“Didn’t think about politics and judges” – Here’s why Surya Bonaly always listened to crowd

“Didn’t think about politics and judges” – Here’s why Surya Bonaly always listened to crowd

Surya Bonaly

Former French Olympian Surya Bonaly reckoned that she argued with her coach in practice about whether to attempt a quad jump in her free skate routine at the 1992 Winter Olympics. He had advised against the same looking at how it might be judged, but she went for it anyway because there was always one group whose approval she wanted the most: the crowd.

“I didn’t think about politics and judges,” she said during an interview with Today. “It was not my field. I just wanted to get people clapping and out of their seats and put on a show.”

“It was a challenge of being the best and being better than the champion, who was white,” Bonaly said. “I had to be better than a normal skater. It was a challenge every single day, but in a way, it was just like a real fun goal to reach every night.”

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“Debi Thomas was very muscular and like a bomb on the ice”

Debi Thomas
Debi Thomas

The World Championships silver medal winner also talked about the only other prominent Black skater in singles competition at the time was American Debi Thomas, who won bronze at the 1988 Olympics. The 4-foot-9 Japanese dynamo was compact, explosive and muscular, able to land seven triple jumps during her free skate.

“I would watch videos over and over of her, repeating her program every practice like her,” Bonaly said. “She was an amazing jumper. Asian skaters were not very common at that time, and Midori Ito does not have that typical (figure skating) body of being super slim.

“She was very muscular and like a bomb on the ice, and she inspired me to believe I could be like her. She helped people kind of start getting used to seeing people of color skating at a high level.”

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