Surya Bonaly
Surya Bonaly (* December 15, 1973 in Nice ) is a former French figure skater who started in a single run. It is the European champion in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Biography
Bonaly was born in Nice in 1973 and by Suzanne Bonaly, a physical education teacher, and her husband George, an architect who worked for the government adopted. Bonalys biological parents are from La Réunion. At the age of ten years Bonaly began to train in the group of former figure skater and figure skating coach Didier Gailhaguet that time. Before she came to the figure skating, operating Bonaly Gymnastics, Trampolining and Tumbling ( a non-Olympic version of floor gymnastics ), everything also competitively. In tumbling, she was, as later in figure skating, even Junior World Champion.
In the years 1989 to 1997 Bonaly was champion of France. In 1989, she first participated at World and European Championships. In 1991, she became Junior World Champion in Budapest. In the same year she won her first gold medal at the European Championship in Sofia. It was the first European Championship title for a French woman in the ladies competition. Bonaly could defend that title four times, so it five times in a row was European champion in the years 1991 to 1995. Bonaly was replaced in 1996 by Irina Sluzkaja, behind which she was vice - European champion this year.
At the World Championships she was not so successful. Three times in succession, it was from 1993 to 1995 Vice World Champion, only behind Oksana Bajul that they had defeated twice at the European Championships, then behind Satō Yuka and finally behind Chen Lu. At the World Figure Skating Championships 1994 in Chiba, they felt cheated by the judges for victory and first entered the podium not, later they took their demonstratively silver medal from and was booed by the audience. Back in 1993, she felt cheated out of the victory, as they had defeated Oksana Bajul jump technically, but her subject at the end because of the poorer reviews in artistic expression.
Three times Bonaly took part in Winter Olympics without winning a medal. 1992 in Albertville they finished fifth, 1994 in Lillehammer fourth place in 1998 in Nagano tenth. At the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville she spoke the Olympic oath.
Bonaly was known for her great jump talent. In 1991, she was the first woman who attempted a quadruple jump in a World Cup, a toe loop. She got the jump too, but it only rotated on the ice at the end, which is why he was not recognized as a quadruple jump. Bonaly himself was so pleased and excited after the jump that it crashed shortly thereafter. She was often criticized for its lack of artistic expression and got low ratings in this segment.
Bonaly is living in Las Vegas, Nevada and in 2004 was U.S. citizen. By 2007, she toured for several years with the ice show Champions on Ice. Even as a professional runner, she was successful. It was here the first woman who commanded a one-legged landed backflip. Bonaly had previously been noticed in competitions as the runner with the fastest and longest pirouettes.