(ThyBlackMan.com) I was thoroughly tired of the current election cycle- specifically, of the “fact check” contradictor himself Donald Trump, who won the Republican Nomination and is now the apparent GOP standard bearer. To put that taste out of my mouth, I came across an article about the accomplishments of Surya Bonaly. This outstanding athlete was a breadth of fresh air in the era of crooked politics and even more circuitous politicians.
Surya Bonaly was born December 15, 1973 in Nice, France. She is a notable French-American professional figure skater best known for her unique skating style and bold jumps. She is a nine-time French national champion, a three-time World silver medalist, a five-time European champion, and the 1991 World Junior Champion. First to 
conquer the quadruple toe loop, her name remains inscribed in skating legend. On top of all this, she is best known for her astounding free skate at the 1998 Winter Olympics, when she finished a one bladed reverse somersault. Until 2016, she was the only skater to do this – not only among females. There have been 3 other skaters who have endeavored to complete a reverse somersaults in rivalry (all men), yet, she was the one and only to land successfully on one blade.
What she did was unprecedented and I think that is the primary reason she did it. As one might expect, Olympic figure skating can be heavily biased or racist. Surya was fed-up with being awarded lower scores than her white competitors, and she wasn’t okay with it. She had the belief that this was the reason why she was given low scores on her short display in competition one particular day, and she decided to send the judges a message.
Presently, back flips are insanely risky. In case you don’t land well you can greatly harm yourself, which would sideline anyone, possibly permanently. With an attempt to discourage athletes from attempting it, they were made unlawful in Olympic Games. The official reason they gave is that all jumps must be landed on one blade to be scored and, obviously, in order to finish a back flip you should land on both feet.
She not only completed a madly dangerous and difficult move but when Surya back flipped she basically made it lawful, on the grounds that she could do it while still comfortably resting/landing on one blade. She was challenging the judges to give her a low score again. Lamentably, despite everything, they concluded that the move was illegal and deducted it against her in her final score. While she may not have been able to get a medal, at least she got the last laugh. After finishing her free skate, she turned her back to the judges, indicating to them exactly how much their opinion mattered. For this, she stands out in figure-skating history forever as one the best skaters of all time.
Surya Bonaly’s success is reminiscent of 2008, when Barack Obama masterminded his campaign for president. He was met with a parade of implied, racist allegations- that he was not born in America, that he was Muslim, that he would destroy America from the inside out.
Even through all this, as the first black president, Barack Obama prevailed in 2 subsequent elections against all odds. In that regard, I’m proud to see that Barack Obama has shown the world; as has Surly Bonaly; when handed one of life’s proverbial lemons…make some lemonade!
Staff Writer; Stanley G. Buford
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