Surya Bonaly

[drivingmissdaisy]

Surya would have thrived under the current scoring system. The jumps alone would have given her a higher base value and great technical advantage over her competitors. That being said, would she have been burned on presentation, transitions, footwork?

She would have struggled with the non-jump aspects, but I think it would have been a good thing because it would have given her greater clarity on areas that needed improvement. I think what hurt her is the mixed signals she got from judges; at competitions like Euros the judges loved her while at Worlds she was defeated by skaters who had much less technical content. With COP she would have been slammed consistently and I think it would have motivated her to improve.

 

[anyanka]

She would have struggled with the non-jump aspects, but I think it would have been a good thing because it would have given her greater clarity on areas that needed improvement. I think what hurt her is the mixed signals she got from judges; at competitions like Euros the judges loved her while at Worlds she was defeated by skaters who had much less technical content. With COP she would have been slammed consistently and I think it would have motivated her to improve.

Good thoughts, was thinking the same thing as well. And it would have been relatively consistent, Olympic-year grade inflation (which applied to all top skaters regardless of nationality) notwithstanding.

 

[LiamForeman]

I really liked Surya as an amateur. While she might not have been a skilled skater, she added excitement to any competition she participated in. Her era was probably my favorite because you had so many contrasting styles among the top competitors (Oksana, Chen, Nancy, Surya, Yuka, etc.) These days it seems like everyone skates the same.

Mine too. I still feel that Surya totally deserved the 1993 World title. Her opening 3toe-1/2loop-3sal was magnificent. She really popped up into that 1/2loop, best I've ever seen done in a sequence.

Happy Birthday, Surya.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

She would have struggled with the non-jump aspects, but I think it would have been a good thing because it would have given her greater clarity on areas that needed improvement. I think what hurt her is the mixed signals she got from judges; at competitions like Euros the judges loved her while at Worlds she was defeated by skaters who had much less technical content. With COP she would have been slammed consistently and I think it would have motivated her to improve.

I agree that she would have worked a lot on her transitions and overall skating.

It's kind of silly when we say so-and-so would have done poorly under IJS... well, yeah, the vast majority of programs that won in the 80's and 90's wouldn't do well under IJS, but clearly the skaters (who grew up doing figures) would easily be able to modify their programs and add rotations to spins and such. Her skating skills were weak, but man she was exciting to watch.

 

[noskates]

Personally, I never cared for her skating. It was too herky jerky for me and I thought she had a horrible attitude. I think people were fascinated with her jumping ability but the rest of it was just not very good. She telegraphed jumps, didn't skate to her music, and then there was the spector of her mother standing at the boards. Odd.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Mine too. I still feel that Surya totally deserved the 1993 World title. Her opening 3toe-1/2loop-3sal was magnificent. She really popped up into that 1/2loop, best I've ever seen done in a sequence.

Happy Birthday, Surya.

For me she had the absolute best 1/2 loop combo of any woman, ever. She carried so much speed out of the fist jump.

 

[xabia]

Personally, I never cared for her skating. It was too herky jerky for me and I thought she had a horrible attitude. I think people were fascinated with her jumping ability but the rest of it was just not very good. She telegraphed jumps, didn't skate to her music, and then there was the spector of her mother standing at the boards. Odd.

Well the mother didn't bother me at all - what bothered me was everything you've said above. Jerky, no artistry, awful to watch. I was never a fan, sorry!

 

[AsadaFanBoy]

Wow. What an innovator. She had that COP flailing arms thing down a decade before it became a requirement.

 

[noskates]

Well the mother didn't bother me at all - what bothered me was everything you've said above. Jerky, no artistry, awful to watch. I was never a fan, sorry!

Just my opinion.

 

[Mafke]

I was always a big fan, despite her shortcomings in some areas. She had a real personality on ice and it was such a relief from the pretty princessy sameness of so much of the rest of the field.

She totally should have won 1993 worlds and her backflip onto one foot up into a triple salchow is one of the weirdest and most awesome accomplishments ever.

 

[ice coverage]

Many hundreds have retweeted and favorited the official Olympic Vine of Bonaly's backflip:

‏@Olympics

Don't try this at home. #MotivationalMonday https://vine.co/v/OUwn72KVt2n
9:40 AM - 9 Feb 2015
https://twitter.com/Olympics/status/564841210259320833​

via @rchlltz

 

[Globetrotter]

Surya would have thrived under the current scoring system. The jumps alone would have given her a higher base value and great technical advantage over her competitors. That being said, would she have been burned on presentation, transitions, footwork?

She would have scored well under the TES for jumps. However, I think her step sequence and spins would be ugly. Surya is highly entertaining and a great jumper but her basic skating skills is non existent. I remembered that she was never really able to use the edges. The old 6.0 system was notoriously effy and subjective. under the CoP system, she will get burned in PCS for SS, TR and CR although I think her PE will be great since she is so entertaining and a big persona. However, CoP judging will more consistently show her that her steps and skating skills and transition (outflow, steps into jumps etc) are areas of weaknesses that get lowballed. That said, it may be easier for her to identify where she needs to buck up unlike 6.0 which gave her mixed signals all the time.

 

[BlackPack]

I think Surya would have done a lot worse in the current judging system, but the fact is she would have struggled in both systems.

She is highly entertaining and fun to watch, but let's face it, she doesn't know how to skate. She might as well wear shoes on the ice, because she has almost no ability or knowledge to use edges and to glide on the ice. It is obvious she has the athletic ability and power to do so, but she never applied herself in that manner, showing a lack of discipline and poor coaching.

A 4/5-triple Oksana Baiul and Yuka Sato beating her at Worlds twice in a row despite her 7/8 triples show that the judges favor the ability to truly skate. It is the same reason why Patrick Chan won so many times.

In some programs, there was minimal or no choreography. Her wildness, "exoticism," and cult of personality were the only choreography.

I may sound really critical of Surya, but I was a huge fan. Skating is truly an art and she was its antithesis. She can do jumps but so can ballerinas and acrobats. They're no skaters though.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

i think surya would have done a lot worse in the current judging system, but the fact is she would have struggled in both systems.

She is highly entertaining and fun to watch, but let's face it, she doesn't know how to skate. She might as well wear shoes on the ice, because she has almost no ability or knowledge to use edges and to glide on the ice. It is obvious she has the athletic ability and power to do so, but she never applied herself in that manner, showing a lack of discipline and poor coaching.

A 4/5-triple oksana baiul and yuka sato beating her at worlds twice in a row despite her 7/8 triples show that the judges favor the ability to truly skate. It is the same reason why patrick chan won so many times.

In some programs, there was minimal or no choreography. Her wildness, "exoticism," and cult of personality were the only choreography.

I may sound really critical of surya, but i was a huge fan. Skating is truly an art and she was its antithesis. She can do jumps but so can ballerinas and acrobats. They're no skaters though.

This. I've said this over and over since the days Surya skated amateur. She can't skate. She looks like she's gliding on double runners between the jumps. And like someone said above she had a herky-jerky style and telegraphed jumps - badly. What jumps she got into the air and her backflip were fun to watch though. I think her fortunate that she made World and European podiums considering how mediocre her skating was between her muscled jumps.

 

[gmyers]

she was great on the ice! people cant even stand on the ice! she took off and landed on it moving fast. judges and commentators would say backflip isnt a jump because two foot landing and then she was like ill land it on one foot and she did!!! she showed them all. she could do it. her loss to sato was the most wrong thing in ladies skating ever

 

[solani]

she was great on the ice! people cant even stand on the ice! she took off and landed on it moving fast. judges and commentators would say backflip isnt a jump because two foot landing and then she was like ill land it on one foot and she did!!! she showed them all. she could do it. her loss to sato was the most wrong thing in ladies skating ever

I don't think so. She was entertaining, yes, but in my opinion she was never harshly judged, quite the opposite. The presentation score wasn't all about jumps. And even the jumps weren't all that great most of the time. And I think it's a pity, because she was obviously very talented. Frank Carroll thought so, but mother and daugther decided that they didn't need him after a couple of weeks training with him ...
If you participate in a sport you have to play by the rules, otherwise you can be the star in a circus. It was always her (or her mother's) decision not to play by the rules, to be different, yes. I'm pretty sure other skaters could've done a one-foot backflip if the wanted to, but what for? She didn't respect the rules of the sport and concurrently she didn't respect her opponents.
And I believe it's a good thing that the backflip is banned from competition (one-foot, two-foot landing, I don't care) because I don't want to see little girls and boys without helmet practicing backflips in warm-up's before competions (like she did, she was crazy ... I remember this video where Katarina Witt is talking about Surya blocking Midori Ito in her 3A attempts with her backflip.)