This blog post is a response to the RadioLab podcast entitled ‘On The Edge’, which covers the story of the French Olympic figure skater Surya Bonaly. Adopted as a baby by a white couple from Nice in the South of France, Surya was brought up around figure skating and showed immense promise as a figure skater herself; she began skating at only eighteen months old. However, Surya’s career never quite seemed to reach its projected peak. ‘On The Edge’ opens the floor for discussions about Surya’s professional reception from commentators, judges, and fellow competitors in an attempt to analyse the extent to which Surya’s trajectory was stalled by the combination of stereotypes of femininity and prejudices against black women. It is a shame that the commentators of the podcast seem to be so willing to gloss over the racism experienced by Surya Bonaly whilst claiming to discuss it.
In light of this, before I begin writing about my personal response to the RadioLab podcast, I feel the need to acknowledge my lack of lived experience; as a white woman, systemic racism against myself does not exist. I cannot speak as though I understand. I am not trying to score points by stating this, but I feel the need to be open in my ability to view this only academically.
This said, the main question that the podcast raised for me is not necessarily whether Surya herself was experiencing racial prejudice that prevented her from winning her gold medal. This is obvious. Instead, I question why Surya was the only black woman competing at a world-class level in figure skating in as recent a time as 1998? In fact, the date is irrelevant: why do black women appear to have been excluded from figure skating? The answer seems to lie in the method of judging attainment in skating: subjective (read: racist) white aesthetics. At the core of figure skating there exists systemic exclusion. Describing her as ‘exotic’, and focusing upon the ‘elegance’ and overall ‘aesthetic’ appeal of a skater’s routine, the only possible reason for the harsh marking Surya experienced is that the judges didn’t view black skin as being appealing. They didn’t view her ‘more muscular build’ as being ‘feminine’. What they wanted was a ‘balletic’, “delicate” white girl. Or at the very least a light-skinned, white-passing girl.
The questions I am then left with are incredibly telling about the vast gulf of opportunity that Surya’s history shows still exists. Would Surya have even become a figure skater if her adoptive mother had not been a skating coach? Would she have been able to access professional support? Would she even have held the ‘dream’ of Olympic skating without being placed on the rink at a young age? From my research I can only find one other black female figure skater who competed at the Winter Olympics: her name is Debi Thomas, and that was in 1988. Debi Thomas is the only African-American woman to have ever medalled in Figure Skating at the Winter Olympics. Surya grew up almost completely devoid of representation of her image in top-level figure skaters.
Surya Bonaly is remembered first for her ‘defiance’ and ‘aggression’: incredibly negative characteristics to attach to a young woman who tried to change her entire skating style to fit the model of white lyricism that she was judged against. But she is also remembered for being the first female figure skater to attempt a quadruple jump, as well as being the only known figure skater to be able to land a backflip on one foot on ice. She is the only known person to be able to land the most dangerous move, let alone landing it impulsively with a pulled muscle in one leg and a recently ruptured and repaired Achilles’ tendon in the other. Her ability is undeniable. So is her struggle. Listening to ‘On The Edge’ I was reminded of the comments that still surround athletes like Simone Biles and Serena Williams, the latter particularly having suffered at the hands of racist umpires throughout her career. I wish I couldn’t think of current examples of prejudice, but I think such a statement relates to my earlier point about being white. As far as what we can learn from ‘On The Edge’, from Surya Bonaly, and from other black women, I think one statement from the podcast stuck out to me: ‘racism makes black people crazy’. One commentator went so far as to suggest that black people are paranoid. What we can learn is that it is not paranoia; it is that anyone who is not white is forced to live with the constant fear that the person they are talking to, working with, or being scored by harbours a belief that at best, they are better than them because they are white. At worst they want them dead.
Millennialisms 