Tonya

Harding
The sad story of a
champion
Student: Munteanu Șt. Nicoleta
WHO IS TONYA
HARDING?
Tonya Harding – The Human
Tonya Maxene Harding was born on November 12, 1970 in
Portland, Oregon.

During her youth, Harding also hunted, drag raced, and learned

automotive mechanics from her father, Albert Gordon Harding.

Her mother, LaVona, struggled to suport her family working as a

waitress and hand-sewed costumes for Tonya’s competitions,
because she could not afford to purchase them.

Her mother was abusive, so physical and psychological abuse had

become a regular part of her life, but she was the one who
enrolled Harding in ice skating lessons at the age of four.

Harding dropped the high school to devote her time to the sport.
Tonya Harding – The Skater
Tonya trained as a figure skater throughout
her youth with coach Diane Rawlinson.
1986 – she placed sixth at U.S. Figure Skating
Championships
1987 – fifth
1989 - third

After winning Skate America (1989) she became a

strong contestant at 1990 U.S. Figure Skating
Championships, but she was suffering from the flu
and asthma and had a poor free skate.

 In 1991, she earned distinction as being the first American

woman to successfully land a triple axel in competition, and
only the second woman to ever do so in history(behind Midori
Ito).
What is a triple axel and why is such a big deal?
The skater has to:
-approaches the jump on a right
back outside edge in a strongly held
check position
- step on a left forward outside edge
- vaults over the toe pick of the left
skate
- "steps up" into the jump with the
right leg
The Early End of Her Career
In January 1994, Harding became embroiled in controversy when her ex-husband,
Jeff Gillooly, orchestrated an attack on fellow US Olympian Nancy Kerrigan in
Detroit by an assailant, later identified as Shane Stant.

Stant was hired by ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her self-appointed bodyguard,
Shawn Eckhardt, hired Stant to break Kerrigan's right leg so that she would be
unable to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Stant struck her
leg about 1 inch (3 cm) above the knee.
What happened after "one of the biggest scandals in American
sports history.“ (The New York Times)?

Harding pleaded guilty although

she has denied any role in the
Eckhardt was sentenced to
attack itself, received three years' 18 months in prison
probation, 500 hours of
community service.
for racketeering, but was
On June 30, 1994 she was banned released four months early
for life from participating in
USFSA-run events as either a skater
in September 1995. He
or a coach. died at the age of 40.
He pleaded guilty
 Nancy recovered from the
Was sentence to a two-year
attack and took home a
term
silver medal at the 1994
Lillehammer Winter
Olympics.
 I, TONYA
Tonya Harding’s story
inspired Craig Gillespe,
who directed the movie I,
Tonya, a biographical film
who follows not only the
figure skater’s life, but also
her connection to the 1994
attack on her rival, Nancy
Kerrigan.

 The film received critical

acclaim with major
appreciation drawn
towards Robbie and
Janney's performances.
Thanks
for

Watching!