This time around, the Winter Olympics are rather different in terms of the figure skating competition. At previous events, competitors have only been allowed to perform to music with no lyrics. At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics of 2018, new rules have been introduced. Figure skaters are now permitted to perform their routine to music with lyrics. This has certainly livened up the performances and the French figure skater Chafik Besseghier made an interesting choice when taking advantage of the rule change.
The experienced skater opted to perform his routine to ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by ‘The Sugarhill Gang’ when he competed on Thursday. This song allowed him to deliver a lively and diverse performance for the short program when it was his turn in the rink. The music was a remix by Maxime Rodriguez.
‘The Sugarhill Gang’ is an American hip hop group that was formed in the 1970s. The band consists of Henry ‘Big Bank Hank’ Jackson, Michael ‘Wonder Mike’ Wright, and Guy ‘Master Gee’ O’Brien. They named their group after the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem. They are best-known for their single ‘Rapper’s Delight’ which they released in 1979. They hold the accolade of releasing the first rap single to peak in a Top 40 position on the Billboard Hot 100.
Chafik Besseghier is one of the top talents in French figure skating, despite making a rather late entry into the sport at the age of 13. In 2008, he made his ISU Junior Grand Prix debut. At the 2012 French Championships, he won a bronze followed by a silver medal at the same championships in 2013. By 2014, he was entered into his first World Championships and came ninth overall at the Japanese event hosted in Saitama.
His 2017-2018 season did not get off to a good start as he was hospitalized from late September to early October with a pneumothorax. This forced him to withdraw from his GrandPrixx assignments. He was deemed fit enough to compete in his first Winter Olympics at PyeongChang this year. Besseghier gave a solid performance in the Olympics but finished in just 26th place.
Chafik Besseghier was not the only French figure skater to choose popular songs for their performance at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Fellow French skater Maé-Bérénice Méité also gave a lively performance when she competed last weekend. Her music of choice was a Beyoncé compilation that consisted of ‘Run the World (Girls)’ and ‘Halo’. These two tracks were amongst Beyoncé’s biggest hit singles.
Unlike Besseghier, Méité is not a newcomer at Olympic events, she represented France in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Saatchi and finished in tenth position. In the past, she has won the Ondrej Nepela Memorial in 2011, the 2016 International Cup of Nice, and a silver medal at the 2015 Winter Universaide. Furthermore, she has also won the French Championship four times. This year, she performed her routine to Beyoncé music in the short program and the routine was choreographed by Benoit Richaud. Her free skating routine was performed to ‘Les Nocturnes de Chopin’ and ‘Happy’.
Follow Us
