Here's a link to an update (not the most recent, but it's an update) of Tonya Harding. You have to scroll down this one a bit to see the skating photos of Tonya. It looks as though she's put on quite a few pounds, and she doesn't exactly look as though she's in shape. Oh well.....
http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/whatsnew/whatsnew.html
She must really love skating. I really wish the other skaters would forgive her already, and let her skate in some pro shows. I mean, some of those pros who refuse to skate with her...ironically have her and Nancy Kerrigan to thank...in a sick morbid way...for the skating boom a few years ago.Brown was working to arrange a January fight for Harding at the Portland Convention Center during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which take place Jan. 9 through Jan. 16 at the Rose Garden. Brown figured Harding could take advantage of the global media that would be in the city for promotional purposes.
That turned off Harding, suspended for life from amateur skating for her role in the Nancy Kerrigan affair in 1994.
“I couldn’t believe he would do that,” she says. “That would be a low blow to the skaters. I had told Paul all along, no way I am going to do that; maybe the week after (the championships). Then he opens his mouth and blabs it up. I don’t care how much money is offered, I wouldn’t do that.”
Brown says he was only looking out for Harding’s financial interests.
I've always thought that Tonya should turn to coaching skating full-time. There are PLENTY of parents who would bring their kids to her, regardless of her past brouhahas. She strikes me as the type of person who would really dedicate herself to her students, really push them to be the best they could be. I don't know why I think this about her--just a feeling.
I think she still has the passion for skating. People will take lessons from her. She has that drive, and who knows? Maybe in the future she will be one of the Carrolls, the Weisigers, or even the Tarasovas.Originally Posted by RealtorGal
I must disgree with you. If I had a child who was interested in seriously training to become a figure skater, I would absolutely NOT hire Tonya Harding as his or her coach. Perhaps someday Tonya will get her act together and grow up. Until she does, I think she would be the wrong person to coach a young child.
IMHO, of course.
Yes, but I do believe that there are plenty of parents who would not hesitate to send their kids to her. National champion, lander of a triple axel, Olympian... they would conveniently put aside all the negative stuff.
I have yet to meet anyone who would seriously consider hiring Tonya to coach their children, but I certainly can't speak for everybody. Maybe if the parents had a serious heart-to-heart discussion with her prior to signing her as coach, and if they attending some of the practice sessions, they might feel comfortable with this arrangement. Tonya certainly knows how to execute all of the jumps and spins, and when you throw out the 1994 season, she has an impressive competitive record.
I wasn't going to mention this, but I will now. How would the USFSA react to having any of their competitive figure skaters train under Tonya? If a young skater progressed up the ladder and qualified for regionals, sectionals, and/or nationals, with Tonya as his or her coach, would the judges be inclined to award low marks because of Tonya? It could result in a "guilt by association" situation, which of course would be totally unfair to the skater.
IMHO, of course.
I thought she was banned from coaching by the USFSA. She could coach adult skaters, I guess. Maybe I am wrong on this. Correct me if I am.
Ladybug
If she is banned from skating by U.S. Figure Skating, I think that would probably include adults. I am not aware of and "adult track" with ISI. U.S. Figure Skating specifically has an adult track. I would think that is included as well. I could be wrong too. I don't think that I want to bring it up with them though...probably a touchy subject.
[CENTER]I suppose so. As I've pointed out before, there are probably also more than a few parents out there who would love to have O.J. Simpson coach their kid's little league football team. :sheesh:[/CENTER]
Much of what a coach teaches a child has little to do with their sport. Tonya could teach a try-try-try again attitude... but she also, apparently, has a bit of a problem keeping her emotions in check. She seems to display some sort of ethics - she wouldn't buy into a boxing match in Portland during USFSA Nationals - but, by and large, the public demonstrations of her ethics haven't been that hot.
Methinks Tonya got a tough deal, actually. The "ban for life" is ridiculous. Especially in light of judges being caught cheating, but being allowed back... and not just as judges, but as judges at the very highest eschelons of the sport.
I always wonder what Tonya's life would have been like had she not been banned for lift... would she have waited until her sentance was up and then skated pro? Would she have been able to keep her drinking in check? There are other skaters who have notably not been able to accomplish this... what about her weight? Many other pro skaters have fallen prey to the effects of high living on the road...
Or would she have quietly started coaching, perhaps teaching group lessons at an undistinbuished rink? Been a "Working Joe" like so many other thousands of teachers across the world? Hard so say... she seems to have a thirst for the limelight.
I buy her story that she did NOT know in advance and that all she is guilty of is conspiring to cover up after the fact - that's what she was convicted of. If she'd looked closer, she might have figured out in advance that something was up, but, hey, she can't be the first person who has put their head in the sand and refused to believe something horrid about their spouse. In either case, she must have been focussed on her skating at the time, not idiot schemes.
That said, her history SINCE the original incident - DUI, etc. - leads me to believe that she might have better success doing something else besides coaching. I would not recommend her as a coach to anyone I know... maybe a visiting clinician who only teaches skating skills and doesn't spend enough time with an individual child to teach the myriad of other things a coach teaches...
I've always wished she'd check the clock. Her 15 minutes of fame is long since up. Why not get a job as a cashier and live a normal life like the rest of us?
Linny
Or better yet, go to school and get a degree.
Last edited by Johar; 12-22-2004 at 11:29 AM.
Remember that there were charges against Tonya far more serious than conspiring to withhold evidence after the fact. Tonya was by no means an innocent bystander in the Kerrigan assault. There was solid evidence that she knew in advance of the plans and that indeed she herself had made phone calls gathering information about Nancy's practice sessions. What she eventually pleaded guilty to was plea-bargained down to a lesser offense.
Tonya has had runins with the law since 1994, more than one involving physical violence against husbands and boyfriends.
I don't buy Tonya's assertations that she knew nothing about the Kerrigan attack that was planned by her ex-husband and his cohorts of nimcompoops. Indeed, she had called the Tony Kent Arena in Cape Cod, Kerrigan's training rink, to obtain her practice times. The attack was actually supposed to occur there, not in Detroit, but the gang managed to bungle the operation, and it had to be delayed until Nationals.
I remember a press conference that was televised, live, on CNN shortly after the attack. Tonya's coach, Diane Rawlinson, strongly defended her student and stated flat out that "Tonya is innocent". This woman had coached Tonya free of charge and had paid for many of her expenses - clothes, travel, etc. - simply because she believed in her skating talent. Look what it brought her!
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