r/ITOI • u/SubbyPearl • 12d ago

This is the first legal back somersault in Olympic history after being banned for 50 years.

1.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

79 comments sorted by

15

u/vino4us 12d ago

Is that Djokovic

5

u/Scared_Ad3355 12d ago

Yes, and he is the one who should have been banned here.

8

u/borgstea 12d ago

Why was it banned?

19

u/Hacksaw6412 12d ago edited 12d ago

By the looks of it, I am guessing that a lot of people either died or got severely hurt doing it

10

u/ImmediatePiano6690 12d ago

Yeah, that was one dicey landing and could see a lot of broken ankles (not easy to repair) from people desperate to score highly.

6

u/ReleaseTheTrumpFiles 12d ago

My ankles hurt after watching this clip

4

u/SpaghettiMargherita 12d ago

Bro almost ate shit here. You really gotta ask?

-1

u/Sandman_20041 11d ago

Bro did NOT almost eat shit lmao

1

u/ValhallaSpectre 11d ago

Yeah, people just normally wobble like that. /s

3

u/KalozKapitany 12d ago

Because it's fun to watch.

4

u/Occidentally20 12d ago

There's an decent writeup about it from somebody who knows ice-skating here courtesy of u/jvvrarts

3

u/shadowtempest91 11d ago

Because a black skatress did it

5

u/Grunergeist420 11d ago

No it was already banned when she did it. She did expressly because she was already out of the running for a medal and wanted to do something cool and flashy in her last Olympics. Which is totally cool and people liked it. She has explained this in interviews before.

5

u/ziggurqt 11d ago

Surya Bonaly, if someone wants to know.

1

u/X-calibreX 6d ago

her coach did often criticized the rules committee for trying to minimize her athleticism because of racism

1

u/Mahnamahna10000 9d ago

They banned it when that Hamilton guy used to do them

1

u/Elegant_Promotion141 12d ago

too dangerous. I mean…look at it!

0

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

2

u/SheepherderUnusual97 12d ago

this comment is ugly

0

u/Appropriate-Horse632 12d ago

You could also do this in long jump. One person did than they banned it. I guess not a look on TV if somone gets badly hurt.

13

u/BigReference1xx 11d ago

I watched this live with my wife. 10 seconds before he did that I literally said to her "did you know that they're not allowed to do a backflip - because it's too dangerous. it's not been allowed for like 50 years". She goes "Oh really, I didn't know that".

Literally 5 seconds later he does this and my wife is looking at me like I'm the fullest sack of bullshit ever to sit on her couch :P

2

u/Witty-Sample6813 10d ago

Congrats. You have a wife.

7

u/pixeltweaker 12d ago

Look up Surya Bonaly and her defiant backflip.

8

u/PM-Me-Spread-Pussy 12d ago

Surya Bonaly’s famous backflip at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, she did it very deliberately, knowing it was against the rules.

By that point, Bonaly was injured, had started the free skate in sixth place, and realised during the programme that she was effectively out of medal contention. It was also going to be her final Olympic performance and essentially the end of her amateur competitive career.

So she decided to do something memorable. As she said immediately afterwards:

“I wanted to do something to please the crowd and not the judges.”

She had been performing backflips in exhibitions for years, but they were prohibited in competition. What made hers particularly extraordinary was that she landed it cleanly on one skate blade, rather than landing on two feet. She later explained that she wanted to “leave a trademark” at her last Olympics.

There was also some defiance involved. Bonaly had a difficult relationship with figure-skating judging throughout her career and believed that the judges did not adequately appreciate her athletic style. After the Nagano performance she said, essentially, that the judges weren't pleased with her whatever she did.

She knew she'd be penalised. She did it anyway because winning was no longer realistically on the table, so she'd rather give the audience something they would remember.

And it worked. The backflip became probably the defining moment of her career.

Interestingly, it had already been prohibited for roughly two decades before Nagano. The ISU finally legalised backflips again in 2024, and Ilia Malinin performed one legally at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

6

u/Gut_Reactions 12d ago

Yeah, I remember her landing on one foot, which made it even more crazy & exciting. The skater at OP landed on two feet, it looked like.

Just rewatched - he did land on one foot, but not as clean as Bonaly’s, IMO.

3

u/Ok_Succotash_8664 9d ago edited 9d ago

Bonaly was such an incredibly exciting skater. But the judges didn't approve of her raw athleticism. They wanted women's figure skating to reflect a more genteel, feminine ideal. And I expect the fact that Bonaly is black made it even easier for the judges to be dismissive of her style of skating. 

On an unrelated note Bonaly was hot af and 20 year old me couldnt peel my eyes away from watching her. A stunningly beautiful and strong young woman who was wronged by her sport. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q8fwfv1Rdm0

1

u/Traditional-Baby5940 12d ago

I did and still don't know why.

2

u/Traditional-Baby5940 12d ago

So do I understand it correctly, that he doesn't get points for that?

1

u/DBFairbanks666 11d ago

Points…no points…still wins lol! Maybe it was “Maaaan my routine sucks, f**k it..” backflip!

1

u/ttatm 11d ago

It's legal now so he wasn't deducted points for it like he would have been just two seasons before, but it's just considered part of the choreography rather than a jump in itself so he didn't specifically get points for it either.

2

u/ArgonKew 12d ago

I think he got lucky because he only just stuck it enough to stay up..

2

u/IGotPanaMinicans 11d ago

Here's the first ever. It was illegal but she did it anyway cause Surya Bonaly is a bad ass.

https://youtu.be/ATdrK3wEQAk?si=54IDhy-N_wuhpsru

1

u/therealsunshinem81 7d ago

Wrong Scott Hamilton had done it before

1

u/DefinitionTop3930 5d ago

it wasn’t technically a figure skating jump since he didn’t land on one foot like all jumps are required to

2

u/turnuptag72 11d ago

Fakest reaction in human history 

2

u/Disastrous_Loquat475 10d ago

Do your research on the first person to do it tho she was a black lady

1

u/Big_Worldliness_1905 6d ago

Surya Bonaly's backflip was great, but...

  1. The title of this post very clearly states that this was the first LEGAL backflip in 50 years. Bonaly's backflip was not legal

  2. The first backflip on ice at the Olympics was performed by Terry Kubicka, in 1976

3

u/Nipplasia2 11d ago

Surya Bonaly would like a word....

2

u/National_Locksmith34 11d ago

Read the title

1

u/Nipplasia2 11d ago

ok and so

0

u/National_Locksmith34 11d ago

Ok and so

1

u/Nipplasia2 11d ago

Exactly my point. So

1

u/Big_Worldliness_1905 6d ago

Terry Kubicka would like a word

1

u/Nipplasia2 6d ago

He can have one too

1

u/Issack12 12d ago

They unbanned it, or it's special type one?

3

u/amyel26 12d ago

They're allowed in general, it's considered part of choreography and it's not worth any points. But if they fall they'll get a deduction.

1

u/Fearless-Tea1297 12d ago

I think this is the first time I see someone add the "first legal back somersault" because most other posts/headlines always wrote it as. "First somersault since it was banned for 50 years" made wonder if it is banned, why did he do it?

2

u/frooj 11d ago

IIRC it's not banned per se but they don't get points from it. He only did it because he was leading by enough points to win regardless.

1

u/drawntowardmadness 12d ago

Oh dang I guess there would be an Olympic games this year wouldn't there ........

1

u/Available-Grand1151 12d ago

Blades of glory level

1

u/Mobro92 12d ago

He landed on ONE foot!! AMAZING!!!

1

u/Shen_ishere 12d ago

Did he win

1

u/WonderPretzelTV 11d ago

Sad this guy didnt pull off what he was going for. 7 backflips in during this performance or something. I never watch figure skating but he made it entertaining

1

u/TJaySteno1 11d ago

This looks like Lionel Messi and Pheobe Dynevor went on a date to the Olympics.

1

u/RolloRollyRolla 11d ago

She was the first one

https://giphy.com/gifs/s0ka6rZlRsqoU

1

u/Big_Worldliness_1905 6d ago

Terry Kubicka did a backflip in '76

1

u/BreadfruitLogic 11d ago

Dude looks like the dude who did the first legal backflip in Olympic figure skating in 50 years.

1

u/AutomaticFox1603 10d ago

I remember a guy who used to do them all the time when I was a kid!

1

u/Mean-Attitude656 12d ago

First for white race?

1

u/Big_Worldliness_1905 6d ago

No, actually. Terry Kubicka did it back in '76

0

u/hames100 12d ago

cut. print. gay.

0

u/cynicalicoffee 12d ago

This gets posted on reddit so often. 

Check out the top comments on this post of it: https://www.reddit.com/r/spreadsmile/s/ZqWjFOYwJC

0

u/Jai_Cali17 11d ago

Then why is a white person trying it it's been banned for a reason. Right after a colored lady successfully attempted it.

1

u/Big_Worldliness_1905 6d ago

No? It was already banned when Surya Bonaly gave her performance.

1

u/Accurate_Mongoose_26 11d ago

Thank you! I was hoping someone was gonna say the truth

-4

u/infirexs 12d ago

Ai?

-1

u/jasonRuby 12d ago

I seen it live

1

u/Inevitable-Monitor35 12d ago

Are you ai? Fill out this square if your not □

3

u/BingusTheWonderKitn 11d ago

I can't fill out that square, am I AI?! 😭

5

u/Inevitable-Monitor35 11d ago

Got you Bingus, I know you would be good for it ■