From the courtroom to the rink: Shiven Bodasing’s historic rise in adult figure skating

Shiven Bodasing competed against 68 skaters from across the globe in January, where he ranked highest in the artistic division and secured the overall Jury Honour, a remarkable achievement for an athlete who built his career from scratch just a few years ago.

The figure skater spoke to Eyewitness News about why he chose to perform the classical piece “Nessun Dorma” at the International Adult Skating Festival.

“It was both a dramatic piece and a piece that offered the chance for me to focus on the skating without the pressure of the technical elements like the jumps,” Bodasing explained. “I really feel that skating should allow you to connect with the music, and it needs to make people feel something, which I hope this did.”

Bodasing’s journey to the rink began by chance in 2020 at the age of 25 during a visit to the Northgate Ice Rink in Johannesburg.

“I was walking past the ice rink during one of their figure skating sessions, and I was in awe of the spinning and jumping that they were doing; I knew immediately that it was something that I wanted to do,” he recalled.

In 2023, he moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town to train more intensively with his current coach, Vage Evetts, alongside top South African skater Gian-Quen Isaacs.

Outside of the rink, Bodasing is a candidate attorney and a former SPCA inspector and manager. His background in law and animal welfare informs his advocacy work on and off the ice.

READ: Gian-Quen Isaacs is skating to end South Africa’s 25-Year Winter Olympic drought

“For me, it’s all about purpose. Life must have some essence of purpose,” he said. “As an attorney, I share a great deal of my moral compass with striking a balance between reform and punishment. It’s been instrumental in shaping me into the practitioner I am today.”

The trailblazer has made history as the first South African to represent the country in the Adult Singles division at the international level. He competes in two specific disciplines: Adult Technical (Free Skating), which focuses on jumps, spins, and technical execution, and Adult Artistic, which focuses on choreography, emotional storytelling, and musicality.

Maintaining this dual life requires a gruelling schedule. Bodasing is up by 4:00 AM most days to be on the ice by 5:00 AM. After a 90-minute session, he heads to a full 8-to-5 workday, followed by gym or stretching in the evening.

“There’s a lot of sacrifice. No watching TV or your favourite series, just one process to the other,” Bodasing said. He also highlighted the extreme physical toll of the sport. “The amount of force and strain I place on my body is extreme, anywhere from five to eight times my body weight (600kg+) when I land jumps at speed.”

As an adult athlete in a niche sport, Bodasing is entirely self-funded, covering all costs for coaching, ice time, equipment, and international travel. While he aimed to compete at the 2026 ISU Adult Figure Skating Championships in Germany, the event reached capacity within an hour of opening.

“Disappointing, sure, but if I’ve learned anything from skating, it’s that things never go your way all the time,” he noted. “I am looking toward the next big competition, which is the Winter World Masters Games in 2028 in Finland.”

Bodasing remains a global ambassador for the Diversify Ice Foundation, working to encourage people of colour and the LGBTIA+ community to enter the sport.

“Sport needs to be inclusive and accessible. South Africa has so many talented art sports like ballet, gymnastics, and figure skating, it needs more funding and more mainstream buy-in.”

Bodasing is currently the highest technical-scoring adult figure skater in South Africa and, as of early 2026, has earned six gold medals in domestic competitions.