who was the first figure skater to do a backflip ~~

The first figure skater to land a backflip in major competition was American skater Terry Kubicka, who performed it at the 1976 Winter Olympics.

However, there are a couple of important nuances fans often talk about in forum discussions:

• Terry Kubicka is credited as the first skater to successfully execute a legal backflip at the Olympics, at Innsbruck 1976, before the move was banned.

• The International Skating Union banned backflips in 1977 as too dangerous and against the principle that jumps should land on one blade.

• Surya Bonaly later became famous for landing a backflip on one blade at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, something no one else had done in Olympic competition.

So, if someone asks “who was the first figure skater to do a backflip,” the historically recognized answer in competition/Olympic context is Terry Kubicka, with Surya Bonaly often highlighted as the only skater to land a one‑bladed backflip at the Olympics.

Trending/modern context
Backflips stayed illegal in competition for decades, but show skaters (like Scott Hamilton and others) kept doing them in exhibitions. In recent seasons, there has been renewed buzz because officials have started selectively allowing backflips again in specific events, and top skaters like Ilia Malinin have talked about including them, which has reignited forum debates about risk versus entertainment value.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.