the rotation on the ice, making it a triple and not a quadruple jump. Bonaly was never credited with successfully landing the jump by the
International Skating UnionThe International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Netherlands in 1892, making it one of the oldest international...
. However, despite her athletic skills, Bonaly was notably awkward on the ice between jumps and long suffered from low artistic impression scores.
She competed in the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships in
Chibais the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 km east of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. Its population as of 2008 is approximately 960,000....
,
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. With
Nancy KerriganNancy Ann Kerrigan is a two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist and 1993 U.S. champion.-Early life and skating career:...
,
Oksana BaiulOksana Serhiyivna Baiul is a Ukrainian professional figure skater. She is the 1994 Olympic Champion in Ladies' Singles and 1993 World Champion.-Early and personal life:...
and
Chen LuChen Lu is a Chinese figure skater. She is the 1994 and 1998 Olympic bronze medalist and the 1995 World Champion. Chen won the first ever Olympic medal in figure skating for China.- Amateur career :...
not competing, it was an open field for the championship. Bonaly skated a clean performance but, according to the judges, home country favorite
Yuka Satois a Japanese figure skater. She is the 1994 World Champion, the 1990 World Junior Champion and the 1993 & 1994 Japanese national champion. She placed 7th at the 1992 Winter Olympics and 5th at the 1994 Winter Olympics.-Personal life:...
had a better skate. Bonaly thought she had been robbed and defiantly stood beside the medals platform rather than on it. Although she was coaxed into standing on the platform, Bonaly took off her silver medal after it was presented to her and was immediately booed by the crowd. After the medals presentation, a crying Bonaly was greeted by reporters. Her only statement: "I'm just not lucky." She believed she'd been robbed of gold in 1993 as well, as she thought she should have beaten Oksana Baiul at the '93 World Championship competition. (Baiul narrowly won the world title, having been outjumped and outspun by Bonaly but having received higher artistic impression scores.)
In May 1996, Bonaly suffered a very serious injury, rupturing her
achilles tendonThe Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
, that caused her to miss much of the following season.
Bonaly resides in
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
,
NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
,
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and became an American citizen in June 2004. She toured with the
Champions on IceChampions on Ice was a touring ice show in the United States. The show featured a large cast of both professional and Olympic-eligible figure skaters along with novelty acts such as skating acrobats. The shows were focused primarily on solo performances by the skaters rather than ensemble work or...
skating show for several years until they went out of business after the 2007 season. Bonaly also recently completed shows in Russia with
Evgeni PlushenkoEvgeni Viktorovich Plushenko is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist, 2002 Winter Olympics Silver Medalist, and 2010 Winter Olympics Silver Medalist, three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final champion and an eight-time...
and was a guest skater at Ice Theatre of New York's December 2008 gala in NYC where she successfully performed her signature backflip.
Competitive highlights
| Event |
1987-88 |
1988-89 |
1989-90 |
1990-91 |
1991-92 |
1992-93 |
1993-94 |
1994-95 |
1995-96 |
1996-97 |
1997-98 |
Winter OlympicsThe Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
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5th |
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4th |
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10th |
| World Championships The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
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10th |
9th |
5th |
11th |
2nd |
2nd |
2nd |
5th |
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| European Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...
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8th |
4th |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
2nd |
9th |
6th |
| World Junior Championships The World Junior Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which younger figure skaters compete for the title of World Junior Champion...
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14th |
3rd |
2nd |
1st |
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| French Championships The French Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of France. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters compete at the senior level...
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4th |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
2nd |
| Skate America Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is organized by the United States Figure Skating Association. The location changes yearly...
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6th |
5th |
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3rd |
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2nd |
3rd |
4th |
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| Skate Canada International The Skate Canada International is an international, senior-level invitation-only figure skating competition organized by Skate Canada. It is the second competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. The location changes yearly. Medals are awarded in four disciplines: Ladies' singles, Men's...
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7th |
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1st |
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3rd |
| Trophée Lalique |
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7th |
1st |
1st |
5th |
1st |
1st |
1st |
3rd |
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| Cup of Russia The Cup of Russia is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Figure skaters compete in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. It was held as the Rostelecom Cup in 2009 after...
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4th |
| NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Figure skaters compete in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, and ice dancing....
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2nd |
1st |
1st |
2nd |
4th |
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| Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part...
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1st |
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| Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany. The competition is named after the Nebelhorn, a nearby mountain....
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2nd |
1st |
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| Piruetten |
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4th |
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Appearances in pop culture
- Bonaly was an off-screen character on the "Will on Ice" episode of NBC's Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
which originally aired on January 12, 1999.
- Bonaly, a vegetarian, has appeared in many PETA
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
ads in both English and French namely acting against Canada's baby seal hunt and against the fur tradeThe fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
.
- Bonaly was the Finalist of La Ferme Célébrités
La Ferme Célébrités is the French version of the international TV show The Farm, produced in France by Endemol and broadcast on TF1. A certain number of B-List celebrities appearing on it. The show was running in 2004 and 2005, then in 2010. It was hosted by Christophe Dechavanne and Patrice...
season 3.
External links