We are truly blessed to have so many upstanding citizens (but why SO many?) running around among us. Today, we honor another: Happy Birthday Tonya Harding, 1970. Tonya’s managed to develop a fairly rough persona and I suppose one could trace it back to her upbringing. She was raised by mom and stepdad number 5. By mom’s own admission, she physically beat up Tonya on numerous occasions so, in a way, it’s a wonder she amounted to anything. Well, as most of you know, she became a champion skater and performed several times at the Olympics. However, she developed a unique reputation. One sports announcer said, “No (skating) competition can be complete without Harding having a crisis.” To wit: stuck in traffic, jet lag made her tired, dress became unhooked, skate blade was loose, asthma (but smoked), broken shoe lace, and my favorite, an anonymous death threat was phoned in against her just prior to her having to qualify. She was ordered to stay in her hotel room and ended up making the team without having to compete. To her credit she was a very athletic skater and pushed the envelop beyond what other skaters were doing. She was the first woman to perform a triple axel. Her downfall was the noted confrontation with Nancy Kerrigan which got Tonya banned from skating. She became the “bad girl” and went into boxing. Her popularity was such that at her first pro match she was heavily booed as she entered the ring and got huge cheers when the other gal knocked Tonya on her butt in the first round. She’s more or less managed to stay out of the limelight recently but controversy still seems to find her: she’s been in several car accidents and has stalkers, so she says.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:06:49 +0000
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