However quickly after that, the Worldwide Skating Union (ISU), skating’s worldwide governing physique, made the choice to ban backflips from competitors due largely to the excessive danger of head and neck accidents. The truth is, Kubicka reported his personal coach, Evy Scotvold, suffered a head damage working towards the transfer as a member of the Ice Follies, in keeping with Ice Skating Worldwide—a truth Kubicka solely discovered after his Olympics flip. (Different banned sports activities strikes embody the Korbut flip and the Thomas salto, each in gymnastics, for context.)
For the following 47 years the ban stood, although just a few skaters nonetheless carried out backflips in competitors as a present of defiance. In 1998, French skater Surya Bonaly did one on the Nagano Olympics, although her rating was decreased consequently. Extra just lately, one other French skater, Adam Siao Him Fa, did one at each the 2024 European Championships and the 2024 World Championships (and acquired comparable penalties).
“I knew that I used to be dropping a few factors, however I needed to push our sport, to maneuver it ahead and to carry again this aspect,” Siao Him Fa defined at his European World Championships look, in keeping with Ice Skating Worldwide.
Exterior of competitors, some skaters additionally carried out backflips at non-scored occasions like exhibition galas, together with Olympians Scott Hamilton, Keegan Messing, and Nathan Chen. In 2022, each Messing and Chen did backflips at a gala on the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
How a current rule change is shaking issues up
All the pieces modified on the 59th Extraordinary ISU Congress in 2024. Held in Las Vegas, the five-day assembly resulted within the elimination of “somersault-type jumps” from Rule 610—the rule detailing what strikes can’t be carried out in competitors.
