Profile of Surya Bonaly on Famous Like Me

Surya Bonaly (born December 15, 1973) is a French professional figure skater, born in Nice, France. She began skating when she was 18 months old. As a child, her skating heroes were Midori Ito and Brian Boitano. Bonaly won the European Figure Skating Championships five times in a row (1991 - 1995), but never managed to win first place in the World Championshops, or the Winter Olympics. She stands 5 feet tall and resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. She became an American citizen in November 2003.

Bonaly, once a world champion gymnast, is famous for both her back flip landed on one blade (she is the only skater in the world capable of this) and her defiant, saucy attitude. This attitude was shown at the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships in Chiba, Japan. With Nancy Kerrigan and Oksana Baiul out, it was an open field for the championship. Bonaly skated a clean performance, but according to the judges, home country favorite Yuka Sato skated a better one. Surya thought she was robbed. She showed defiance when she just stood aside of the medals platform rather than standing on it. Bonaly was coaxed into standing on it, but took her medal off after being presented with it. The crowd immediately booed her. After the presentation, a crying Surya was greeted by reporters.

During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, having lost any medal chance due to a missed triple Salchow jump, she decided to end her amateur career with a symbolic gesture. She performed her back flip, which is an illegal move, in front of the judges. They penalized her, and she finished 11th in the Olympic competition.

She is currently touring with Champions on Ice.

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