The French skater did an illegal somersault, received penalty points and still won

This element was banned in figure skating back in 1976.

At the Chinese Shanghai Trophy tournament, French figure skater Adam Xiao Him Fa decided to surprise the audience and performed a somersault in his free program. He impressed the audience, but for violating the rules he received two penalty points from the jury. However, this did not prevent the current European champion from winning the gold medal. He was ahead of his closest rival, Korean Cha Jun Hwan, by as much as 28 points.

The first person to do a somersault on ice was the American Terry Kubicka. He first performed it at the championship in the USA in 1976. Then he repeated his signature move at the Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria that same year.


However, a few months after the Olympics, figure skating sports officials decided to ban this element. It is officially believed to be due to its potential danger, and also because it is illegal to land on both feet in figure skating. According to the unofficial version, due to the fact that the somersault violates the aesthetics of figure skating and looks defiant.

However, a decade later, the forbidden element was repeated by the French figure skater Suriya Bonaly. The five-time European champion did this allegedly as a sign of protest. After failing in the short program (she collapsed on the ice), she had nothing to lose, she decided to take a risk and did a backflip.

After the scandal, this jump was named in her honor, but it was the last in her amateur career. As for the protest, she fought for the right to compete. According to her, she was discriminated against because of the color of her skin, and many called her skating unaesthetic and overweight. This is partly true, Bonaly was far from a fragile girl, and in pursuit of complex elements she neglected the quality of sliding.