She was known as an elite athlete
An unparalleled technical jumper
She could land a quadruple axel
Jump, spin, one, two, three, four times, land
She could glide on one skate and bring the other so far back
it touched her head

But in women’s figure skating
artistic merit is equivalent
to the delicate grace
of a fairy princess
And Surya Bonaly
was nobody’s princess

For her short technical program
she skated to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”
the soundtrack of her champeenships
Three and a half minutes in
she rounded the ice once, twice
then turned her backside to the judges
and executed a backflip
landing on a single blade

The backflip is an illegal move
Too dangerous
Immediate disqualification

The crowd went wild
Surya Bonaly smiled
The judges’ brains exploded

Dear Judges,

When you go to sleep at night
dream
of ever being one bit as beautiful
as powerful
and as proud a warrior who bows to no man, and no woman
as I

Love,
Surya

P.S.
Fuck. you.

Surya Bonaly lives and skates today in Las Vegas
She remains the only figure skater in the world
to land a backflip
on a single blade