Rebel on Ice

David W. Carmichael / Wikimedia

Last week ESPN aired a short documentary on three-time World Silver Medalist and five-time European Champion Surya Bonaly. 'Rebel on Ice' was terrific for a number of reasons, but I'm most interested in the fact that a piece of mainstream media finally acknowledged the extreme lack of diversity in figure skating. It's directed by Retta of 'Parks and Recreation' fame, and produced by Eva Longoria as part of a series on ESPN. You can watch it here.

Surya Bonaly is one of the most talented athletes the sport has ever seen. Watching her back in the 90s was spellbinding. She had flawless ebony skin, and a chiseled, muscular body that lightly bounced and flew across the ice like she was skating on the moon. And she was tough as nails out there on the ice, turning in powerful, jump-filled performances.

But she got shafted by the judges on the world stage time after time, who derisively called her a "gymnast on ice." She never got that coveted World Championship, and had to play second fiddle three times. She probably would have won at least one of them if they were using IJS when she competed. She definitely should have won Worlds in 1994. No offense to Japan's Yuka Sato, but Bonaly definitely out-skated her. And I don't begrudge Bonaly one bit for taking off that medal during the ceremony. I wouldn't have had the stones to do that if I'd been in her position, but I absolutely understand why she did it. And I also understand why she said f--- it at the end of her career and did the illegal backflip in her long program at the 1998 Nagano games. After putting in so much hard work to be held back by bias so wildly out of your control...well she's a goddamned winner and hero in my book for doing what she did. It should be noted of course that despite the barriers, she managed to eek out a very impressive resume (FIVE European Championships, people!).

Bonaly makes a great point in 'Rebel on Ice.' "I don't know if race made it more difficult," she said of her skating. "But it definitely made me stronger." In other words, she knew she had to work harder to prove she deserved success more than her competitors.

Which brings me back to the original point of this post. There is a gaping diversity gap in skating. A lot of that has to directly to do with income inequality I'm sure--little white girls more often have rich parents who can afford the cost of training at a high level, at least in America. (Little white boys too, but rampant homophobia is largely to blame for the lower numbers of male skaters.) But besides that, we can't deny this history of the way black female skaters are judged, which is discouraging at best.

Mae Berenice Meite of France is a modern example. She is a skater very much like Surya Bonaly--powerfully built and she's got a skating style that is wholly different from the little Russian twigs and the American ice princesses. The judges and commentators constantly criticize an apparent "lack" of artistry (as they did with Bonaly), and in my opinion, use it as an excuse to score her lower than she deserves throughout the competitive season. I don't think Meite is as good as Bonaly was, but she hasn't really gotten the chance to show that she could be now, has she?

If there wasn't a lack of diversity and some degree of racism, how can we explain the fact that I can count on one hand the number of black skaters who have achieved some measure of success on the World stage: Tai Babilonia, Debi Thomas, Surya Bonaly, Mae Berenice Meite and Robin Zsolkowy? And the first black skater ever to be nominated to the Hall of Fame, Mabel Fairbanks, wasn't even allowed to compete because of her color. What does that say about the sport? There's a great piece on New Republic that goes into more historical detail.

How do we fill the gap? With more programs like Figure Skating in Harlem and with more scrutiny of IJS judging for starters. And more little girls seeing bigger girls like them achieving success in the skating world. We all have our own responsibility as well within the skating community to foster an open-minded and welcoming atmosphere.