I really liked the IDEA of Tonya, but the reality rarely lived up to it. There was something very slow and methodical in her routines, even when she was technically skating fast. I feel like the go-to excuse for her was always that she wasn't "pretty princess" enough, but grace, posture, lines, musicality aren't merely frivolous judging preferences. They ARE figure skating. And if you can't master them, you'll be rightfully penalized. And additionally, while her jumps were big, they were also often tilted and heavily muscled out, so you can't even compare them to Midori Ito's gorgeous, effortless jumps.
Which is all to say that I think the skating community actually tried with Tonya. I think they DID see her potential, but she just couldn't deliver consistently. In 1991, they proved they were willing to reward her when she brought the goods. But from 1992 on, she rarely did, and so her skating fell off, not because everyone "hated" her for not being pretty, but because her programs were lackluster and her commitment wasn't there. But to this day, I don't think Tonya has admitted that to herself. She looks at 1994, a year where she should've been kicked off the Olympic team and then disqualified during the free skate, and instead sees a vicious figure skating association who only let her compete because they knew she wouldn't win and a judging panel that gave her a later skating placement just to screw up her timing.
As for the question of who would've won the gold under the new judging system...I believe Oksana had 3 two-footed landings across her two programs that year, that I would imagine would've had her in 2nd.
Which is all to say that I think the skating community actually tried with Tonya. I think they DID see her potential, but she just couldn't deliver consistently. In 1991, they proved they were willing to reward her when she brought the goods. But from 1992 on, she rarely did, and so her skating fell off, not because everyone "hated" her for not being pretty, but because her programs were lackluster and her commitment wasn't there. But to this day, I don't think Tonya has admitted that to herself. She looks at 1994, a year where she should've been kicked off the Olympic team and then disqualified during the free skate, and instead sees a vicious figure skating association who only let her compete because they knew she wouldn't win and a judging panel that gave her a later skating placement just to screw up her timing.
As for the question of who would've won the gold under the new judging system...I believe Oksana had 3 two-footed landings across her two programs that year, that I would imagine would've had her in 2nd.