I get so frustrated that when people talk about the racism Surya Bonaly faced they only mention her 1998 olympic backflip being penalized even though it had been banned since 1977 (when she was a toddler) and she did it knowing she was going to get a reduction (she was injured and out of medal contention so she took the deduction to make a statement) But they never talk about how during the 1992 olympics in Albertville she got blamed for Midori Ito falling during her short program because Surya had landed a backflip near her during practice, which supposedly "intimidated" her so much that hours later she messed up. That's not the only time the media portrayed her practicing her backflip (which she was doing in exhibition programs at this point because of the deduction) as psychological warfare on the other skaters. That's textbook misogynoir, reading malice into everything a black woman does and portraying her as scary and intimidating to the ~delicate senses~ of nonblack women.
The racism Surya faced went a lot deeper than the isu not unbanning the backflip for her after she proved it could be landed on one foot. And her career (nine-time french champion, five-time european champion, three-time olympian) is a lot longer and more impressive than just her backflip too.
