HOPEFULLY, IT WAS THE ONLY FLIP SHE DECIDED TO SHOW THEM
France’s Surya Bonaly cupped her hands over her mouth and booed the judges after receiving disappointing marks in her first major international competition, the 1991 world championships in Halifax, Canada.
Seven years later, despite five European championships and three world championship silver medals, her feelings for the judges haven’t warmed considerably.
In the freestyle program Friday night, probably her last competition on the world stage, she performed an illegal back flip.
She knew it was illegal because she had been warned about it during the 1992 Winter Olympics. She did the move in a practice there, interrupting Japanese medal-contender Midori Ito’s routine.
“It was a free skate, and I wanted to do something to please the crowd and not the judges,” Bonaly, 24, said Friday night. “The judges weren’t pleased with me no matter what I do.”
They certainly weren’t in this case, giving her technical scores ranging from 4.8 to 5.3 and presentation scores ranging from 4.9 to 5.3.
She began the night in sixth place and finished in 10th.
The good news is that the former gymnast landed the back flip on one foot. No skater, man or woman, has been able to do that except for Bonaly.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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