French skater surya bonaly today

She is a three-time World silver medalist — , a five-time European champion — , the World Junior Champion, and a nine-time French national champion — Bonaly is the only Olympic figure skater to land a backflip on one blade; she performed it at the Winter Olympics in Nagano , Japan. She was named after the Hindu deities Surya and Varuna.

Surya bonaly backflip

She was placed in an orphanage by her birth mother and was adopted at eight months by Suzanne Bonaly, a physical education teacher in Nice, and Georges Bonaly, a draftsman who worked for the French government. Gailhaguet made up these stories about her early life "as a way to contend with better-established" skaters. Bonaly began gymnastics training from her mother at the age of two years old and won a silver medal for the trampoline in team tumbling at the Tumbling World Championships when she was 12 years old.

She began figure skating at the age of 12, when she successfully accomplished her first triple jump. Gailhaguet discovered Bonaly and invited her to train with him in Paris; her mother accompanied her there and her father stayed in Nice. Bonaly came in seventh place at Blue Swords , a junior-level competition in Germany, in At the World Junior Championships in December , she came in 14th place.

In the fall of , Bonaly competed at the Nebelhorn Trophy , where she came in second place, and at Skate America , where she came in sixth place. She again won the gold medal at the French Nationals and came in second place at Junior Worlds.