Figure Skating Prodigy, Olympian Surya Bonaly Talks About Her Group and Individual Instruction for Skating in Las Vegas, More
One of the most decorated women’s figure skaters in history makes her home in Las Vegas. Having represented France in her competitive life, Surya Bonaly has been an important figure in the Entertainment Capital of the World since 1999. Today, the retired Olympian teaches all levels of skaters from beginners to competitors.
If you ever have been to the Las Vegas Ice Center at 9295 West Flamingo Road, you may have seen Surya teaching. Ms. Bonaly competed in three Olympic Games. She is a three-time runner up/silver medalist at the World Championships. Additionally, she has five gold medals as the European National Champion. And last but not least, Surya was a nine-time French National Champion.
Those accomplishments led her to being part of a Netflix special in 2019. Her segment of that documentary told the story of her life as a figure skater. It was part of the documentary series Losers, about athletes who just come up a bit short in their quest for sports supremacy.
In the documentary, Surya discussed her journey to become one of the best figure skaters in the world. Since its Netflix debut, she has received messages on all of her social media platforms from across the world. Looking back on it, she tells us this:
“I think this documentary was really impressive. I mean, Netflix did really good stories. Even all seven stories were really amazing and I recommend for everyone who has time to kill and watch TV and watch Netflix, to watch those documentaries. … It is very interesting to watch and we don’t know what happens. You know, sometimes, our life is so busy. We don’t know that boxers or that golfer or that curler had some trouble back in the days. We didn’t know. So, it’s kind of nice to sit at home and watch TV and really spend some time to really understand people.”
Now retired, the figure skating champion is sharing her talents and experiences on the ice with people who want to learn the sport for fun or to compete. Surya does both group classes and individual instruction, primarily at the Las Vegas Ice Center. One day, she would like to have her own skating academy in Las Vegas. On why she makes the Entertainment Capital of the World her home, she told us this:
“I’ve been in Las Vegas since end of 1999. When I turned professional, I felt coming to Vegas was the place to be with entertainment, learning new things, maybe getting into a show here. … I love skating and really my dream is to open up my own skating academy in Las Vegas with different professional skaters, with some big names and I’m sure we could do that. We just need time and you know, power from some people. I don’t know, but it’s really my dream to do that in Las Vegas.”
If you are in Las Vegas and are interested in getting skating lessons from Surya Bonaly at the Las Vegas Ice Center, you can email crazypanthersb@aol.com or reach her on Instagram by clicking here.
Featured columnist Jay Bildstein joins us for this CYInterview where he talks with the Olympic athlete about the training regimen that figure skaters follow.
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