Talk:Surya Bonaly

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WikiProject Biography Assessment

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Yamara 18:42, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Discussion
Wasn't she the first female skater who attempted a quad jump? If I recall correctly, she tried it for a long time and was finally told that if she wanted to do better at competitions she had to work on her artistic, not technial skating I seem to recall this to be one of the defining things about her. Someone please confirm and add the details. --24.79.238.235 00:43, 19 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_%28figure_skating%29

The article wants a citation that Bonaly is the only skater able to land the back flip on one foot. This is from 2000 and it says that Bonaly is the only skater male or female able to do so. While it is possible that someone has done it since, I think I would have heard about it. 24.77.81.154 (talk) 22:33, 23 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Another citation, from the first time she landed the backflip on one foot, in the 1998 Nagano Olympics.


 * It's impossible to prove that no one else has every done one (it's impossible to prove a negative), but it's possible to cite that it's been said (more than once) that Surya is the only one who can do it. 76.21.120.118 (talk) 07:15, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Illegal back flip at 1998 Olympics
It was a spectacular way to end her Olympic career and should be mentioned. She was making a statement with the illegal back flip on how she felt unjustly lowly scored. Also, Surya was always headstrong and strong-willed and always spoke up in defense of herself and her literally flipping off the judges (ha ha) attests to as much.

She already knew she was not going to win and felt she had been scored lowly, as usual. When she positioned herself to start the back flip, the crowd quickly realized what she was about to do and cheered her. If I recall correctly, so did the commentators. Surya was heavily penalized afterwards but was content with her statement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/olympics1998/sport/figskate/articles/notes21.htm

"The most decorated skater of African descent"
Well, that claim is somewhat debatable; other candidates include Tai Babilonia and Debi Thomas, both former World Champions. I'll soften the wording a little. Dr.frog 22:12, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

"World champion gymnast"
I removed this claim. Best as I can recall, Bonaly won a junior tumbling championship in France before she gave up gymnastics to concentrate on skating, but somebody ought to track down a specific reference from a neutral and reliable source (e.g., not like the made-up publicity about Reunion Island) before making claims about her accomplishments in that sport. Dr.frog 23:24, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

"Early Life" section violates WP:UNDUE
What should be a section about her early life is mostly about her parents' misrepresentation of where she was born. That presents an unbalanced view. We should hear more about her upbringing. The birthplace discussion should be a fraction as long. Edison (talk) 16:01, 11 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Compared to other skaters, the entire section on her childhood is overlong.Parkwells (talk) 22:08, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Main image reasoning
Due to repetitive reverts on the main infobox image I am going to explain why I think that it should be updated, to present my full reasoning and prevent further switching on the main page.

The previous/yellow dress image is of extremely low quality, with her facial features indiscernible It does not make for a good Introductory Image; while this quality image would be appropriate for a person of very few available images, in this case there are better quality images of her that would be true portraits, making her personally identifiable from the get-go. A true portrait would also make the whole article feel a little more polished and aligning closer to the visual formatting of other prominent skaters of her era and other B to GA quality figure skater/public figure articles (ex: Michelle Kwan, Yuzuru Hanyu, and Tara Lipinski).

The yellow dress image can still be further used in the body of the article as a visual representation of her competitive experience.

If you disagree I am open to discussing why you think yellow dress should remain. MeSpnt (talk) 05:19, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

I’ve read your explanation and I agree. I still edited with an image from the same event because I think it’s a better looking one. If this last change bother you feel free to edit it and I won’t change it anymore as I agree with your overall sentiment. Lolamelody123456 (talk) 01:19, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

The first backflip in 1994 Olympics
Why does the article completely ignore the first time Bonaly performed a backflip? The article only talks about the 1998 Olympics and says nothing of the scared performing the move 4 years earlier in Lillehammer. 2603:8001:723F:786C:2C2A:358B:BD24:3F4 (talk) 21:14, 2 December 2023 (UTC)


 * @2603:8001:723F:786C:2C2A:358B:BD24:3F4, do you have a reference for this? If so, please provide it. Thanks, Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 18:48, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Are you saying that Bonaly performed a backflip at the Olympics? Um, the 1984 Winter Olympics were in Sarajevo and Bonaly wasn't there because she was only 10 years old, making her too young to compete. Are you talking about the first person to accomplish the backflip? If so, please provide who it was and a source, please. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 19:08, 3 December 2023 (UTC)
 * She did also do the backflip in the 1994 figure skating exhibition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreoWzjej8k
 * The famous one is from Nagano, however: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreoWzjej8k 109.70.84.130 (talk) 09:41, 18 December 2023 (UTC)