Tonya harding was on the today show

I came across this article and I thought I would share it with everyone. She was on the today show this morning.

Tonya Harding reveals her side of ‘roller-coaster life’
In new book ‘The Tonya Tapes,’ she alleges abuse from mother, ex-husband

After a “roller-coaster life” that she says includes a childhood of abuse at the hands of her mother and a rape at gunpoint by her husband and two other men — a roller coaster that took her from the pinnacle of sports stardom to turmoil and ignominy — Tonya Harding says she’s at peace.

To read the rest of the story you can click on the following link. There is also a link to the video of her interview.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24645352/

hmmmmm this is late in the year for her, normally she gets press going in January or March.

interesting. I would have liked to see that. I never know what to believe from her.

I think it's best to take the whole thing with a grain of salt. That having been said, and considering her background, I wouldn't be surprised if parts of it are true.

By the way, Mike Celizic, who wrote the story, seems to have some accuracy issues ... To say that Tonya Harding was the greatest figure skater in the world, even if for a moment, is a bit of a stretch - and obviously she was not the first woman to land a triple axel in competition.

Buttercup said:

I think it's best to take the whole thing with a grain of salt. That having been said, and considering her background, I wouldn't be surprised if parts of it are true.

By the way, Mike Celizic, who wrote the story, seems to have some accuracy issues ... To say that Tonya Harding was the greatest figure skater in the world, even if for a moment, is a bit of a stretch - and obviously she was not the first woman to land a triple axel in competition.

Click to expand...

Obvious? If she isn't, then who is? Well, personally she had the raw talent to be, but imploded and imploded and imploded.

lisadotdash said:

Obvious? If she isn't, then who is? Well, personally she had the raw talent to be, but imploded and imploded and imploded.

Click to expand...

I thought it was Midori Ito, but I think they did compete around the same time, so maybe it was Tonya Harding, I don't know.

That whole episode of knee banging was over played by the Media. She was a kid when all that happened and she was severely punished by banning her from her favorite sport What part she actually played in that opus, is not fully determined. My own speculation about it was she did not know of what the husband and his cronies would do, but she knew that probably something could
happen.

Did the punishment fit the crime? Balkov and LeGourge are still judging.

Joe

Joesitz said:

That whole episode of knee banging was over played by the Media. She was a kid when all that happened and she was severely punished by banning her from her favorite sport What part she actually played in that opus, is not fully determined. My own speculation about it was she did not know of what the husband and his cronies would do, but she knew that probably something could
happen.

Did the punishment fit the crime? Balkov and LeGourge are still judging.

Joe

Click to expand...

The knee banging as you call it may have been overplayed by the media as the facts unfolded, but while it was unfolding it was big news. Taking someone out of the game just did not happen in the sports world especially to America's Olympic hopeful and to be taken out by your rival is big news, hence the media frenzy. Tonya says she did not know beforehand and I have no personal knowledge otherwise. Was she punished too severely maybe, maybe not.

Midori was the 1st

Midori Ito was the very first woman to do the triple axel but Tonya was the first American woman to land it.

Also, neither Midori nor Tonya landed the 3A in combination. The men were just starting to make the 3A combo common back then.


Editing to add: Oops - I misread competition as combination. Duh!

Anyway, Yes - Midori is 1st lady to land 3A in a competition. Tonya is the 1st American Woman to land it in competition.

I recall reading that one of the men involved in the attack on Nancy testified that early on there was a discussion in that group of doing something much more serious to Kerrigan. An employee at the rink where Nancy trained said that a female called one day asking what time Nancy finished training each day (this was prior to Nationals). Tonya was a young married woman at the time, not a kid. I always felt she was in on it all, right from the start but that's just my opinion.

Joesitz said:

That whole episode of knee banging was over played by the Media. She was a kid when all that happened and she was severely punished by banning her from her favorite sport What part she actually played in that opus, is not fully determined. My own speculation about it was she did not know of what the husband and his cronies would do, but she knew that probably something could
happen.

Did the punishment fit the crime? Balkov and LeGourge are still judging.

Joe

Click to expand...

lisadotdash said:

Obvious? If she isn't, then who is? Well, personally she had the raw talent to be, but imploded and imploded and imploded.

Click to expand...

As others have pointed out, it's obvious that Tonya was not the first woman to land the triple axel in competetion - Midori Ito did it several years earlier (definitely by 1989). Tonya was, indeed, the first American woman to do so.

Harding was one of several top women in the late 80s/early 90s, but I don't think that at any point she could have been considered the greatest among them, as Celizic suggests. Could she have become the greatest? Personally, I think she had the jumps but had things to work on for the presentation mark. If she hadn't been banned from competing, maybe with time she would have improved in those areas. But she was 23 at the time, so who knows how much longer she would have skated.

heyang said:

Also, neither Midori nor Tonya landed the 3A in combination. The men were just starting to make the 3A combo common back then.


Editing to add: Oops - I misread competition as combination. Duh!

Anyway, Yes - Midori is 1st lady to land 3A in a competition. Tonya is the 1st American Woman to land it in competition.

Click to expand...

She did--once

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uVz07QH2USM

meem said:

I recall reading that one of the men involved in the attack on Nancy testified that early on there was a discussion in that group of doing something much more serious to Kerrigan.

Click to expand...

Did you put any stock in what one of the culprits said? usually, co-defendants say what the prosecutors want them to say to get lighter sentences.

btw, I would have liked to see her 3A again. Many skaters land them at practice but fold up in competitions.

Joe

According to the clip blue dog posted, Scott said she was the first woman ever to land the 3A in the SP (in international competition). And as she landed it in combination, so that also would make her the first woman ever to land the triple axel in combination in the SP.

I seem to recall Ito landing the triple axel in combination at Trophee Lalique that year, but that would have been after skate america. Yes, here's the clip. Ito was at NHK as well, but not at SA in 1991. In 1990 she hadn't added the combo yet to her LP, AFAIR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ExmhWyNR4U

Joesitz said:

Did you put any stock in what one of the culprits said? usually, co-defendants say what the prosecutors want them to say to get lighter sentences.

Joe

Click to expand...

Regarding your earlier statement, I have a hard time calling someone 23 years old "a kid." At least two years past drinking age, 5 years past the age of majority, and I believe about a decade (or more) past the developmental age at which people are capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. As for what the "culprits" said, I think plea bargains are generally only employed when the persons in custody offer information that actually has a good chance of leading to an arrest or conviction -- since I don't think charges were ever brought to bear against Tonya, what purpose would falsely implicating her serve?

I dunno, I think the fact that she was only sanctioned by her sport's governing body to not be all that harsh a sentence. I also think her eligible career was pretty close to being over anyway, given her age. Not that that really has a lot of weight on the sanction, but it's not like her career was cut short at age 16 or something. Let's say she's only had a 3-year, or 2-year-ban, for example -- would she have been able to come back after that? Possibly, but the odds would have been against it, I'd guess.

If she was involved in the planning of the whack at all, or if she knew about it but didn't report it, she was very lucky to get her shot at the Olys at all, very lucky that the legal processes were still ongoing, and thus the USFSA hadn't handed down a ruling yet.

Is it really likely she didn't know what her own husband was up to? Or at least that he was up to _something_?

Well, I've got too much time on my hands, clearly, because I really don't lose sleep over "the whack" one way or the other. Nancy's not even close to being one of my favorite skaters, but she held up remarkably well after being attacked, put in some really solid Oly performances (when she was known for having meltdowns at the big comps), and then had to deal with the loss in a tiebreak to Oksana. Not a good year for the US ladies, that ...