20th anniversary of Nancy-Tonya incident | Golden Skate

20th anniversary of Nancy-Tonya incident

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Tonya was a very sad story, abused and with no support from her mother-who married 5 times. I do not understand how anyone ever thought Tonya would live happily after. She was lucky she was not arrested. Very lucky. And now she has a child, and I can only say I hope she is a different woman now. There will be a lot of reminders going into Sochi. It made many people into millionaires, except Tonya, which was the point of the whole mess.

Nancy was very lucky, indeed it was above the knee. I think there is nothing to be learned from this tale of greed, jealousy, malice that we all don't know. I hope the little one gets the love Tonya never got from her own mother. That would be a happy ending, in a way for her.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
The problem with Tonya was that she was packaged so poorly. Her music choices were generally terrible; her best program was skated to music from Batman and Tone Loc's Wild Thing. Her choreography wasn't great. Her outfits were unflattering. Despite this, when she would hit the jumps she would still win. However, her packaging needed more refinement to compete with the others when she wasn't at her best.
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
And it wasn't necessarily Lavona either (I think she was married seven or nine times, Al Harding was only her 5th....). Diane Rawlinson took Tonya into her home and supported her. Tonya had sponsors, people wanted her to succeed.

You are right it was her packaging. Though Diane did her best, Tonya was self-destructive with a mind of her own. It really is a sad story. Can you imagine having such raw talent and not maximizing it????

Her recent interviews show she is still delusional. Most people can forgive and forget after a mea culpa. She's had 20 years to set it straight. And frankly, I bet there'd be some people who didn't really like Kerrigan and think "Hmm, hard to feel sorry for her..." Not condoning it, of course, but like Chris Rock would say "Not that I agree with it, but I understand it!!"
 

RABID

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
This recent article about the cultural and societal circumstances surrounding the Tonya-Nancy conflict, written for The Believer magazine by Sarah Marshall, is also quite a fascinating read. Ms. Marshall even makes connections to present-day skaters like Yuna and Mao. :)

http://www.believermag.com/issues/201401/?read=article_marshall

Excellent and insightful article. Have to admit I am not without guilt in regards to buying into the "class" narrative the media was selling. I now feel some sympathy for Tonya. She is far from blameless but she also had an almost unfair amount of life-hurdles to overcome as well. :think:
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
I always felt Tonya was a more talented skater than Nancy Kerrigan, although the latter had a better package. It was unfortunate she made really bad decisions and let her talent go to waste like that. I don't necessarily agree with the connection the author is trying to make with regards to select group of ladies who have landed a 3A in competition. Mao and Yukari possess elegance and feminine quality that we associate with ladies skating. They just happen to do the triple axel.
 

TonyaHardlyEver

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
It's more than a shame. It is a tragedy that she never lived up to her potential. After 1991 she was pretty much on a downward spiral, briefly returning to form in late 1993. She was landing the triple axel in practice sessions during the 94 Nationals. There is a documentary called Sharp Edges on youtube that folllows her through the 1986 Nationals. It is sad because her mother was so damn cruel when Tonya missed her jumps. Linda brought out the best qualities in her technique but Linda was way to soft to coach Tonya. I think Rafael or Frank could have coached her. She did need better choreography like her Moon River program. She was capable of moments of some artistry and she did have good footwork and stroking when she was on. Somehow that was forgotten in lieu of the jumps. I don't see anyone land jumps the way she did. Gracie is close though.

Had Tonya trained better after 1991 she certainly would have medaled at one of the Olympics. I saw her land a quad loop in Portland but I am not sure it was fully rotated. Sadly, she isn't remembered for her axel or raw talent and power. She is a pariah. It saddens me. I don't care whether she help plan the attack on Kerrigan or not. Liz Manley and Surya Bonaly were the few skaters that actually forgave her when she made her brief comeback in 1999.Not every skater has to be a princess on ice. Everyone has their own style.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
A really sad state of affairs. I obviously felt horrible for Kerrigan but Harding's life was ruined... Such a shame to see such raw athletic talent go to waste. Karma certainly bit her a lot harder than it bites others. In some twisted positive, the whole saga brought far more interest to the sport than any landed 3A ever could (even if for the wrong reasons).
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
It's more than a shame. It is a tragedy that she never lived up to her potential. After 1991 she was pretty much on a downward spiral, briefly returning to form in late 1993. She was landing the triple axel in practice sessions during the 94 Nationals. There is a documentary called Sharp Edges on youtube that folllows her through the 1986 Nationals. It is sad because her mother was so damn cruel when Tonya missed her jumps. Linda brought out the best qualities in her technique but Linda was way to soft to coach Tonya. I think Rafael or Frank could have coached her. She did need better choreography like her Moon River program. She was capable of moments of some artistry and she did have good footwork and stroking when she was on. Somehow that was forgotten in lieu of the jumps. I don't see anyone land jumps the way she did. Gracie is close though.

Had Tonya trained better after 1991 she certainly would have medaled at one of the Olympics. I saw her land a quad loop in Portland but I am not sure it was fully rotated. Sadly, she isn't remembered for her axel or raw talent and power. She is a pariah. It saddens me. I don't care whether she help plan the attack on Kerrigan or not. Liz Manley and Surya Bonaly were the few skaters that actually forgave her when she made her brief comeback in 1999.Not every skater has to be a princess on ice. Everyone has their own style.

Frank would not have put up with her nonsense or lack of work ethic.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
On the contrary he could have also whipped it into shape (though not likely). Oh well... There will always be Jurassic Park. :rock: (As "tacky" as people might want to call it , I love how she used music that was popular those years and not the same played out classical music.)
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I dunno, some skaters just move on if they don't get what they want out of a coach (positive or negative)... Nicole Bobek was another one that never reached her full potential because she was too much of a rebel. It finally caught up with her in her personal life... but she seems (last I saw her) to have turned a corner. Hopefully Tonya has too (though judging by her comments she's still playing the victim). I was almost 9 when it happened and I looked up to both Nancy and Tonya and was crushed by the whole thing. Never really got over it. As a kid you don't think your heroes can have a "bad side"...
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
I was a little kid back in those days and I actually lived in the Detroit area, so it was all over the news. I remember I had gone to a few Ice shows around that age, but it was hard to get into and I didn't follow figure skating until the last however many years. As an American boy at the time, all you had to look at was Tonya and Nancy, one a criminal and the other ... catty. I had a huge crush on Kristi Yamaguchi but she had just retired. And going to the ice shows you'd see Dorothy Hamill or people like that, but they were too old for me to appreciate considering my age. It was a tough time in the 90's for young Americans to really get into figure skating, maybe why it's become a niche sport in my generation.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I think our generation just got tired of the over-saturated market of skating... too much of a good thing and all that. :no:
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Last year of college for me that year. I heard it over the radio and turned to my bf and said "I bet Harding is involved". I was at that Skate America in 1993 (I think I was, this was the one in Dallas, right?). And even though Tonya won the SP, she was noticeably a different skater. I liked her choreography, it was a somewhat flattering presentation, though that dress was ten pounds ago (on a five foot skater?). She lost her precision/greatness/shock value, something. That last season of hers she seemed to be skating out of desperation, and it was visible. As Weir would say, "She lost her aura". I don't think any coach would have done any better than Diane Rawlinson.
 

breathesgelatin

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 12, 2013
I dunno, some skaters just move on if they don't get what they want out of a coach (positive or negative)... Nicole Bobek was another one that never reached her full potential because she was too much of a rebel. It finally caught up with her in her personal life... but she seems (last I saw her) to have turned a corner. Hopefully Tonya has too (though judging by her comments she's still playing the victim). I was almost 9 when it happened and I looked up to both Nancy and Tonya and was crushed by the whole thing. Never really got over it. As a kid you don't think your heroes can have a "bad side"...

I think Nicole is doing pretty well nowadays. I follow her on Twitter and she's always posting about her recovery and faith. And also she posts lots of skating pics!
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
I think our generation just got tired of the over-saturated market of skating... too much of a good thing and all that. :no:

It's possible. Certainly didn't help the U.S. in later years. From a numbers standpoint, the more young kids at that age would have been interested in skating, the more likely the U.S. would have been to produce better top skaters in later years. The less interested kids get, there's a smaller talent pool and potentially weaker top skaters.

Nobody really followed figure skating back then. Even the girls, for which it's typically viewed as an accessible sport. I never really got into Michelle Kwan that much, nothing against her, I didn't dislike her, just thought she was overrated. Tara came and went in the blink of an eye. From the mid-90s to early 2000s, just nobody cared really, except when Michelle skated at the Olympics, but she could never win the big one. Sasha finally caught my eye in 2002 as one to watch, but she couldn't jump and some people questioned her work ethic (I have no clue about this). U.S. has been extraordinarily mediocre since.
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
It's possible. Certainly didn't help the U.S. in later years. From a numbers standpoint, the more young kids at that age would have been interested in skating, the more likely the U.S. would have been to produce better top skaters in later years. The less interested kids get, there's a smaller talent pool and potentially weaker top skaters.

Nobody really followed figure skating back then. Even the girls, for which it's typically viewed as an accessible sport. I never really got into Michelle Kwan that much, nothing against her, I didn't dislike her, just thought she was overrated. Tara came and went in the blink of an eye. From the mid-90s to early 2000s, just nobody cared really, except when Michelle skated at the Olympics, but she could never win the big one. Sasha finally caught my eye in 2002 as one to watch, but she couldn't jump and some people questioned her work ethic (I have no clue about this). U.S. has been extraordinarily mediocre since.

There was definitely oversaturation for a time. You'd see the same skaters performing the same routines in pro competitions over and over again. Not so bad for fans, but for casual viewers might be too much repetition. Also, the standards for pro competitions varied so much that some people didn't understand how the person won. Dick Button's World Pro Championship was the most worthwhile, but then he sold it and the new owners made it a pro-am competition for a year (Michelle won for the ladies) which blurred the lines even further. Add in cheesefests like Improve on ice and Battle of the Sexes and Ice Wars (which I actually did somewhat enjoy initially) and it was all over the place. Then there were some competitions broadcast where none of the pros were well-known (i.e. not Olumpic or World Champions), etc. Some of the pros felt there should have been a Pro Figure Skating organization to set standards, etc.

Sometimes a country just has a downswing... sometimes there's just a sudden phenom. I agree that success breeds interest which often leads to lots of hopefuls and a strong group of competitors. Interest in a lot of sports rises after the Olympics.... so, maybe the next US generation will be landing on ice soon.
 
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