Here's a link to the Washington Post Harding/Kerrigan saga timeline - the sequence of events and stories printed in this newspaper from January - June 1994 concerning the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...e/timeline.htm
I had forgetten that Tonya admitted knowing of plot long before reporting it -- and got sent to Olys anyway. IMO, Kwan (who was the alternate) wuzrobbed -- of a chance to skate -- big time; Tonya didn't deserve to go.
If I remember correctly, and that's sometimes an if, Tonya had or was going to file suit and they pretty much had no choice.
I don’t see why Tonya was so desperate that she felt she couldn’t beat a healthy Nancy. It’s not like Nancy was such a huge threat after the US only got 2 spots for the Olympics after 93 worlds. That was a real low point in the US skating program.
I think her team wanted to ensure that she went to Oly's as the National Champion. Kerrigan was the only other real contender for the spot at that time.
Anyway, I got tired of the 'woe is me' trauma of Tonya and just wish she would grow up and accept responsibility for her life before and after the bash heard round the world.
Tonya threatened to sue the USFSA $25 million if she was kicked off the US Olympic figure skating team, and the USFSA caved in to her, in my opinion. Granted, she had not been actually found "guilty" of any crime at that point - prior to the Olympics - and there was a ground swell of sympathetic support from her coach and the people of her home state, Oregon. I remember her coach, Diane Rawlinson, going on live CNN television (with her lawyer-husband) and publicly told the world that she firmly believed that Tonya was innocent. Diane really had the shock of her life when the truth of Tonya's compliance with this crime came out. Tonya was nothing short of a disgrace, and the USFSA should have called her bluff with the lawsuit and kicked her off the Olympic team, in my opinion.
IMHO, had both Harding and Kerrigan competed at the 1994 Nationals, fairly and squarely, Harding stood a good chance of winning. Granted, Kerrigan was the defending National Champion, but her miserable performance at the 1993 Worlds, in which she missed practically every jump in her long program and tumbled from first to fifth overall, resulted in the US having only 2 women instead of 3 on its Olympic team. Kerrigan had trained very diligently during the fall of 1993, and she was in excellent shape, but Harding was also in good shape and was capable of pulling off her triple axel. We'll never know for sure, of course, what would have happened, had the competition been conducted without the hideous attack on Kerrigan. Harding was, IMHO, obsessed with the need to win the national title and to go into the Olympics as the US champion, and she was willing to do whatever it took - or to have others do so - to see that this happened.
Which I'm sure allowed the USFSA to shed no tears when they eventually placed a lifetime ban on her. Yes they caved, but they gave it back to her in spades. And they had to cave. Without proof, it really would have been risky for them to not allow her to go to the Olympics.Originally Posted by SkateFan4Life
How much of the lifetime ban was due to Tonya threatening to sue rather than the attack itself? Would she have received less of a punishment if she hadn't threatened to sue? Unfortunately money can have more power than anything else, even human lives.
I'll explain some of the background reasoning on this question. My sister is a nurse and I am a CPA. We were discussing some of the requirements we had to go through to get licensed and the difference is amazing.
She deals with people's lives, I deal with their money and the testing requirements showed the value on each. Money wins.
- When I took my test, I had a review course that took several weeks and included a lot of questions. The test itself was over two entire days. Her review course was 1 day and she took the test in 2 hours.
- We had people sitting in the bathrooms and all around the building to make sure no one talked to each other or shared information. She wasn't spied on at all.
- I had to get paperwork to sign up for the test notarized and I had to have a passport photo sent in with it. She just asked to take the test.
Even with the suit, I think Kwan was robbed -- that it was due to a threatened suit or an injunction rather than the USFSA doesn't make it less of a robbery; it just makes it a robbery by injunction. .I think that her threat to sue might explain the punishment -- both realistically (the USFSA got ticked) and theoretically (immediate confession and repentence are mitigating factors in most criminal sentencing schemes). After all, in addition to Michell, there was also the fact that Tonya's insistence on going put Nancy under the strain of sharing practice ice with Tonya.
I think the difference in the testing between nurses and CPAs is the estimated income -- people might cheat to become a CPA because they earn so much more than nurses. I'm an attorney, and there was one case where a guy beat his wife until she disguised herself as a man to take the bar for him -- he was motivated by greed (he hadn't done any job hunting, but that is another story). She got disbarred, but because of mitigating factors (such as duress) she got reinstated.
As I wrote, the USFSA did not have any positive proof that Harding was involved with the plot to attack Kerrigan, and although I'm sure they were outraged at being sued by her, they knew they had to back off and allow her to skate in the Olympics. I'm sure their legal counsel advised them to do just that. And, as you wrote, the gave it back to Tonya in spades. She got what she deserved, IMHO.
Had the USFSA called Harding's bluff and not let her skate in Lillehammer, and she was later found innocent of conspiracy, involvement, etc., Harding would have taken the USFSA to the cleaners. Her "poor little me" persona would have been splashed over all of the media for a long, long time.
Here's Tonya looking like an innocent victim, and the sinister Jeff Gillooly (now Jeff Stone).
http://www.tonyaharding.com/files/im...ARDING_021.JPG
I've always thought Tonia as a true non-thinker. Lamebrain, if you will or however you describe a ditz. Had she not gotten into that dumb plot and moreso, tried to stop it, she would not have been ruffled up before the Olys. The spot light, although, she liked it, it was wearing thin and I think she felt the pain of overstepping herself.
As a result, the good old American press, saw a way to sell more papers and played the attack to the hilt. As a result, the European press did not take it seriously and especially when Nancy returned to the GO position. Unfortunately for Nancy , she was in the middle of something she had no part in. The Europeans had their own little tale of an abandoned (practically) little girl who had just won the European title. The judges knew what to do.
And Tonia? She had a bad shoelace and eventually went on to pugilism.
Oh, the games people play now. (Should have musical quarter notes there)
Joe
I don't think Oksana won the European title in 94 (nor in 93). IIRC she came in second; Surya Bonaly won- both times.
However, I get your point, regardless of who won the Euros.
Vash
Last edited by Vash01; 08-15-2005 at 06:52 PM.
Thanks for the correction Vash. I knew Oksana was up there at Euros but apparently not in 1st place. Thanks again.
Joe
Tonya was the ultimate dumb blonde - very, very few active brain cells.
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