From Deadspin
When Bonaly showed up to the 1998 Olympics—her third and final Games—in Nagano, Japan, she was dealing with an Achilles injury. Bonaly was the world silver medalist from 1993-1995, but was not considered a serious podium threat at the Nagano Games. The favorites heading into that competition were 1997 world champion Tara Lipinski and 1996 world champion Michelle Kwan.
After the short program, Bonaly found herself in sixth place. She couldn’t possibly win the gold, and the other medals were probably out of reach too due to her placement and the fact that her injury had led her to struggle with her jumps. In her free skate performance, she fell on one, under-rotated another, singled an intended double.
Bonaly couldn’t do her planned triple lutz, the second most difficult triple jump in the women’s repertoire. So instead she did a backflip, landing it on one foot. The moment Bonaly did this, Scott Hamilton, the Olympic commentator, said that it was illegal. “She’s doing it to get the crowd. She’s going to get nailed,” he said referring to the judges’ reaction. Hamilton was no stranger to the backflip; he did the move all the time in ice shows. In the broadcast, he said that he’d been doing them for 14 years though he noted that he couldn’t land it on one foot as Bonaly had.
Was it pretty badass for Bonaly to thumb her nose at the rules and judges and perform the backflip? It absolutely was. Did she create an unforgettable Olympic moment when she did this? Fuck yeah. Was she unfairly penalized for it? Nope. She knowingly did an illegal move in competition. Bonaly knew she’d get a deduction, and she got it.
