No one is erasing her, only racist black people who think she wasnt black enough.

@@metsdudenj Lol...what would have made her "black enough?"

Why is she being erased? I'm not familiar with her, but I'm curious. She had a good program.

@@hollyjolly2066 some idiots on other posts said she denied her blackness and criticized her current condition, which is idiotic. Debi is a fine champion and role model who will never be erased from history.

@@metsdudenj I hope not. I just watched her long program, and loved them both. She's very talented and charismatic. How heartbreaking that she slipped up on a couple jumps in the long program. I wish she could have gotten gold. I've read she even became a medical doctor - what a super impressive life!! 💜

Same here! She will always be an inspiration to me. It's been a little over thirty years since I watched Debi Thomas' amazing and medal-worthy performance on the ice. And watching this moment again on KZfaq has me cheering and clapping for her again. I hope, too, that she gets better.

She was so good. Better than Witt, IMHO!

@@etherealtb6021 💖!

You could always feel her passion on that ice. I miss her but it's nice to have these memories. awesome

Cleanest program ever.

She is at RDV ? No way!

i totally agree! i think alot more people have this disorder then diagnosed. you can be real successful living with Biopolar disorder. well look at Debi Thomas for one. Debi just needs some help to get back on her feet.

Thank the MeToo and Cancel culture bullshit for that.

No matter how much a coach disagrees with the scores, he certainly didn't gain any favor among the judges. This is why you DON'T show your displeasure with the judges or scores. It doesn't change a damn thing and may actually make life miserable for your protoge. Do you honestly think judges overlook your reaction to their scoring? Think again. This is why coaches usually sit there stone faced. Not too smart of Coach McGowan.

You're right. The Olympics is pretty much for kids. There are very few Olympians over 25 let alone their 30s. It's like people forget that once it's over, it's over. I think it's one of the MOST amazing achievement to place at the Olympics and then become a surgeon. Yet we NEVER discuss Debbie Thomas during black history month. Pfft

+Meredith C because she a damm alcoholic and homeless

+Quq Spearman mental illness and not homeless

+Quq Spearman Where are u getting your information from??????

Oprah Winfrey did a segment on her an everything came out.

mandi remember when you could still wi the worlds if you were not Russian?

+Debra Enderle True but I think if she landed all her jumps she would've won too. Her level of difficulty in jumps was much higher than Witt. All she had to do was land them. She looked unsure from the beginning. If you look at her with her coach beginning of short and long programs you can see she looked very nervous LP. She really could've beat KW. I remember watching this and was totally bummed she didn't win:(

She was amazing and as usual the crowd fed off of her beautiful energy!

GIOJL You are correct. Debi didn't need powerful, hard-driving music to beat Witt. The music from Carmen worked well for Debi (see 1988 U.S. Nationals). She was much more refined and artistic entering the Calgary Olympics after having worked with George Pena, American Ballet theater and the world-renowned ballet dancer and choreographerMikhail Baryshnikov. I saw her at the 1988 U. S. Nationals and told her as much when I say her close-up at the Skaters' Ball later that Saturday evening. Based on her LP program, I also told her that I was confident that she could beat Witt, to which she replied something to the effect that the could, but you never know how the scoring may go, and that certain countries try to "shield" Katarina. Had Debi cleanly landed all of her jumps, starting with opening triple to- triple toe combination, along with her superior technique to Witt's, in concert with her improved artistry, she would have beaten Witt.

Yes, and this was before the Nike trademark of "Just Do It"

Baseless and ridiculous post. Were you there for her daily training? You are only guessing.

+Isabelle Michaels That's just plain dumb. smh and might explain why she was burnt out by the final LP.

So what happened to her?

She did say it at the beginning, before the music started..

Debbie has stated the reporters got to her and put an insane amount of pressure on her. "Do it for America!"

It's a skating and not an fashion contest. You don't win or don't win because of a certain dress.

Some reporter told her to win gold for America. Debbie said that was too much pressure for her to bear. She said made a mistake in the long program and could have recovered but decided to "give up." Even so, Dick Button and others say Debbie should have won over Katarina Witt. Dick Button said Witt did nothing but pose on the ice, there was no skating.

@@TaushaTW the lies. She did 4 perfect triples and debbie? Almost fell in all of hers. Pls

Debi gave up after messing up her opening 3t-3t combination. In training Debi would always start the program over whenever she messed up the opening jump; She didn't train to continue the rest of the program as if nothing had happened. So when Debi messed up the 3t-3t at the actual competition, she just couldn't concentrate the rest of her performance.

@@TaushaTW Debi's LP performance was abysmal. There's no way Dick Button would've said that Debi should still have won over Katerina.

@@TaushaTW Yes she still should have won because even with the slight bobbles on her jumps she had more technical difficulty in her program than Witt. She never fell she just two footed 2 jumps. Witt gave more of a show performance than a competitive performance. Debi wanted to give the performance of her life like Brian Boitano gave in the Battle of the Brians, but got distracted by all of the media attention. Brian was a very close friend who advised her to think technical and nail her program. Being the first African American to win Nationals, Worlds, and competing to become Olympic Champion was a lot to handle when she kept being reminded of being a credit to her race and winning for the country.

Midori Ito had great technical especially triple axel better than Tonya Harding Nicole bobek had great spirals energetic routine same with surya but she had lack of skating skills there’s something about Midori she seemed classical training her artistic was underrated she was my favorite out of the powerful skater great footwork and edges e hibernation with her music spins perfect position

Surya Bonaly and she had a big attitude problem. That's what killed any chances of medaling at the Olympics.

Goldfinger What in the heck does her attitude have to do with winning a medal? The judges aren't' adjudicating on attitude, it's not a category. Moreover, she did medal at the Olympics: Bronze. Debi was very cooperative with the white establishment to a fault. By the end of her skating career, she had undergone surgery for three nose jobs. It's curious that you named two black skaters as having attitude problems, in keeping with the stereotype of the angry black woman. Debi may have been many things but she was not that. In fact, she immersed herself in white society and seemed to steer clear of blacks. The fact that she is on her third white man sort of speaks to that. I think part, not totally, of Debi's problem today and all that is going on with her is self-loathing as a black woman. It's almost as if she engaged in self-sabotage by moving to a rural, poor white town to set up her medical practice. It was doomed to fail from the start. And now she is engaged to an abusive, alcoholic and good-for-nothing white man. I doubt she would have accepted a black man of similar stature in society to shack up with. SMDH!

Goldfinger I did hear that Ms Bonaly had a negative attitude during her skating career, however, it is also my understanding that she underwent a ton of scrutiny and prejudice while aiming for gold and that her attitude was only brought on by her surrounding circumstances. Not implying that it's an excuse for her behaviour, but when everyone around her was constantly putting her down, I'd imagine maintaining positivity was difficult.

Bonaly never won an Olympic medal. She was closest to winning one in 1994, finishing 4th. She won 3 straight silver medals at the World Championships 1993-95. She also won 5 straight European titles and 9 straight French national titles. But never won an Olympic medal as you stated.

Yes Surya Bonaly was very athletic but very sloppy landings, two footed and only focused on jumps

Her behavior at the medal ceremony was not appalling. She said she congratulated witt and manley in the dressing room before medal ceremony, was in shock and upset with herself for how poorly she skated, wrecking her dream and letting the country down.

Still think so today?

Yes, and there's more to skating than jumps..

wrong, there was emotion. her music was more about speed and exciting jumps as opposed to dull showgirl music. it was exciting with lots of energy and the crowd loved it.

@@InfernoBLK72 are you talking about Debi? If you are, I agree with you.

@@freddiemercury4evr yes i'm talking about debi. she had the best performance of the night and the music suited her and the crown loved it.