Elladj Baldé sees the future of skating

When figure skater Elladj Baldé started sharing videos of himself having a ball, skating on frozen lakes, the response almost overwhelmed him. Tens of millions of views piled in…making Baldé quickly realize that he had a responsibility to put this unnervingly powerful new tool to good use.

Retired from competition, but more engaged than ever in the wide world of skating, Baldé has become an icon of inclusion. His video music choices are a revelation. Skipping through the old idea that light classical music is the only possible soundtrack for skating, Baldé sees other structures and strictures beginning to fall away too.

Clothing, culture, new ideas about who gets to participate in figure skating, Balde's experience has helped young BIPOC athletes see themselves in winter sport like never before. Baldé comes to talk Olympic figure skating, of course. He is CBC Sport's Mix Zone reporter for Beijing. But it's helpful to know that along with being a scholar of the sport, he brings perspective as cofounder of the Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance. Baldé is happy to report that at these games he can see Figure skating moving far beyond its overwhelmingly European early days.

So- Baldé has props for Donovan Carrillo, the Mexican skater. Not just for how the man performs, but also because now " A young Latin kid can watch a Latin man skate to Latin music and say, ' I can do that too.'"

As Baldé sees it, just because Figure Skating represents some of the oldest traditions in winter sport, doesn't mean it can't be home to some of the newest traditions either.