I, Tonya | Page 4 | Golden Skate

I, Tonya

LiamForeman

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Tonya had been with Jeff for years before SkAm91. She won her Nationals when she was married to him. I think LaVona had it right in one of Tonya's bios, when she said "You can't do it" was the best motivator for her. Mom probably knew best. Because after SkAm91, there was no "You can't do it" but "OMG you can totally do it!!". So maybe she got scared of being pressured to win and then sabotaged herself for the rest of the season, and maybe even her career. The overeating, drinking, and smoking probably didn't help either.
 
mrrice

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
LiamForeman said:
Tonya had been with Jeff for years before SkAm91. She won her Nationals when she was married to him. I think LaVona had it right in one of Tonya's bios, when she said "You can't do it" was the best motivator for her. Mom probably knew best. Because after SkAm91, there was no "You can't do it" but "OMG you can totally do it!!". So maybe she got scared of being pressured to win and then sabotaged herself for the rest of the season, and maybe even her career. The overeating, drinking, and smoking probably didn't help either.
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Her bio says they got married in the summer of 1990. Maybe she considered Jeff to be her motivation as her best year was 1991. I might also add that Tonya was quite good at Nationals in 1989 when she won the bronze. It will be interesting to see why they had such a short marriage.
 
LiamForeman

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
I'm not sure this movie is going to really go into the reasons why. Why was her second marriage so short? Didn't she hit him over the head with a hubcap???? I just have this sixth sense that she is a pathologic liar and will say anything to get out of a situation or to look like a victim. It wasn't like she hasn't had other run-ins with the law. I just hope this film doesn't glorify her, god help us all.
 
mrrice

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
LiamForeman said:
I'm not sure this movie is going to really go into the reasons why. Why was her second marriage so short? Didn't she hit him over the head with a hubcap???? I just have this sixth sense that she is a pathologic liar and will say anything to get out of a situation or to look like a victim. It wasn't like she hasn't had other run-ins with the law. I just hope this film doesn't glorify her, god help us all.
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I'm sure she was all of those things. When I see the scenes with her Mother, it seems clear that the apple did not fall far from the tree. You know who I feel sorry for in all of this...Her coaches....I can't imagine what it must have been like for them to see Tonya throwing her career away the way she did. Tonya made so many bad decisions and she seemed to turn away from anyone who really cared about her. Very sad indeed.
 
I

Inessence

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
icetigger said:
I think it's hard to label Tonya as the best skater of that time period when she never landed a clean triple-triple. Kristi Yamaguchi did; and Midori did triple-toe-triple-toes over a period of about ten years, and also landed triple-lutz-triples toes in competition, plus there is footage of her landing both triple flips-triple toes and triple axel-triple toes in practice. Also, Midori landed her first at the age of twelve. Can you really label another skater not able to do something she did consistently from the age of twelve, and which is a now a standard within the sport, as the better skater? The line about Tonya being the best skater in the world is there to sell the film...... There's a lot of Americanist revisionism around Tonya, in line with this film; but even the ultra Americanist Scott Hamilton stated at the time that Midori was a better jumper than Tonya https://youtu.be/rafV3pPOwdM?t=3m7s. And of course with Tonya we are really only talking about the nine month window in which she landed 4 triple axels, rather than the seven year window in which Midori landed 21 or so.
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Not to pick nits, but a direct competitor of both, Yamaguchi called Harding's 3A more beautiful than Ito's in a TSL interview IIRC. Ito was lucky to be the only skater Japan had and went to all the major comps, unlike Harding who was usually at least 4th in line behind Thomas, Cadavy, and Trenary. With Yamaguchi soon to follow.
 
Kara

Kara

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
It looks super entertaining and that's what matters for a movie to me.:cool: The only other figure skating movie I've seen and liked is Blades of Glory so hopefully this will turn out to be the next one!
 
I

icetigger

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
mrrice said:
I'm just saying....At Worlds in 1991, Kristi won the gold, Tonya won the silver, and Midori was 4th. Once Tonya defeated reigning World Champion Kristi, in the fall of 1991, she was arguably, the best female skater in World. Unfortunately, that victory seemed to go to her head and she never skated that well again.....She met Jeff around that time and began to skip practice, and like her mom, drank and smoked.
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Except again, this is an Americanist perspective: you are just looking at American skaters on American soil at the point where you are anointing Tonya as the best skater in the World.. It doesn't take in to account the fact Ito had a collision with another skater prior to the 1991 Worlds, when Tonya beat her. Or that Ito completed a six, all triple free programme at around the same time Harding beat Yamaguchi at Skate America, where the lutz was in combination with the triple toe loop and the triple axel was in combination with a double toe loop. Plus had better artistry. Plus could actually do a triple-triple. Plus etc. etc.
 
OS

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
This will be my guilty secret and dirty little pleasure movie of the year :biggrin:
 
mrrice

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
icetigger said:
Except again, this is an Americanist perspective: you are just looking at American skaters on American soil at the point where you are anointing Tonya as the best skater in the World.. It doesn't take in to account the fact Ito had a collision with another skater prior to the 1991 Worlds, when Tonya beat her. Or that Ito completed a six, all triple free programme at around the same time Harding beat Yamaguchi at Skate America, where the lutz was in combination with the triple toe loop and the triple axel was in combination with a double toe loop. Plus had better artistry. Plus could actually do a triple-triple. Plus etc. etc.
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Well, I'm from Germany and I'd be talking about Katarina Witt but she's not part of the story. Also, I'm only talking about Tonya because she's the hot topic of the moment. To me, this movie is more about getting my friends together for dinner, drinks, and a movie. Tonya's career has been over for more than 20 years and as soon as this movie leaves theaters, Tonya will fade to the back of my mind, and off the forum pages like she has since she was banned all those years ago.
 
kenboy123

kenboy123

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Haven't seen the film yet as it isn't out yet, but it looks like a female version of the Wolf Of Wall Street...i don't even think this is meant to be a serious interpretation of her Tonya Harding's life...it looks more like a comedy than anything...and honestly, the fact that it is a biographical (somewhat anyways) and it is an indie film helps the it's awards chances as Hollywood blockbusters are never taken seriously for awards consideration anyways...i hope Margot Robbie earns her first academy award nomination even though she won't win against the likes of Sally Hawkins for the Shape Of Water or Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, but she could definitely get her first nomination...Allison Janey could actually get an award for Supporting Actress even though Melissa Leo for Novitiate and Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird could be tough competition...but who knows as the Academy always gives awards to the same people and Janney has never been nominated for an Academy Award (i think) let alone win...


PS: Sorry my post got so Academy Award heavy...i am a huge fan of film and film award season
 
LiamForeman

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
mrrice said:
I'm sure she was all of those things. When I see the scenes with her Mother, it seems clear that the apple did not fall far from the tree. You know who I feel sorry for in all of this...Her coaches....I can't imagine what it must have been like to for them to see Tonya throwing her career away the way she did. Tonya made so many bad decisions and she seemed to turn away from anyone who really cared about her. Very sad indeed.
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Diane Rawlinson for sure. In an interview she said she basically funded Tonya's skating herself by taking on 20 other students. She was kind of a maternal figure in Tonya's life who really cared about and supported her. I thought it was kind of a slap in the face when Tonya dropped her for another coach who was able to take the credit for her 91 season to the Olympics. I was happy Diane was back on board to at least take Tonya to the 94 Olympics, though it was probably bittersweet.
 
N

NAOTMAA

Medalist
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
I'm interested in seeing the film but I don't know the trailer looked kind of trashy. Like it emphasizes the whole white trailer trash park side of her. I don't know if Margot Robbie even watched videos of Tonya because she doesn't sound like her at all, not even close. It's like she's relying on regional accent stereotypes :disagree:

Has anyone here seen it yet? A few people on a movie forum who saw it say they don't show her as a perpetrator or even aware of any planned attack, and is completely shocked when it happened. Another poster said they saw it as, "a tale of a woman whose career was destroyed by idiot men/abusive assholes in her life. Of course Nancy's life was impacted as well but not nearly to the same permanent degree." They ended up feeling sorry for her :unsure:

I'm a little skeptical now after hearing stuff like that :slink:
 
VIETgrlTerifa

VIETgrlTerifa

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I thought Diane Rawlinson was the one who dropped Tonya because they were just not seeing eye-to-eye that season and Rawlinson figured Tonya would be better with someone she didn’t have a history with and thus would probably listen to. I also thought Rawlinson was the one who recommended Dody Teachman for Tonya.
 
N

NAOTMAA

Medalist
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
VIETgrlTerifa said:
I thought Diane Rawlinson was the one who dropped Tonya because they were just not seeing eye-to-eye that season and Rawlinson figured Tonya would be better with someone she didn’t have a history with and thus would probably listen to. I also thought Rawlinson was the one who recommended Dody Teachman for Tonya.
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I believe you are correct. Tonya was slacking in her training and Diane became exasperated by it all. That's when she recommended Dody.

Tonya fired and rehired Dody multiple times because Dody clashed with Jeff. Dody became annoyed with Tonya for the same reasons Diane had before. Her poor training habits and refusal to listen to advice (like Dody telling her to arrive in France early rather then the last minute!) led to a decline. She fired Dody for good and returned to Diane after her poor performance in Albertville which she blamed Dody for.
 
mrrice

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
NAOTMAA said:
I believe you are correct. Tonya was slacking in her training and Diane became exasperated by it all. That's when she recommended Dody.

Tonya fired and rehired Dody multiple times because Dody clashed with Jeff. Dody became annoyed with Tonya for the same reasons Diane had before. Her poor training habits and refusal to listen to advice (like Dody telling her to arrive in France early rather then the last minute!) led to a decline. She fired Dody for good and returned to Diane after her poor performance in Albertville which she blamed Dody for.
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She should have listened to Dody. Tonya was used to training at basically sea level, as Portland's elevation is literally 50ft. Albertville's elevation is 6,683 ft!! When you add the thin air of the mountains to her asthma and cigarette smoking......It's no wonder she had a hard time getting through her programs.
 
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