My wife and I watched a lot of ice skating back then, and it wasn’t so much a class issue as two different styles of ice skating - Tonya was far more athletic, while Nancy was more artistic - and the judges preferred the latter.
That was certainly part of it, too. Particularly the Eastern European judges valued more balletic, classical expression (even to the point where you’d nearly never see a Russian skater performing to anything other than classical music).
I remember Surya Bonaly, the French skater from that era, who was an incredible athlete (and known for landing backflips and attempting other difficult jumps), but, as I remember it, wasn’t known for being as artistic as some of her peers, and never medaled in the Olympics.
I’m sure this was true for the judges, commentators, and probably people who know a decent amount about figure skating. But for the public at large, the story I remember the media pushing was more about class and personality differences than athleticism. Or at least, that’s the story that resonated with me as a non-skating fan.
Don’t forget that Nancy only silvered in 94. It wasn’t because of her knee, it was because she was a dull skater. She had a classic artistic style, clean skating, but nothing all that special.
What does Nancy Kerrigan’s personality have to do with Tonya Harding’s guilt or innocence? Does it really matter if Kerrigan was a saint or an asshole? If someone steals a car, nobody says “Sure, but the car’s owner is a dick.”
As to Harding, it strikes me as being amazingly unlikely she was not in on it. The problem with the theory that she did not know, or only vaguely knew, it that such a scenario requires that Jeff Gillooly, her ex husband, would o his own accord plan the attack and go to the trouble of seeing it through. Gillooly was and is a criminal idiot, and it strikes me as being very difficult to believe that he would have done any of this without Harding suggesting it. Unless she made at least vague promises to him, why would he scheme to engage in a conspiracy to do something that might make his EX wife rich, assuming the sequence of events that Kerrigan defeated her at the Olympics? Does it strike anyone as being even one hundredth as likely as the much likelier scenario that she was in on it?
For those who are interested, ESPN’s very good documentary series “30 for 30” had a fascinating episode on the Kerrigan/Harding affair. Here is the link: http://www.espn.com/30for30/film?page=thepriceofgold
Not many sympathetic figures in the affair, IMHO.
In the movie, Gillooly specifically hired Shawn what’s-his-face but not to attack Kerrigan physically, only to send her threatening letters; Harding was made aware of that much at some point before the attack (I don’t recall a scene where she’s told so much as I recall a scene or two where she indicates she knew there were supposed to be threatening letters mailed). The movie depicts Shawn as going off the rails on his own with the physical assault scenario with neither Gillooly’s nor Harding’s awareness or consent. If Shawn was 1/1000th as depicted, and the movie appeared to be showing some real-life footage backing that up (but it could have been mock), this is quite believable. Also in the movie was the notion that Shawn had faked a death threat against Harding and that this was what prompted them to plan the death threat letters against Kerrigan, as retaliation. (Although why they’d assume Kerrigan was the source of them was not explained).
I think it more likely that she was not in on it. She certainly knew something was up (she’s admitted as much), but I have no trouble believing that she thought maybe they were going to send her threatening notes, and she was sufficiently cowed by Gillooly that she didn’t argue with him.
Look at the motivations. For Tonya, her motivation would have been to remove a potential competitor for one of the three U.S. spots and a competitor at the Olympics themselves. Granted, that’s a strong motivation. But it doesn’t fit what we know about her. She was a fierce competitor and fearless on the ice. She was cocky. The idea that she thought she needed this help to make the Olympics doesn’t match her personality. She had the spotlight, there was no need to bring more attention to herself.
Gillooly, on the other hand, was a nobody, defined only by his relation to his famous wife/ex. As an abusive husband, I’m sure it ate at him to be subjugated to her like that. Here was a way for him to be involved, and is his mind, responsible for her success. She didn’t need him injecting himself in her competition, but he certainly needed it for his own sense of self-importance.
Then there’s Eckhardt, who was a complete loon. Normal rules of rational behavior don’t apply to him. Watch his interview with Diane Sawyer where he talks about being a counter-terrorism expert with hit men. He bragged to others about his plan to launch a business of bodyguards for skaters and how this attack would help grow that.
I don’t know if Gillooly or Eckhardt was the “mastermind”, but I think they both had much stronger motivations for the attack than Tonya.
But obviously, I have no idea, so this is just a different viewpoint, not an argument against yours.
Harding got a warm response at the Golden Globes. Perhaps she’ll get an invite to Dancing With the Stars?
She’ll never be allowed back into skating. Perhaps she can at least move past be reviled by so many.
Figure skaters traditionally do well on DWTS and are fun to watch. They learn dance steps quickly.
I don’t know if it will happen. She may prefer a low key life now.
Kristi Yamaguchi.
Has anyone ever won on Celebrity Boxing and DWTS?
interesting interview with Tonya
And if my Mom would have exited the left door instead of the tight door on HWY 41 20 years ago she would have gotten hit by that bus and I would not be here
Indeed, she’s still a significant celebrity in the Bay Area. I see her at charity events regularly.
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships were happening in San Jose this past weekend, almost the same time as the Golden Globes. My family had tickets to all the finals. Nancy Kerrigan was there signing autographs and having photos taken. I don’t think anybody dared to ask her about Tonya.
The New York Times ran an interview with her. It addresses some questions raised here:
Guilt:
Life since the incident:
She’s married now, has a son, does a lot of hunting, the article says.
Movie accuracy: Except for a couple of minor details–she thinks the movie implies she made the rabbits she hunted into a coat, when she in fact bought her fur coats; she doesn’t swear as much as the movie portrays–it’s very accurate, she said.
On femininity:
Rickjay - See, see, I never claimed that any goddam thing was justified. My point was that the media imposed some ridiculous binary mindset to the whole debacle, one that should’ve made anyone with an IQ higher than a Wonderlic score go “Oh, come on!”…and no one challenged it. Ever.
As for your, um, interesting analysis (which, in the continued absence of a smoking gun, I’ll unfortunately have to deem not worth my energy to pick apart), you seem to be under the impression that it’s impossible for anyone to act completely irrationally, or make a decision that in hindsight turns to be utterly moronic, or to act like a royal, colossal, horrible jerk for absolutely no goddam good reason. And I have to take exception to that, because I have witnessed that exact behavior my entire freaking life. And you know what? Being the poor, helpless boy who never started it, never caused trouble, never threw the first punch, never poured fuel on the fire, yet become an Acceptable Target for EVERY jerk and scumbag and piece of gutter trash and NEVER be able to get justice because, oh, they couldn’t possibly be sociopaths, you must have done something to provoke them…I’m not much inclined to mitigate Gilooly’s part in this, which it seemed like the entire goddam rest of the country did.
But even that wasn’t the worst it. The worst part was the attitude that it’s perfect fine to dump on certain people if they fail to live up to our expectations and then dump them in the trash when it’s over. The stuff I read about the abuse Harding had to endure growing up was chilling. Where were the child protection agencies that were supposed to prevent this? Where were her friends and other family? Why didn’t anyone want to lend her a hand when she needed it, or make any attempt to rehabilitate her once she was back from the Olympics? What the hell happened to empathy in this rotten country, anyway?
Bumped.
Just saw the movie and really enjoyed it. A great black comedy. Allison Janney earned her Oscar as the Stage Mom From Hell!