They failed to win a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, but Yannick Bonheur and Vanessa James made history as the first black couple at the Winter Olympics.
Canadian-born Bermudan/British James and her partner Bonheur, who was born in Martinique, “captured the heart and soul of the Canadian public who gave them a generous standing ovation at the end of their free program,” although they finished in fourteenth place. James recently gained French citizenship so she could skate with partner Bonheur to be able to represent France at the Olympics. Although they had hoped to make it to the top ten, James is optimistic: “We have put all our hopes on the 2014 Games. We have only just begun our careers together.” James and Bonheur also recently performed their free program in the pairs competition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Turin, Italy. They finished in 13th place.
The 28 year old Yannick Bonheur is not new on the French sports landscape. He began participating in French championships in 2002 and held the French championship title, alongside his former partner Marylin Pla (who retired in 2007) for three consecutive years: 2005, 2006, 2007. After months of combing through lists of possible partners and several unsuccessful attempts with various skaters, Bonheur finally met James, who responded to an announcement he had placed on IcePartnerSearch, an ice-skating networking site. The 23 year old Vanessa James, who attended Mount St. Agnes School in Bermuda until she was 10-years-old, was the first Black English figure skating champion in 2005. The athlete made headlines in the UK in January 2008, when she announced her intention to retire from solo competitions in order to concentrate on the pairs competition.
James and Bonheur caught the immediate attention of the Canadian media as soon as they arrived in British Columbia for the Olympic Games. They have become role models for young Black skaters. They both say that they would like to encourage the participation of more black skaters, because there aren’t many.”
For full articles, see http://en.afrik.com/article17064.html, http://www.royalgazette.com/rg/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7da3ca230030000§ionId=60, and http://www.royalgazette.com/rg/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7da3bab3003002f§ionId=70
