Did Tonya Harding really ‘destroy’ figure skating?

Bookseller · Apr 27, 2026

gsk8 said:
From the interview (below in 2017) with Graham Bensinger, Scott Hamilton says many people think the Tonya Harding–Nancy Kerrigan controversy helped the sport because of massive TV ratings—but in his view, it actually “destroyed skating” by creating a short-term ratings explosion that led to unsustainable business decisions.

He argues the controversy created a “false economy” that the sport never recovered from.

In a nutshell:

Short-term explosion in popularity

Oversized financial expectations

Decline of professional skating opportunities

Long-term drop in ratings and interest

Do you agree or disagree?

Was the scandal ultimately good or bad for skating?

What would you have done differently if you were running the sport then?

At the 1.26 mark, Graham said: "And it didn't hurt either that there was a Nancy Kerrigan, Tanya Harding controversy."

Hamilton replied: "See, that's a good question, because a lot of people think that was a boom. It's honestly what destroyed skating."

What are your thoughts? When answering, let us know if you were following figure skating at that time to present

I think Scott was pretty much right. It brought a lot of negative, sensationalist attention, but those people didn't continue to follow skating and it created a bad feeling about the brutal competition. When I talk to non skating fans, they tend to know about Tonya Harding. But nothing else. And it fostered a culture of competitors being enemies that we're just now getting over thanks to Kaori, Alysa and the current crop of skaters.

gsk8 · Apr 27, 2026

4everchan said:
In the end, I don't think Tonya is the only culprit for destroying figure skating/pro circuit... just the way I don't think Alysa Liu will be the sole responsible for renewing interest for the sport. Both have contributed/ will contribute to shape the sport, that's for sure... but I find that's a lot to blame or credit for on only one person. These things are often multifactorial

No one ever said (or implied) that Liu was "solely" responsible for renewing interest. Might want to go back and read the article and the thread

Did you listen to Scott's interview?

4everchan · Apr 28, 2026

gsk8 said:
No one ever said (or implied) that Liu was "solely" responsible for renewing interest. Might want to go back and read the article and the thread

Did you listen to Scott's interview?

I have read and listened : my comment has more to do with the fact that both threads are living at the same moment on this forum. Don't you think that it's possible it could be perceived in a polarizing way ? That's the thought I was having. Nothing more, really.

Anna K. · Apr 28, 2026

Bookseller said:
I think Scott was pretty much right. It brought a lot of negative, sensationalist attention, but those people didn't continue to follow skating and it created a bad feeling about the brutal competition. When I talk to non skating fans, they tend to know about Tonya Harding. But nothing else. And it fostered a culture of competitors being enemies that we're just now getting over thanks to Kaori, Alysa and the current crop of skaters.

The worst thing is, it persuaded the organizers that negative sensationalist attention is what this sport needs to be popular.

Although my recollection of the reaction to the scandal in the US (of course, I got only fragments so I might be missing something) is exactly the opposite: people believing that they are on the positive side more than ever. The whole wave initially was about how unacceptable this incident is for sport and how poor Nancy now needs support so that she can win anyway and discourage any potential ~~leg~~ rule breaker from doing so in the future. Then, the wave came back; people started feeling that Tonya receives too much hatred and too much hatred in the air always causes discomfort. So the "Tonya has feelings" and "did Tonya even stood a chance other than breaking the ice princesse's leg" narratives emerged. Like, there is no guilty party; it's just how cruel this sport is. But the awareness of sport being cruel also caused discomfort so there was a great wave of happiness when a knowing-no-harm orphan Oksana Baiul (Oksana herself being like...) won over Nancy and brought to the table something new and positive to root for.

Yet by time, the positive feelings evaporated while the negativity has become the heritage of figure skating.

Mathman · Apr 28, 2026

It seems somewhat strange to me that it is Scott Hamilton who steps forward to criticize greedy athletes, greedy skating promotors, and greedy entrepreneurs for business decisions based on unsustainable expectations. No one got a bigger piece of the pie in the mid-nineties than Scott.

I am also not standing in line to criticize the ISU, USFSA and similar stakeholders for not promoting the sport as cleverly as they might have. Overall, I think that the powers-that-be are doing the best they can at bailing/paddling their somewhat leaky canoe upstream. (They.ve got their problems, I've got mine.

)

Mathman · Apr 28, 2026

Anna K. said:
... The whole wave initially was about how unacceptable this incident is for sport and... [to] discourage any potential ~~leg~~ rule breaker from doing so in the future.

This is a very salient point. The incident was a vicious criminal assault. The case was settled (somewhat ambiguously as regards Tonya' s personal culpability) in a court of law. The legal principle is, you can't go around assaulting people with a baseball bat, never mind what possible effect it might have on someone's business speculations.

Alex Fedorov · Apr 28, 2026

In any case, I don't see a connection between Tonya and the subsequent decline of the World Professional Championships. These competitions lost popularity rather because they were inferior in level to regular tournaments. It's important to consider that in the 1990s, professional athletes were allowed to participate in the Olympics, and people expected to see something special. Professional hockey players and especially professional basketball players lived up to these expectations, but with professional figure skaters, things were different. Quite the opposite—when "amateurs" (skaters who has active career in regular competition) were allowed to compete in the World Professional Championships, it turned out that the "amateurs" were clearly stronger. In reality, this was, of course, entirely predictable, but perhaps it was a disappointment for viewers.

4everchan · Apr 28, 2026

In singles, Boitano and Witt, were no longer competitive. That's correct.
However Russian pairs who were in pro circuit already did win gold and silver. Torville and Dean did win the bronze. They even took the 1st place in the OD.

I don't know if we can say that pro skaters were weaker than "traditional" amateurs. In singles, okay...

Let's keep in mind that Japan Open has featured for many years pro and amateur skaters competing together.
Joannie Rochette, a retired skater, was extremely competitive for many years at that event.

It's not that clear-cut to me that it's about the level of amateur skating being higher. The excitement of a "real competition" with many more jumps may have indeed done it... because frankly, some of the formats of some of the pro competitions had their fluff components.

Mathman · Apr 28, 2026

Alex Fedorov said:
...These [professional] competitions lost popularity rather because they were inferior in level to regular tournaments....

My recollection of those times was that this was part of the ISU's deliberate push, led vigorously by Ottavio Cinquanta, to take full control of every aspect of the sport. The ISU muscled it's way into the professional scene and eviscerated it.

[Although... at the 1998 Landover pro-am, Kurt Browning came within a whisker (actually, within a missed triple Axel in the short program) of beating Alexei Yagudin at his prime. On the other hand, Michelle Kwan landed 7 triples in the technical program and delivered perhaps the most outstanding performance of her entire career in the artistic program to seal the deal for the "amateurs."]

Anyway, I quite agree that pro skating needs something more than "competitive skating , only not as good" if it hopes to maker a comeback. What that something might be , I have no idea.

Jeanie19 · Apr 28, 2026

Anna K. said:
The worst thing is, it persuaded the organizers that negative sensationalist attention is what this sport needs to be popular.

Although my recollection of the reaction to the scandal is the US (of course, I got only fragments so I might be missing something) is exactly the opposite: people believing that they are on the positive side more than ever. The whole wave initially was about how unacceptable this incident is for sport and how poor Nancy now needs support so that she can win anyway and discourage any potential ~~leg~~ rule breaker from doing so in the future. Then, the wave came back; people started feeling that Tonya receives too much hatred and too much hatred in the air always causes discomfort. So the "Tonya has feelings" and "did Tonya even stood a chance other than breaking the ice princesse's leg" narratives emerged. Like, there is no guilty party; it's just how cruel this sport is. But the awareness of sport being cruel also caused discomfort so there was a great wave of happiness when a knowing-no-harm orphan Oksana Baiul (Oksana herself being like...) won over Nancy and brought to the table something new and positive to root for.

Yet by time, the positive feelings evaporated while the negativity has become the heritage of figure skating.

I agree with everything you have posted. I will add that judges have picked their chosen ones and that has hurt figure skating the most. The strongest one of the night not the favorite held up has hurt the sport the most. And the Nancy / Tanya nightmare bringing revenue to figure skating has hurt because the powers that be have tried to have rivalries bring in revenue for years which is so wrong. Let the fans choose who they like and having judging be fair and figure skating will rise.

Arigato · Apr 28, 2026

So, to counter something stated in the thread: The World Professional Skating Championships was a competition for skaters who relinquished their "amateur" status to skate professionally. There weren't two sides of a coin in that particular event. However, there was a different event known as the Pro-Am where professionals did compete against those still retaining their amateur status. Once such case was the 1993 Pro-Am which was an interesting case since one of the amateurs (Mark Mitchell) took issue with Brian Boitano's wanting to go for a third visit to the Oly games coming up in 1994.

The men who finished in the top three were the skaters who had turned pro, and the bottom three were the skaters who still remained amateurs. Not only does Boitano tell it straight in the following short video, but you also get to see why Brian was such a great skater to begin with, especially on the entry and execution of his opening element.

As for Tonya, I hope she enjoyed her 500 hours of community service and sentence of 3 years probation. Had she not taken a plea deal she would have gone to jail with all the other sleazy people involved in the crime - a disgrace to the sport but certainly not responsible for "destroying" anything. The sport is far bigger and more important than tiny Tonya.

Jammers · Apr 28, 2026

Arigato said:
So, to counter something stated in the thread: The World Professional Skating Championships was a competition for skaters who relinquished their "amateur" status to skate professionally. There weren't two sides of a coin in that particular event. However, there was a different event known as the Pro-Am where professionals did compete against those still retaining their amateur status. Once such case was the 1993 Pro-Am which was an interesting case since one of the amateurs (Mark Mitchell) took issue with Brian Boitano's wanting to go for a third visit to the Oly games coming up in 1994.

The men who finished in the top three were the skaters who had turned pro, and the bottom three were the skaters who still remained amateurs. Not only does Boitano tell it straight in the following short video, but you also get to see why Brian was such a great skater to begin with, especially on the entry and execution of his opening element.

As for Tonya, I hope she enjoyed her 500 hours of community service and sentence of 3 years probation. Had she not taken a plea deal she would have gone to jail with all the other sleazy people involved in the crime - a disgrace to the sport but certainly not responsible for "destroying" anything. The sport is far bigger and more important than tiny Tonya.

Yeah Tonya was probably in on it from the very start and it's too bad the USFS caved in and let her go to the Olympics when she should have been in jail. Karma did bite her on the ass though in Lillehammer with her laces fiasco in the LP. Being from Oregon i knew what a loose canon Tonya was and wasn't even really surprised she had gotten involved with those thugs and was probably behind the whole thing.

Alex Fedorov · Apr 29, 2026

Mathman said:
[Although... at the 1998 Landover pro-am, Kurt Browning came within a whisker (actually, within a missed triple Axel in the short program) of beating Alexei Yagudin at his prime. On the other hand, Michelle Kwan landed 7 triples in the technical program and delivered perhaps the most outstanding performance of her entire career in the artistic program to seal the deal for the "amateurs."]

Anyway, I quite agree that pro skating needs something more than "competitive skating , only not as good" if it hopes to maker a comeback. What that something might be , I have no idea.

Nevertheless, Kurt Browning expressed displeasure with Yagudin's (and "amateurs" in general) participation in these competitions in 1998. He said something along the lines of, "Yagudin should never be here." Brian Boitano echoed this sentiment, also saying something along the lines of, "We don't want to jump triple Axels anymore, we're too old."

Perhaps the word "professional" shouldn't have been used. "Veteran" would have been better—that would have discouraged active skaters from participating in such competitions. The ISU, one might say, capitalized on this mistake. People expect more cool things from professionals. For example, in the USSR, NHL players were long referred to as "Canadian professionals," implying that these athletes were several times stronger than the students who came from Canada to compete in regular World Championships.

noskates · Apr 29, 2026

Tonya created a "poor me" story from the very beginning. No money, someone had to make and donate her costumes, her lace broke, yada! yada! She was the quintessential underdog! I think initially people felt sorry for her and believed that she had nothing to do with the Kerrigan incident. I don't think it ruined figure skating however. I think we went through a period of time where the US was not presenting interesting skaters, the cost of the show became exhorbitant, they ended up not covering that many cities with less each year, the networks kind of relegated figure skating to short programs or, in the case of the Olys, bits and pieces to keep you watching until midnight, and a severe lack of promotion from the USFS. Figure skating was bleeding before Tanya!

Mathman · May 3, 2026

Alex Fedorov said:
For example, in the USSR, NHL players were long referred to as "Canadian professionals," implying that these athletes were several times stronger than the students who came from Canada to compete in regular World Championships.

I think that the whole retreat from the Olympic mindset "Amateur = members of the nobility competing for the high-minded love of sport" and Professional = (ugh) working -class stiffs that have to earn a living" was kind of torturous, and involved fits and starts in many sports across the board. The U.S. basketball "Dream Team" in 1992 was probably, in the U.S., the most ballyhooed example.

I remember that Kristi Yamaguchi featured a discussion of the issue in her 1997 book "Skating for Dummies," to mention another "pro skater" from that era who declined to participate in competitions against the rising "amateurs" of those times.

Arigato · May 3, 2026

Alex Fedorov said:
Nevertheless, Kurt Browning expressed displeasure with Yagudin's (and "amateurs" in general) participation in these competitions in 1998. He said something along the lines of, "Yagudin should never be here." Brian Boitano echoed this sentiment, also saying something along the lines of, "We don't want to jump triple Axels anymore, we're too old."

Brian was still doing 3A's in 1997, sustained a back injury in 1998 that restricted him from doing any kind of axel at all for more than a year which is why he didn't do a 3A at the 1999 World Professional Championships. I can't even imagine Boitano seriously saying something like you quoted. It's comical, really. It's well-known that Brian took great pride in never watering down any of his jumps since he won OLY Gold in 1988.

dorispulaski · May 4, 2026

Mathman said:
I agree 100% that prop skating needs a new focus to mount a comeback. But what?

I think pro skating had a failure of creativity toward the end, as the pro programs were just dumbed down amateur programs with interesting lighting.

I remember a lot of pro programs (and amateur exhibition programs) fondly, and they were not the ones that replicated amateur style performances.

How many of you remember a lot of the crazy programs of Gary Beacom, which relied on mastery of the blade?