Exclusive: Surya Bonaly talks Olympic backflips, calls Ilia Malinin a ‘warrior’

Ilia Malinin’s backflip has been openly embraced, but it was received differently decades ago when Surya Bonaly performed the move at the 1998 Games.

The ‘Quad God’ made history with his Olympic backflip, but some say the glory was owed to a Black skater

Ilia Malinin, the U.S. figure skater nicknamed the “Quad God,” became the first person to legally land a backflip on one skate in the Olympics — although one trailblazing woman pulled it off when the move was still forbidden.

The history of figure skating’s most controversial trick — the backflip

This is the first Olympics to feature backflips in over 25 years.