On the Edge

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2016

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, one athlete pulled a move that, so far as we know, no one else had ever done in all of human history. Surya Bonaly was not your typical figure skater. She was black. She was athletic. And she didn’t seem to care about artistry. Her performances – punctuated by triple-triple jumps and other power moves – thrilled audiences around the world. Yet, commentators claimed she couldn’t skate, and judges never gave her the high marks she felt she deserved. But Surya didn’t accept that criticism. Unlike her competitors – ice princesses who hid behind demure smiles – Surya made her feelings known. And, at her final Olympic performance, she attempted one jump that flew in the face of the establishment, and marked her for life as a rebel. This week, we lace up our skates and tell a story about loving a sport that doesn’t love you back, and being judged in front of the world according to rules you don’t understand. Produced by Matt Kielty with help from Tracie Hunte. Reported by Latif Nasser and Tracie Hunte Special thanks to the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers, the Schwan Super Rink, Richmond Training Center, Simon Bowers of Bowers Audio Service, Vanessa Gusmeroli, Phil Hersh, Allison Manley, Randy Harvey, Rob Bailey and Lynn Plage, Michael Rosenberg, and Linda Lewis If you heard "On the Edge" and you're looking to fall in love with figure skating all over again, start here: http://www.radiolab.org/story/here-are-skating-routines-we-cant-stop-watching/ You can take the survey we mentioned at the beginning of this episode here: https://www.research.net/r/wnyclistener Thank you!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get started, I'm wondering if we could ask your help on a little something.
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0:14.5	Shows like Radio Lab.
0:16.0	So if you have a second, there is a survey at WNYC.org slash participate.
0:21.2	It would really help us out if you answered a couple questions. That at WNYC.org slash participate. It would really help us out if you answered a couple questions.
0:24.0	That's WNYC.org slash participate.
0:27.0	And that link is also in the show notes for this episode.
0:31.0	Thanks.
0:33.8	Wait, you're listening.
0:34.9	Okay.
0:36.2	All right.
0:37.7	Okay. All right. Okay.
0:39.2	All right.
0:42.5	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:43.7	Radio Lab. From W. N. Y.
0:45.7	C.
0:46.6	See?
0:46.9	Yeah.
0:51.0	Okay, so then if we're going How are we going to introduce this?
0:54.6	How would you convince the many people listening to stay listening? Wouldn't it work? Because it's a great story. It doesn't matter that it's figure skating. It's like a really good story. It's a good story that like pops off of. It's like... Okay. I'm Chad I boomrod. I'm Robert Crowley. This is Radio Lab. But look, I've never been a huge fan of figure skating, but like this story, I think, asks a really interesting question. The question would be, what if you, with all your heart, want it to be the best at something? But the persons who judge what's the best at this something you want to do don't share the bestness with your sense of bestness. So you do your best and their best and
1:28.3	your best are different and now you can't best it out. What do you do? Story comes from our producer
1:33.2	Latif Nasser and also producer Tracy Hunt. Okay. Okay, okay. All right. Okay, so let's start then.
	...

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