Tonya Harding

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Tonya Harding
Personal Information
Country represented:  United States
Date of birth: November 12, 1970 (1970-11-12) (age 38)
Place of birth: Portland, Oregon
Residence: Clark County, Washington
Height: 154.9 cm (5'1")
Coach: Diane Rawlinson

Tonya Maxene[1] Harding (born November 12, 1970) is a former American figure skating champion. In 1991 she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed second in the World Championships. She was the second woman, and the first American woman, to complete a triple axel jump in competition.

She became notorious after her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly conspired with Shawn Eckhardt[2] and Shane Stant to attack competitor Nancy Kerrigan at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Harding was born in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of LaVona and Al Harding. She had a half-brother named Chris Davison (deceased). Her father had health problems which sometimes made him unable to work. Harding claims that her mother physically abused her, a claim denied by her mother.[3] Harding began skating at an early age. She landed her first triple lutz at age 12. Her mother made many of her skating costumes.

She stopped attending high school during her sophomore year, and later earned a GED; she had started receiving assignments to international skating competitions while she was still in junior high school.[citation needed]

She married Jeff Gillooly in 1990, when she was 19 years old. Their tumultuous marriage ended in divorce in 1993, when she was 22 years old.[4]

[edit] Skating career

Harding began to work her way up the competitive skating ladder in the mid-1980s. She placed 6th at the 1986 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 5th in 1987 and 1988, and 3rd in 1989. She was considered a strong contender at the 1990 U.S. Figure Skating Championships after having won Skate America 1989, but she had a poor free skate as a result of suffering from the flu and asthma, and dropped from 2nd place after the original program to finish 7th overall. Harding was a powerful jumper and spinner, but performed the compulsory figures less well.

1991 was Harding's breakthrough year. She landed her first triple axel in competition at the U.S. Championships, winning the title with the event's first 6.0 ever given to a female single skater for technical merit. She competed well at the World Championships, but finished second to Kristi Yamaguchi. She again completed the triple axel during her long program at the World Championships, becoming the first American woman to do so. In her career, Harding landed four triple axels in competition, all of them in 1991 where she completed every one she tried — one at the U.S. Championships, one at the World Championships, and two at the fall 1991 Skate America competition. At the latter competition she recorded three more firsts:

  1. the first woman ever to do a triple axel in the short program,
  2. the first woman to do two triple axels in a single competition, and
  3. the first ever to do a triple axel combination (with double toe loop).

After this year, she never successfully performed the triple axel in competition again, and her career began falling precipitously.

In 1992, Harding placed 3rd at the U.S. Championships after twisting her ankle in practice. She finished 4th at the 1992 Winter Olympics. At the 1992 World Championships, she placed only 6th in a weak field. The following season, Harding skated poorly at the 1993 U.S. Championships and failed to qualify for the World Championship team.

[edit] Series of incidents

The latter part of Harding's competitive career was marked by a series of accidents and incidents, causing television commentators to observe that no competition was complete without Tonya having a crisis. Some included:

  • Skating magazine reported that at Skate America in 1991, Harding was stranded in heavy traffic just before her event was scheduled to begin, and had to hitch a ride with people who drove her backwards through traffic to the arena.
  • In the short program at the 1993 U.S. Championships, Harding had to ask permission from the referee to restart her program after the back of her dress came unhooked as she began to skate.
  • At 1993 Skate America, Harding stopped midway through her free skate and complained to the referee that her skate blade had become loose. She was allowed to resume her program after her blades were checked by a skate technician.
  • In late 1993, Harding was scheduled to compete in a regional qualifying competition for the U.S. Championships. However, before the event, its organizers received an anonymous assassination threat against Harding, which led the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) to tell her to stay away, excluding her from having to qualify.
  • The medal ceremony at the 1994 U.S. Championships had to be delayed because Harding could not be found backstage after the competition.
  • At the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre during the 1994 Winter Olympics, Harding almost failed to appear on the ice when her name was called for the free skating because she was scrambling to replace a broken shoelace. The replacement shoelace turned out to be too short, and after missing the opening jump in her program she again had to ask the referee for permission to find a new lace.

In addition to the incidents listed above, following her 1991 success, she went through a series of coaching changes (at one point she was even attempting to coach herself), and she arrived so late for the competition at the 1992 Olympic Games that her performance was affected by jet lag. In spite of the publicity she received about being handicapped by asthma, she also periodically smoked.

[edit] The Kerrigan attack

International media attending Tonya Harding's practice sessions in preparation for the 1994 Olympics at Clackamas Town Center.

Harding became notorious for having allegedly conspired to harm competitor Nancy Kerrigan in an attack, which occurred on January 6, 1994, at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckhardt,[2] hired Shane Stant to strike Kerrigan on the knee. Harding won that event, while Kerrigan's injury forced her withdrawal. After Harding admitted to helping to cover up the attack, the USFSA and United States Olympic Committee initiated proceedings to remove her from the 1994 Olympic team, but Harding retained her place after threatening legal action.[5] She finished eighth, while Kerrigan, who recovered from her injuries, finished second.

On February 1, 1994, Harding's ex-husband accepted a plea bargain in exchange for his testimony against Harding. Harding avoided further prosecution and a possible jail sentence by pleading guilty on March 16 to hindering the investigation of the attack. She received three years probation, 500 hours of community service and a $160,000 fine. She maintained her innocence of and disgust at the attack, and got a tattoo of an angel on her back, allegedly as a symbol of her innocence. In her 2008 autobiography, The Tonya Tapes, Harding said that she wanted to call the FBI to reveal what she knew, but refused when Gillooly allegedly threatened her with death following a gunpoint gang rape by Gillooly and two other men she did not know. Gillooly, who subsequently changed his name to Jeff Stone, called the allegations "utterly ridiculous."[3]

On June 30, 1994, after conducting its own investigation of the attack, the USFSA stripped Harding of her 1994 title and banned her for life from participating in USFSA-run events as either a skater or a coach. The USFSA concluded that Harding knew about the attack before it happened and displayed "a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior."

As part of her plea deal, Harding had already resigned from the USFSA and given up her spot on the team slated to take part in that year's world championships.[6] Although the USFSA has no control over professional skating events, Harding was also persona non grata on the pro circuit because few skaters and promoters would work with her. Consequently, Harding failed to benefit from the pro skating boom that ensued in the aftermath of the scandal.[7]

The attack on Kerrigan and the news of Harding's alleged involvement led to a media frenzy of saturation news coverage. Harding appeared on the cover of both Time and Newsweek magazines in January 1994. Reporters and TV news crews attended Harding's practices in Portland and camped out in front of Kerrigan's home. CBS assigned Connie Chung to follow Harding's every move in Lillehammer. Counting 400 members of the press jammed into the practice rink in Norway, Scott Hamilton complained that "the world press was turning the Olympics into just another sensational tabloid event."[7] The tape-delayed broadcast of the short program at the Olympics remains one of the most watched telecasts in American history.[8]

[edit] Later celebrity

Tonya Harding entered the world of the celebrity sex tape with the appearance of a pornographic "Wedding Video" that showed her having sex with her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly. Gillooly, who, not long after the scandal, began to fade from prominence and changed his name to Jeff Stone,[9] sold the tape to a tabloid show after having been implicated as a conspirator in the Kerrigan attack. Stills from the tape were published by Penthouse in September 1994, and the tape itself[10] was released at about the same time. Harding tried to distance herself from it.

Harding appeared on a USA Pro Wrestling show in 1994 as the manager for wrestler Art Barr.[citation needed]

An attempt at a music career ended when she and her band, the Golden Blades, were booed off the stage in their first performance, in 1995 in Portland, Oregon.[11][12]

In late 1996, Harding used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to help revive an 81-year-old woman, Alice Olson, who collapsed at a bar in Portland, Oregon while playing video poker.[13]

Harding had a number of run-ins with the law following her involvement with the Kerrigan attack. Some of the incidents which have been reported in the press[14] include the following:

  • On May 25, 1995, it was reported that Harding claimed she was being stalked by someone driving a white Lincoln Town Car, resulting in a car chase involving Harding, her ex-husband Gillooly, and the police.[15]
  • On February 12, 1997, Harding claimed that she was abducted at knife-point outside her home by a bushy-haired man who forced her to drive to a rural area, where she rammed her truck into a tree and escaped by running into the woods. Police found no evidence of an abduction. This incident happened on the opening weekend of the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.[16]
  • On October 16, 1997, Harding reported that her truck had been stolen from a shopping mall parking lot.[17]
  • On January 6, 2000, six years to the day after the attack on Kerrigan, Harding was in the news again after she lost control of her truck on an icy road and landed in a ditch. Her then boyfriend, Darren Silver, allegedly made threats against a press photographer.[18]
  • On February 24, 2000, Harding was ordered by a Clark County judge to stay away from alcohol and her former boyfriend, Darren Silver, after being booked on fourth-degree Domestic Violence assault charges for punching Silver and throwing a hubcap at him at their Camas, Washington residence.[19]

Harding was also sentenced to 3 days in jail and 10 days of community service on a work crew.[20] Shortly before this, Harding had been attempting to make a comeback as a professional skater, but the hubcap incident effectively ended her return to skating.[21]

  • On April 20, 2002, Harding was involved in another accident with her truck. She was cited for drunk driving and a violation of her probation agreement from her 2000 conviction.[22]
  • On October 23, 2005, Harding, apparently again under the influence of alcohol, was involved in a fight at her home in Vancouver, Washington with Christopher Nolan, a man she described as her boyfriend. Initially, she made a 911 call claiming to have been assaulted in her home by two masked men. For his part, Nolan claimed that Harding attacked him after having too much to drink. In the end, Nolan was charged with assault and ordered to stay away from Harding and to avoid alcohol.[23]
  • On March 11, 2007, the Clark County sheriff's office responded to two calls related to Harding.[24]

The first call was from Harding herself, at 5am. She told the officer who responded that she had observed five armed intruders trying to steal her vehicle, and hide rifles on her property. The responding officer's report described her as "agitated" and her story as "very implausible," and recorded her frustration that others could not see the people she saw. He could find no evidence to back up Harding's claims. The second call, four hours later, at 9am, was from a friend who had agreed to let Harding visit. Harding's host told police that although Harding was not violent, she was "tweaking out, seeing animals," and she was worried about her children's safety. She requested police return Harding to her home. Police reported that the officer who returned her home inspected her trailer home, to reassure her, and advised her to seek medical help. Linda Lewis, Harding’s longtime agent, attributed her behavior to a bad interaction of legitimate prescription drugs.

[edit] Boxing career

In 2002, Tonya Harding boxed on the Fox TV network Celebrity Boxing event against Paula Jones, winning the fight. On February 22, 2003, she made her official women's professional boxing debut, losing a four round decision in the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Clifford Etienne bout, amid rumors that she was having financial difficulties and needed to box to earn money.

Harding won her third pro bout against Alejandra Lopez at the Creek Nations Gaming Center.

On March 23, 2004, it was reported that Harding cancelled a planned boxing match against Tracy Carlton in Oakland, California because of an alleged death threat against her.

On June 24, 2004, after reportedly not having boxed for over a year, Harding was beaten in a match in Edmonton, Alberta by boxer Amy Johnson. Fans reportedly booed Harding as she entered the ring, and cheered wildly for Johnson as she won in the third round. Harding later protested the outcome.

Harding's boxing career was quite short, a brevity she attributes to asthma.[25] Her overall record was 3-3-0.[26]

[edit] Boxing record

3 Wins (3 decisions), 3 Losses (2 knockouts, 1 decision), 0 Draws[1]
Date Opponent Result Type Round, Time Location
2004-06-25 Amy Johnson Loss TKO 3 (4), 1:04 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2003-08-02 Melissa Yanas Loss TKO 1 (4), 1:13 Dallas, Texas, USA
2003-06-13 Emily Gosa Win Decision (unanimous) 4 (4) Lincoln City, Oregon, USA
2003-03-28 Alejandra Lopez Win Decision (unanimous) 4 (4) Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
2003-03-15 Shannon Birmingham Win Decision (unanimous) 4 (4) Gulfport, Mississippi, USA
2003-02-22 Samantha Browning Loss Decision (split) 4 (4) Memphis, Tennessee, USA

[edit] In popular culture

  • Elizabeth Searle's novella, Celebrities In Disgrace, centers on the Harding-Kerrigan affair. The novel was adapted by Searle and composer Abigail Al-Doory to Tonya And Nancy: The Opera, a chamber opera produced in May 2006 by Tufts University and performed at the American Repertory Theater's Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts under the direction of Meron Langsner. A documentary on the making of the opera and the media frenzy it caused is currently in post-production at Charles River Media Group. The film, titled A Good Whack, is directed by Don Schechter. As of 2005, the novel on which the opera was based is also being adapted into a short film. Searle later created Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, which premiered on the West Coast in 2008 and which Harding herself attended.[citation needed]
  • Harding is featured in "Tonya's Twirls", a song by Loudon Wainwright III, a US songwriter and folk musician.[27] The song draws humor from Harding's lifestyle, but it ultimately resolves as a lament for lost innocence. The song was previewed live a few years before it was recorded and issued on Social Studies (1999). A live recording was later issued on So Damn Happy (2003).
  • The Nancy Kerrigan attack is the subject of the second verse of Weird Al Yankovic's song Headline News. In the music video the attack is acted out comically to coincide with the lyrics.
  • In the 1994 double-featured movie Attack of the 5'2" Women, Julie Brown plays the role of Tonya Hardly (Tonya Harding) before going on to play the role of Lenora Babbitt (a spoof on Lorena Bobbitt).[28]

[edit] Other media appearances

[edit] Figure skating competitive highlights

Event 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94
Winter Olympics 4th 8th
World Championships 2nd 6th
U.S. Championships 6th 5th 5th 3rd 7th 1st 3rd 4th 1st
Skate America 2nd 1st 1st 3rd
Skate Canada Int. 2nd
Nations Cup 1st
NHK Trophy 2nd 4th
U.S. Olympic Festival 1st

Sources:[29][30][31]

[edit] Images

Practice session at Clackamas Town Center in preparation for the 1994 Winter Olympics

Practice session, close-up

Practice session, landing axel

World media gathered to film Tonya's practice

Tonya Harding returning from Norway after the Olympics

Elaine Stamm, president of the Tonya Harding Fan Club, speaks with reporters at Portland Airport

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Janofsky. Winter Olympics; Always Tonya: As Cool as Ice But Troubled The New York Times, February 7, 1994. Last accessed 6th Jan 2009.
  2. ^ a b Player in attack on Kerrigan dies at 40 - Yahoo! News as archived by the Wayback Machine.
  3. ^ a b Tonya Harding reveals her side of roller-coaster life Today Show May 15, 2008.
  4. ^ Tonya Harding biography at tonyaharding.com, accessed July 16, 2006.
  5. ^ "Mass Moments: Skater Nancy Kerrigan Assulted". http://massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=3. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  6. ^ A timeline of events in the scandal, Washington Post, accessed July 16, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Hamilton, Scott; Lorenzo Benet (1999). Landing It: My life on and off the ice. New York: Kensington Books. ISBN 1-57566-466-6. 
  8. ^ Nielsen Media Research (August 6, 2000). "Top 100 TV Shows of All Time". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=chart_pass&charttype=chart_topshowsalltime. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  9. ^ Christine Brennan, Inside Edge, ISBN 0-684-80167-1.
  10. ^ Tonya and Jeff's Wedding Night, IMDB, accessed July 16, 2006.
  11. ^ "Stage Fright". People Magazine. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20101626,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-01. 
  12. ^ "Tonya Harding Debuts As Singer In Portland Concert For Mda". Seattle Times. 1995-08-30. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950830&slug=2139013. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  13. ^ "Harding Helps to Save Woman's Life". New York Times (from AP). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E4D81539F93AA15753C1A960958260. Retrieved on 2007-01-07. 
  14. ^ "The Tonya Harding - Nancy Kerrigan saga: A Timeline". The Oregonian. May 8, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20070427012901/http://www.oregonlive.com/special/tonya/index.ssf?/special/tonya/timeline.frame. 
  15. ^ Fachet, Robert (May 25, 1995). "Harding's Latest Plot Twist Is a Car Chase". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/olympics1998/history/timeline/articles/time_052595.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. 
  16. ^ Harding escapes alleged abduction, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
  17. ^ "People, Places & Things in the News". South Coast Today. October 17, 1997. http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-97/10-17-97/zzzwnppl.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. 
  18. ^ News report quoted on tonyaharding.org, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
  19. ^ "This Just In". Kitsap Sun. February 24, 2000. http://web.kitsapsun.com/sports/2000/february/0224this.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. 
  20. ^ Rose, Joe (May 22, 2000). "Cleanup duty is next for Harding". The Oregonian. http://0-docs.newsbank.com.catalog.multcolib.org/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB08C5F948849EA&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0. 
  21. ^ Couch, Greg (February 27, 2000). "Harding's new image takes a beating". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20000227/ai_n13854991. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. 
  22. ^ Harding sentenced to 10 days in jail, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
  23. ^ Man Arrested After Tonya Harding Run-In, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
  24. ^ Crombie, Noelle (March 15, 2007). "Former skater Tonya Harding "tweaking out," phones police". Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003618824_harding15m.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. 
  25. ^ Eggers, Kerry (January 5, 2007). "Ready for 'Life With Tonya'?". Portland Tribune. http://portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=116795083776471200. 
  26. ^ Tonya Harding's professional boxing record, BoxRec.com, accessed January 13, 2007.
  27. ^ "Tonya Twirls", accessed July 21, 2007.
  28. ^ Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 Women (1994) at the Internet Movie Database
  29. ^ Olympic results - finishers, from www.usfigureskating.org, accessed August 30, 2006.
  30. ^ Worlds results, from www.isu.org, accessed August 30, 2006.
  31. ^ World Figure Skating Championships 1990-1999 results, accessed August 31, 2006.

[edit] External links

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United States national champions in figure skating – Ladies' singles

1914: Theresa Weld · 1918: Rosemary Beresford · 1920–1924: Theresa Weld · 1925–1927: Beatrix Loughran · 1928–1933: Maribel Vinson · 1934: Suzanne Davis · 1935–1937: Maribel Vinson · 1938–1940: Joan Tozzer · 1941–1942: Jane Vaughn · 1943–1948: Gretchen Merrill · 1949–1950: Yvonne C. Sherman · 1951: Sonya Klopfer · 1952–1956: Tenley Albright · 1957–1960: Carol Heiss · 1961: Laurence Owen · 1962: Barbara Roles · 1963: Lorraine Hanlon · 1964–1968: Peggy Fleming · 1969–1973: Janet Lynn · 1974–1976: Dorothy Hamill · 1977–1980: Linda Fratianne · 1981: Elaine Zayak · 1982–1984: Rosalynn Sumners · 1985: Tiffany Chin · 1986: Debi Thomas · 1987: Jill Trenary · 1988: Debi Thomas · 1989–1990: Jill Trenary · 1991: Tonya Harding · 1992: Kristi Yamaguchi · 1993: Nancy Kerrigan · 1994: * · 1995: Nicole Bobek · 1996: Michelle Kwan · 1997: Tara Lipinski · 1998–2005: Michelle Kwan · 2006: Sasha Cohen · 2007: Kimmie Meissner · 2008: Mirai Nagasu · 2009: Alissa Czisny
*Title stripped from Tonya Harding


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