November 14, 2025
The trailblazing Olympian, lengthy well-known for breaking racial and athletic obstacles in quantity skating, claims burglars took her most valued icons of a groundbreaking occupation.
Adorned determine skater Surya Bonaly is asking the general public for assist after discovering that her Las Las vega dwelling had been robbed and her assortment of worldwide medals had truly been taken. The 51 -year-old champ athlete, whose daring one-blade backflip on the 1998 Nagano Olympics stays amongst one of the vital memorable moments in Olympic background, shared the data in a psychological Instagram weblog publish.
“You see, all these medals that I gained up to now whereas finishing in numerous worlds and European championships are regretfully gone,” she created, describing that “anyone I point out a pair burglarized my dwelling and took all my helpful.” Bonaly prompted residents to sharp authorities in the event that they run into “overseas gold and silver medals on the market,” including, “Please, please name the Police shortly, thanks.”
In accordance to Cleveland , the stolen merchandise stand for years of rivals on the highest diploma of the sporting exercise. Throughout her job, Bonaly generated 13 medals all through the Globe Championships, European Championships, and World Junior Championships, turning into a five-time European champion and among the many most dynamic skilled athletes of her period. Now a prepare in Las Vegas, she contended in three Winter Olympics within the 1990 s, finishing as excessive as 4th space.
Bonaly’s legendary one-footed backflip in Nagano– a transfer prohibited contemplating that 1976– outlined her brave method to skating. She did it no matter recognizing she can be penalized and regardless of managing an Achilles damage on the time. To day, no skater has replicated the accomplishment on the Olympics.
Her story has lengthy resonated past the ice. Adopted from an orphanage and raised by a white household, Bonaly shortly understood she was usually “the simply Black girls skater” at European competitions. Her reasonably priced occupation was marked not simply by sports activities excellence nonetheless additionally by looking predisposition in a primarily white sport.
On the World Championships, after positioning second behind Japan’s Yuka Sato, she was loudly booed by the gang earlier than being swarmed by press reporters asking whether or not she supposed to surrender. Quantity skating teacher Joel Savary, creator of the Department out Ice Basis, acknowledged minutes like these chipped away at her spirit: “I actually really feel that was the beginning of the courts truly sporting her down … The feeling that I felt was it paints one other unfavorable image of an individual of shade,” he instructed TODAY
Andrea Jordan of Determine Skating in Harlem referred to as Bonaly’s willpower wonderful. “Being an athletic woman of shade … and nonetheless proceed that space and full all what she achieved is wonderful,” she acknowledged.
Police have truly not but introduced any sort of leads within the theft. Bonaly actually hopes somebody will definitely establish the swiped medals and help return the defining indicators of her introducing occupation.
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