NATIONAL Adult Figure Skating Champion Shiven Bodasing is ready to fly the South African flag high and will be representing the country on the world stage in Germany next year.
The 30-year-old candidate attorney and SPCA inspector started figure skating during the pandemic in February 2020 at the Northgate Ice Rink in Johannesburg where he has fallen in love with the craft.
He left his life behind in Johannesburg in 2023 and permanently moved to Cape Town to pursue his passion and access better facilities.
He is now a six-time gold medalist and holds the highest technical score among adult skaters in the country.
Shiven will be the first South Africa to compete at the 2026 ISU Adult Figure Skating Championship which will take place from 17 to 22 May 2026 and will be held in Obertsdorf, Germany.
Shiven explained: “I fell in love with the beauty of the sport and quite ironically, the difficulty of it too.
"It's been really challenging, there’s been a lot of personal and financial sacrifices, those early 4am wake-ups for skating before work mean that I have to sleep at 8pm.
“Learning to skate as an adult is like rocket science. It is brutally hard. Attempting multiple revolution jumps after the age most athletes retire takes courage, grit and lot of bruises.
"I will always have a career to fall back on, but I will never be this young again and this body won't last forever.
"The clock is ticking. By 2026, I plan to become a full-time athlete, training three to five hours a day instead of my current two and a half. It demands more, especially at the level I want to get to."
Shiven said he trains five to six days a week, usually two to three hours in the morning. On the weekends he includes off-ice training, which is strength, stretching and some dance studio work.
He added: “I am really in love with the way this sport challenges me and pushes me to my absolute limit, both physically and mentally.
"There is nothing more brutal than slamming into the ice at 30 kilometres an hour falling out of a jump. And there’s nothing more frustrating than falling on these elements you’ve trained so hard for, again and again."
Shiven is a self-funded athlete and needs R100 000 to cover his expenses to Germany, however is appealing for any donations towards the costs of the trip.
He said: “Competing internationally is a dream, but it is also a major financial challenge. For adult athletes in South Africa are self-funded.
"Every element, from coaching and choreography to ice time, physiotherapy and travel must be paid for out of pocket."
To assist Shiven in getting to Germany, donations can be made to his BackaBuddy account on
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/the-relentless-pursuit-of-a-dream