Surya Bonaly

Surya Bonaly is a French former figure skater and coach, born Claudine on 15 December 1973 in Nice and adopted at eight months by Suzanne and Georges Bonaly. A gymnast before she took up skating at twelve, she became a three-time World silver medalist (1993 to 1995), a five-time European champion (1991 to 1995), the 1991 World Junior champion and a nine-time French national champion. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano she became the first Olympic figure skater to land a backflip on one blade, and she retired soon afterward. She went on to a long professional career in ice shows around the world and later coached in Las Vegas, Colorado, Minnesota and Switzerland.