Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not one of you remembers Tonya's lousy start of her routine and then her fake claim that her "laces broke"? Or Tonya's involvement in "America's Dumbest ___"? This is not a person to praise.

+1

Yes. I remember the lace thing vividly. Her leg on the wall, her face screwed up. It was embarrassing.

Even she knew that she had no business being there.

OK, skating obsessives like me will correct you on this point: Tonya ROUTINELY did break laces because of the torque involved in hitting the big jumps she hit. You can see for yourself how she describes breaking a lace in the middle of one of her Skate America wins--when she's in the Kiss and Cry area (area where you await your scores and talk with your coaches), she marvels at the fact that she was able to land jumps after breaking a lace mid-program. She broke it on a triple flip, I believe, and was able to go on and land like three more jumps.

So yes, it was crazy, and ill-timed, but anyone who had followed Tonya's career knew that she had a habit of breaking laces with her huge jumps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tonya Harding did not physically attack Kerrigan herself. But there is pretty much no doubt in my mind that she put that creep of a husband of her's up to it.

PP if Harding had such money making promise there would have been no need to try to eliminate Kerrigan in the first place. Just think about it - why would her husband feel the need to try and break another skater's leg? Maybe because his wife had zero chance of winning?

+1

Yep. Athletes have been banned for way less than having your spouse pummel the legs of your competition.

Of course she was behind the attack. Men don’t go around plotting against their wives superstar colleagues.

They do if they are poor and their wife winning a medal could be their ticket out of the poverty dumpster.

Anonymous wrote:Not one of you remembers Tonya's lousy start of her routine and then her fake claim that her "laces broke"? Or Tonya's involvement in "America's Dumbest ___"? This is not a person to praise.

I actually vividly remember this. I was just a little kid, maybe 7, and I have a lasting lifelong impression of how horrible it was to watch someone that everyone hated come out and try only to have that happen and have to start over. I remember looking at her face and seeing real genuine agony and as a result my entire life I have always had more sympathy for Tonya Harding than anyone thought was appropriate.

No one wants to do a real thoughtful examination of this of course, it is easy to label her trailer trash. But someone can be a not-very-good-person and you can still have empathy for why they are who they are. Tonya grew up abused and her only ticket out was skating. If you back an abused dog into a corner they are going to lash out when they try to escape. I think the whole thing also showed how insanely classist figure skating was (is?). Tonya was 'athletic' and not 'graceful'. She didn't have the prettiest costumes because she couldn't afford them, she didn't have the grace of a girl raised in a wealthy family in new england. Those things were not her fault but resulted in the whole skating industry/country rooting for Nancy because she was prettier and more graceful and more what people wanted their daughters to be.

I think Tonya probably knew something. I think she isn't particularly good about accepting responsibility for her mistakes. I also think she was treated terribly long before the Kerrigan incident. Tonya Harding is a product of her circumstances, and so while I think she acted poorly, I think she's entitled to a redemption and I think perhaps we as a country should look back on that incident in a new light considering the growing economic divides in this country and the way it is causing us to stereotype and pigeonhole people. I don't think we ever need to create another Tonya Harding. But I'm grateful that she taught me such a serious lesson in empathy at such a young age, it has made me a better person I think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, I don't believe that she really believed that an attack would happen. There is a difference between having thoughts and carrying them out and she likely felt those guys were in the same camp as her - entertained the thoughts but would not actually ever do it.

I think her poor performance at the Olympics probably had to do with guilt surrounding the whole issue.

As far as never apologizing to Nancy, likely a legal issue and she was advised not to.

The whole situation is sad but I hope she can now just move on with her life.

She had no guilt. Like an alcoholic- blames everyone else for troubles. She was jealous of Nancy so she felt Nancy deserved it. Hollywood clapping for her and profiting off a movie coming her distorted view is sick.

Hollywood will back anyone who will throw some cash their way. The only award shows I watch are the Broadway Tony's, because theater actors are actually talented, but I couldn't resist last night's Golden Globes. The sanctimony was delicious on so many levels. Tonya Harding was an asterisk compared to the pomposity and hypocrisy of most speakers. The best line was Seth Myers saying that Weinstein would be the first person booed in the annual "in memorian" to dead movie folk. Oprah was Oprah but more so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tonya Harding did not physically attack Kerrigan herself. But there is pretty much no doubt in my mind that she put that creep of a husband of her's up to it.

PP if Harding had such money making promise there would have been no need to try to eliminate Kerrigan in the first place. Just think about it - why would her husband feel the need to try and break another skater's leg? Maybe because his wife had zero chance of winning?

+1

Yep. Athletes have been banned for way less than having your spouse pummel the legs of your competition.

Of course she was behind the attack. Men don’t go around plotting against their wives superstar colleagues.

Especially when they are already ex-husbands, which was Gilooly’s status at the time.

Anonymous wrote:Typical Hollywood. Applauding and praising a woman who victimized another women, while all wearing black to protest the victimization of women. And they don't even see it.

Exactly

Typical Hollywood. Applauding and praising a woman who victimized another women, while all wearing black to protest the victimization of women. And they don't even see it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tonya Harding did not physically attack Kerrigan herself. But there is pretty much no doubt in my mind that she put that creep of a husband of her's up to it.

PP if Harding had such money making promise there would have been no need to try to eliminate Kerrigan in the first place. Just think about it - why would her husband feel the need to try and break another skater's leg? Maybe because his wife had zero chance of winning?

+1

Yep. Athletes have been banned for way less than having your spouse pummel the legs of your competition.

Of course she was behind the attack. Men don’t go around plotting against their wives superstar colleagues.

Anonymous wrote:Nancy Kerrigan is like Anne Hathaway... Totally tries too hard and not even a microbe of sex appeal.

Kerrigan was an Olympic figure skater. An athlete. She wasn't trying to land romantic leads in movies. She was there to compete.

Nancy Kerrigan is like Anne Hathaway... Totally tries too hard and not even a microbe of sex appeal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not one of you remembers Tonya's lousy start of her routine and then her fake claim that her "laces broke"? Or Tonya's involvement in "America's Dumbest ___"? This is not a person to praise.

+1

Yes. I remember the lace thing vividly. Her leg on the wall, her face screwed up. It was embarrassing.

Even she knew that she had no business being there.

Agreed. Tonya is an entertaining villain and I enjoyed watching her but I can’t get behind the tragic heroine they are trying to make her out to be.

Anonymous wrote:Tonya Harding did not physically attack Kerrigan herself. But there is pretty much no doubt in my mind that she put that creep of a husband of her's up to it.

PP if Harding had such money making promise there would have been no need to try to eliminate Kerrigan in the first place. Just think about it - why would her husband feel the need to try and break another skater's leg? Maybe because his wife had zero chance of winning?

+1

Yep. Athletes have been banned for way less than having your spouse pummel the legs of your competition.

Anonymous wrote:Not one of you remembers Tonya's lousy start of her routine and then her fake claim that her "laces broke"? Or Tonya's involvement in "America's Dumbest ___"? This is not a person to praise.

+1

Yes. I remember the lace thing vividly. Her leg on the wall, her face screwed up. It was embarrassing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to say I agree that it's disconcerting that Tonya Harding had the movie named after her when it's Nancy who had her dream demolished. Did anybody invite her?

No she didn't. She went to the Olympics. The fact that she didn't get the gold was due to someone else beating her, outpeforming her. Nothing else. She actually wasn't a particularly great person either, if you'll recall. (I'm assuming you're old enough to remember her behaviour post-medal). She also had an affair with and then married her manager.

She was a horrible person. The Karma gods did not like her.

Oh good grief. Nancy Kerrigan won an Olympic silver medal even after a thug attempted to break her kneecap. I'd say that Kerrigan did pretty o.k. for herself. She still looks fantastic, too.