Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She basically admitted on tv that she knew about it. Changed her story again. Hollywood actresses also said that the truth didn't matter. You get public brainwashing when Hollywood hooks up with a sociopath liar.

+1. I couldn't decide who I was more disappointed with - Margot Robbie for saying it didn't matter or Tonya Harding for continuing to lie, remaining unrepentant and playing the victim.

Hollywood definitely revealed themselves in that interview. Robbie and Janney only cared about making a great movie coming from a different angle- "the poor Tanya angle" even if it was based on lies and manipulation. Tonya is as big of a manipulator as they come. The clip where her husband all those years ago "said Tonya wears the pants in their relationship " is telling. I think it is more likely she was the abuser in the relationship and planned the entire thing. She is a pathological liar.

+1 She has always struck me as the dominant personality in these relationships. I've heard her referred to as a sociopath...I think that's sort of harsh but if the skate fits...

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone read the totally bonkers nytimes interview with Tonya? I was thinking”wtf is this?” The entire time I was reading it.

Recent? Link?

Sometimes there is PR that is too much , and sometimes there is PR that is not enough. I don't think she heeds many of her PR people.

Did anyone read the totally bonkers nytimes interview with Tonya? I was thinking”wtf is this?” The entire time I was reading it.

Anonymous wrote:I think she could have been great if she practiced. She had more strength than any of the other girls. She turned that triple with sheer power. But she smoked, never practiced, was always caught up in her abusive lifestyle, and never really wanted to do what it took to get out. She wanted to show up 3 days before a competition and win and have america like her. To this day she is an AWFUL AWFUL interviewer. Last night had to be her 1000th interview right? It was like she's never done PR a day in her life.

+1

Not picking sides, but this is spot on. I don't believe she was "innocent", by any means, but sometimes an abusive relationship goes both ways, because that is all they know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She basically admitted on tv that she knew about it. Changed her story again. Hollywood actresses also said that the truth didn't matter. You get public brainwashing when Hollywood hooks up with a sociopath liar.

+1. I couldn't decide who I was more disappointed with - Margot Robbie for saying it didn't matter or Tonya Harding for continuing to lie, remaining unrepentant and playing the victim.

Hollywood definitely revealed themselves in that interview. Robbie and Janney only cared about making a great movie coming from a different angle- "the poor Tanya angle" even if it was based on lies and manipulation. Tonya is as big of a manipulator as they come. The clip where her husband all those years ago "said Tonya wears the pants in their relationship " is telling. I think it is more likely she was the abuser in the relationship and planned the entire thing. She is a pathological liar.

Anonymous wrote:I think she could have been great if she practiced. She had more strength than any of the other girls. She turned that triple with sheer power. But she smoked, never practiced, was always caught up in her abusive lifestyle, and never really wanted to do what it took to get out. She wanted to show up 3 days before a competition and win and have america like her. To this day she is an AWFUL AWFUL interviewer. Last night had to be her 1000th interview right? It was like she's never done PR a day in her life.

Yep that's pretty much what it was. She only had that triple axel for like a year until bad habits took over and made it go away. The sad thing is that it wasn't necessary to win, at all.

I think she could have been great if she practiced. She had more strength than any of the other girls. She turned that triple with sheer power. But she smoked, never practiced, was always caught up in her abusive lifestyle, and never really wanted to do what it took to get out. She wanted to show up 3 days before a competition and win and have america like her. To this day she is an AWFUL AWFUL interviewer. Last night had to be her 1000th interview right? It was like she's never done PR a day in her life.

I want this woman to go away. I enjoyed the film though.

I also want to address the trope of "Harding was penalized and not given her due as an athlete because she wasn't elegant." That's complete bullshit.

Figure skating rewards elegance on ice not because people like pretty princesses. Judges give premium marks for elegance because skating elegantly is HARDER, much harder, than not. No skater is born skating elegantly. Those who deliver it on ice invest countless hours in ballet training, off-ice routines, extra attention to posture and finishing. It's much harder to land a jump and hold a long, clean, secure runout edge with a free leg stretched high and straight behind you, toe pointed. It's freaking HARD to do a long arabesque spiral on a clean secure edge for half the length of the rink - it takes great muscle control and effort. It's hard to extend every movement all the way through your fingertips, neck and head. It's much, much harder than skating without these things. THAT's why judges reward elegance on ice - because they know at what price it comes, and want to reward skaters who invest that extra effort.

If Harding wanted to become elegant on ice, she could have done so. She chose not to, because it was easier. And even with all her faults, she did become a National champion twice. So it's not like she wasn't given her due when she skated better than others.

The discontent of the 2nd place finisher is an old, well worn story. Why do people expect Kerrigan to not have those feelings. On a lighter note, remember that whole Mckayla Moorney is not impressed meme?

Anonymous wrote:In the ABC special last night, Harding criticized Nancy for being caught on tape that everyone had to wait for Oksana to put her naked up on before the medal ceremony. She wouldn't apologize last night, either. I think Tonya's whole attitude and support she received then and now, was to make Nancy look like a spoiled narcissistic privileged wealthy girl. Tonya is really even more diabolical than I realized. And she is America's Sweetheart and come back story, when we should be supporting Nancy.

Yeah that's a tired horse. First, the reason everyone was waiting was not for Oksana's makeup; it was for the sound people to locate the national anthem of Ukraine. USSR split happened very recently and the anthems of all the newly independent republics haven't been fully metabolized into the system yet. Second, honestly Kerrigan could be forgiven for being a little peevish at that moment. She skated a clean program; she fully expected to win gold. The split between Nancy and Oksana went down to one judge: 5/4. It could have gone either way, it wasn't a case of one clear winner over the other. Reasonable people could disagree about who could have one that night. We forgive male players for kicking the board and swearing but we hold figure skaters to such an impossible standard that they aren't even allowed one word of discontent.

Finally, as has been pointed out multiple times, Nancy isn't privileged or wealthy; she comes from a blue-collar, workingclass family.

Anonymous wrote:Nancy Kerrigan is far from the perfect virginal image given her by the press. She was nasty to Oksana Baiul, a peevish brat in the Disney parade, and, most disgustingly, started her affair with Jerry Solomon while he was still married to wife No. 2.

America is the lane of 2nd chances and Harding deserves this chance. Rapists athletes get their 2nd Chances and so should she.

Second chance at what? Harding wasn't incarcerated or exiled. She was simply banned from skating. She had plenty of second chances after her second career - she hasn't really made it ANYWHERE. Not sure what you mean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
And you're intentionally drumming up the poor Nancy story, less realistic than the rich Nancy story when the entire purpose is to compare their lives. Nancy's childhood had more in common with a wealthy girl's childhood than it did with Tonya's.

"I had a bucktooth'

'My mom just married her 5th husband and called me a fat pig and beat me with a hairbrush for not being perfect today'

Come on.

Of course Tonya COULD have chosen to be perfect. But my entire point is that most people that start out the way Tonya does don't have the fortitude to pull themselves into a different classier world. She did a terrible thing, she came from a terrible place. Those things aren't unrelated and we have a better chance at preventing future Tonya's by acknowledging that most people can't fix themselves after a start like that

I don't agree with that. You are free to disagree. Tons of rich women marry multiple times and beat their daughters for not being perfect.

Incidentally, trailer park mothers don't usually enroll their children in skating lessons. It's not really a trailer park thing. Who knows where Tonya would be if her mother didn't beat her for not being perfect. Maybe she didn't beat her enough.

Yeah well that part really isn't an opinion, it's statistics. Google "cycle of poverty'

Maybe you should find statistics on the percentage of trailer trash mothers who enroll their daughters in ice skating lessons.

NP just looking for clarification. Is it your position then that Tonya's mother couldn't have been abusive because she paid for skating lessons?

No, my position is that trailer trash moms rarely send their children to skating lessons, and rarely get involved in their children's training. So perhaps it wasn't as trailer trash as Harding would like to cast it.

In other words pp, yes that is exactly your position.

Anonymous wrote:In the ABC special last night, Harding criticized Nancy for being caught on tape that everyone had to wait for Oksana to put her naked up on before the medal ceremony. She wouldn't apologize last night, either. I think Tonya's whole attitude and support she received then and now, was to make Nancy look like a spoiled narcissistic privileged wealthy girl. Tonya is really even more diabolical than I realized. And she is America's Sweetheart and come back story, when we should be supporting Nancy.

She is not America's sweetheart jeez

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardings actions made her un-American in my eyes. She cost the USA an Olympic Gold Medal.

I'm not sure how you figure that. I went back and watched the routines from the 94 Olympics. Oksana was amazing. She just was. She went into the Olympics as the front runner and she deserved that gold.

We will never know. But an argument could be made that Kerrigan would have been in much better physical shape, and delivered a stronger program had she not had a distraction of an attack, rehabilitation and mental pressure.