On January 6, 1994, figure skater Nancy
Kerrigan was attacked by several men during a practice session for the
US Figure Skating Championships in Detroit and was struck her in the knee
with a metal baton, leaving her injured and unable to compete. With Nancy
sidelined, Tonya Harding skated to victory. As both women prepared to
compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics, rumors began circulating that Tonya was
involved in the assault, which caused an international media frenzy. Tonya
was grilled by the policy who subsequently arrested Tonya's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly,
and three of his friends for the attack.
Tonya told reporters that she had no prior knowledge of the planned
assault on Nancy. However, she admitted, "I am responsible, however,
for failing to report things I learned about the assault." Despite this
admission, Tonya was allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, making women's
figure skating the event's biggest draw. More than 120 million people tuned
in to see Nancy and Tonya face off on the ice. Nancy took home
the silver medal, while Tonya finished eighth.
Then the wacky wacker made headlines again
when she and Jeff Gillooly made an sex tape that was featured.
in Penthouse in September. 1994.
Tonya then tried professional boxing after
appearing on the Fox TV network Celebrity Boxing
show in 2002. However, later that year, a judge ordered that she be
evicted from her home for failing to pay the rent. Consequently, she and her
dog were forced to live in her Corvette.
As she continued to
suffer from media-attention deficit syndrome, there were moments of
relief as a pop culture references in several TV shows such as FOX’s In Living Color,
The Understudy (A Seinfeld
episode), and The Jim Rome Show. She has also been
mentioned in various songs by Loudon Wainwright III and Insane Clown Posse,
and even in a primary campaign speech by Barack Obama. Tonya once explained
about her questionable media image that "It's an image that the media
has given me as a bad girl, and the only reason they gave me that image
is just because of the few things that have gone wrong in my life, and
also because I grew up living in a trailer. I moved around 13 different
times before I was in fifth grade, not having money, not having a lot of
friends. My biological mother made my clothes or bought my clothes from
Salvation Army or Goodwill. And so, you know, that's where the bad girl
image came from."
But the most bizarre recollection of Tonya's
life was in the 2011 musical “Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera” which
premiered at the Oberon in Cambridge, MA. The plot is the same as it was in
1994.Hardings’ ex-husband Jeff Gillooly plans an attack on figure skating
champion Nancy Kerrigan in a desperate attempt to help Harding’s chance at
gold in the Olympics. Only this time, it was set to music. Of course,
her sex tape and Celebrity Boxing episodes also find their way into the
script.
In memory of Tonya's police grilling on the wacky heard around the world,
we suggest serving grilled skate on her birthday and watching her in her
only attempt at professional acting in Breakaway
(1996).
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