BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-FRENCH " SURYA BONALY " IS A FRENCH AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL FIGURE SKATER, SHE IS A THREE TIMES WORLD SILVER MEDALIST A FIVE TIME EUROPEAN CHAMPION, THE 1991 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPION AND A NINE TIMES FRENCH NATIONAL CHAMPION : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                               BLACK                   SOCIAL                HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

   Surya Bonaly  born December 15, 1973 is a French-American professional figure skater. She is a three-time World silver medalist, a five-time European champion, the 1991 World Junior Champion and a nine-time French national champion.

Personal life

Bonaly was born in Nice, 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 Réunion, because, as David Walle chinsky'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 Gailhaguet, who was Bonaly's first coach of her competitive career, admitted fabricating the story because he thought it would interest the press.

Bonaly became an American citizen in January 2004. She resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bonaly, a vegetarian, has appeared in many PETA ads in both English and French namely acting against Canada's seal hunt and against the fur trade.

Career

It was said that Gailhaguet discovered Bonaly when she was 10 years old and ice skating in a public session but years later, she 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 champion (1989–1997), five-time European champion (1991–1995), and three-time World silver medalist (1993–1995). At the Winter Olympics, she placed 5th in 1992 in Albertville, 4th in 1994 at Lillehammer, and 10th in 1998 at Nagano. Bonaly took the Athlete's Oath at the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Formerly a competitive gymnast, Bonaly is famous for her back flip landed on only one blade. At the 1991 World Championships, she became the first and only female to attempt a quadruple toe loop jump. Her jump was not fully rotated in the air and she had to complete the rotation on the ice, making it a triple and not a quadruple.

At the 1993 World Championships in Prague, Bonaly took silver behind Oksana Baiul, who narrowly took the title with higher presentation scores. At the 1994 World Championships in Chiba,Japan – where Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul and Chen Lu did not compete – gold went to home country favorite Yuka Sato and silver to Bonaly. 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. After the medals presentation, Bonaly's only statement to reporters was: "I'm just not lucky." She won her third World silver medal, behind Chen Lu of China, at the 1995 World Championships in Birmingham, England.

In May 1996, Bonaly ruptured her achilles tendon, causing her to miss much of the following season.

At the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Bonaly finished well out of reach of the gold medal following the short program. Believing she was unjustly scored, Bonaly decided to perform her back flip during the free skate to make a statement. The move, illegal in competition, caused a stir and resulted in a deduction but Bonaly was content with her decision. Bonaly then retired from amateur competition.

Bonaly toured with the Champions on Ice skating show for several years 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 back flip.

Bonaly was an off-screen character on the "Will on Ice" episode of NBC's Will & Grace which originally aired on January 12, 1999. In 2010, she was a finalist on La Ferme Célébrités season 3.

Competitive highlights

International
Event	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98
Olympics					5th		4th				10th
Worlds		10th	9th	5th	11th	2nd	2nd	2nd	5th
Europeans		8th	4th	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	9th	6th
Cup of Russia											4th
Lalique		7th	1st	1st	5th	1st	1st	1st	3rd
Nations Cup						1st
NHK Trophy					2nd	1st	1st	2nd	4th
Skate America			6th	5th		3rd		2nd	3rd	4th
Skate Canada			7th		1st						3rd
Goodwill Games				3rd				1st
Nebelhorn			2nd	1st
Piruetten							4th
International: Junior
Junior Worlds	14th	3rd	2nd	1st
National
French Champ.	4th	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd