Surya Bonaly (FRA) - 1995 World Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Short Program

[@faeryquene]

Between the jumps Bonaly skates on the flats of the blade, lack of deep edges, stroking, telegraphs her jumps. She was lucky to place as high as she did in her career thanks to her muscled jumps.

[@dorothytaylor7830]

It doesn't matter how well Surya skate. The judges will always keep her scores to a minimum 5.0 to 5.7 so they can elevate her competitors (USA, RUSSIA, JAPAN and CHINA's) scores to win the Gold medals.

[@annabellewoods]

Critics at the time gave Surya so much flak for her lack of "artistry," but I don't think that was the problem here. Eek, those spins.....and those edges (or lack thereof)...

[@hairbrush81]

Bonaly deserved the gold over Bauil fully in 1993 I thought. However 1994 she definitely did not deserve to win at all, Sato was much better that night. 1995 is a closer call between her and Chen. So I dont agree at all on all 3, just 1 or 2 of the 3.

[@Danny-wy8kz]

she already has wobbly moment at the first layback spin...

[@wozniacki15]

even though she lacked artistry, bonaly was a great performer who entertained the audience

[@dorothytaylor7830]

Anybody would be nervous when they constantly worry about scores, scores and more scores.😟Entertaining only relieves the figure skater to feel very good.🤗

[@dorothytaylor7830]

Even though Surya DID NOT DO a backflip, she STILL received less than a 6.0 score.

[@FlabbyTitmuss]

Lol give it a rest. So you think Bonaly deserved 6.0 for every program? Get out of here.

[@hairbrush81]

Bonalys only mistake was a hand down in the combination which was a .1 deduction. In 1995 Kwan was only a jumper just like Bonaly is only a jumper, and Bonalys jumps have more power and height, which more than makes up the .1 for the hand down. Anyway even if Kwan beat Bonaly in the short it wouldnt affect the overall results. Kwan with a 4th in the short and 3rd in the long is still 4th overall due to Bobeks (fully deserved) short program win.

[@jorgebonilla2234]

This doesn’t make sense. Kwan wasn’t the artist she would soon be but still had good speed and presentation. She also had a superior spiral sequence, footwork, and no mandatory deductions (not just the hand down for Bonaly but also not doing the solo jump immediately out of steps)

[@punchingkwan3052]

@@jorgebonilla2234well when you want to get the benefit of the doubt you’ll have to earn it from the judges, reputation matters the most if 2 skaters preform equally as good, that’s why Michelle’s results were sometimes way too high after her 96 win

[@Dylvente]

@scootie12 Good analysis!

[@scootie12]

@Dylvente I thought I'd look closer at the scores to see what happened. It was close as Kwan and Bonaly had a 4/4 split on the technical votes, with the final judge awarding both 5.4. For presentation Bonaly wins 5 votes to Kwan's 4, with one judge awarding both the same score. I figured Bonaly would get the presentation mark simply on speed and maturity. Otherwise, her skating lacks in comparison to Kwan. Anyway, in total, Bonaly trumps Kwan with 5/4 split.

[@Dylvente]

I know it's easy to be an armchair-critic, but touch-down on combination, less difficult footwork than Kwan, much weaker spiral sequence, more telegraphing of the solo jump after the lead-in steps, wobbly spins. They really got it wrong placing her ahead of Kwan.

[@mlc2005]

Kwan deserved it, no doubt. Political correctness clearly in place. Kwan was clean, she wasn't, period. Plus, Surya re-used program WAY too much.