French skating legend Surya Bonaly revealed that her Las Vegas home was burglarized while she was away caring for her sick mother. Among the stolen items were her priceless championship medals, earned over decades of competition and perseverance.
The 51-year-old, best known for her iconic one-footed backflip at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, took to Instagram to share the devastating news.
“All those medals that I won in the past while competing in different worlds and European championships are sadly gone,” Bonaly wrote. “Several days ago, someone, I mean, a couple, burglarized my home and stole all my valuables.”
Bonaly, who now works as a coach in Las Vegas, pleaded for help from local residents and pawn shops. She asked anyone who might come across foreign gold and silver medals for sale to contact the police.
For fans, the post was gut-wrenching. Those medals represented not only her victories but also a story that’s deeply personal to the Black community that watched her defy both gravity and the odds.
In the 1990s, Bonaly shattered expectations in a sport that wasn’t built to celebrate her. Known for her athletic power, fierce individuality, and refusal to conform, she often found herself penalized for her strength and creativity. Her backflips, banned in competition, became her signature act of rebellion. During the 1998 Olympics, she famously landed a backflip on one foot, an unprecedented move that remains unmatched to this day.
“I was really ahead of my time,” Bonaly told NBC Sports in a 2022 interview. “Triples, I could do that with my eyes closed. I said, Hey, with extra speed, with extra height, I could do quadruple if I work on it.”
She added that her approach to the sport was more about breaking stereotypes of what women, and especially Black women, could do on the ice. “It’s good that finally, after 30 years, somebody says, hey, we need to step it up and upgrade,” she said.
While she never took home an Olympic medal, Bonaly’s boldness, artistry, and defiance made her a trailblazer. To this day, she remains an icon, inspiring generations of skaters and young Black girls to take up space in arenas that once shut them out.
