Tonya Harding remains one of the most indelible names in sports history. Kudos to the ESPN 30 for 30 for a masterful job last night. Tonya is a legend, Not for positive reasons, this person is not a beacon of light. She is seen by many as evil. She is viewed as a pathological liar, and sucks to be honest with you Sports Debate Universe. Why? For those of you that live in a cave, lets do a quick review. -Tonya Harding was a US figure skating champion. She won the the US championships in 1991, and she brought home the silver in the world championships in Munich, Germany that very same year.She attended the 92 Olympics in Albertville France but did not medal - Tonya Harding was the first female figure skater to land the triple Axel. She also was the first skater to receive a 6.0 score for a performance. Physically a powerful skater with swagger to boot. - Tonya was starving for fame, but because of her image, she was unable to secure endorsements. She was unable to earn real money. She did not have the adulation of the fans, she did not have the look or the personality of Americas sweet heart. She was busted dude. Her upbringing had forged a sense of screw the world. It also affected her emotionally. She was insecure, spiteful, and jealous. She felt the pressure to become a top earner, but nobody wanted anything to do with her. Her image was simple unattractive. Because of this She was resentful of the true stars of the sport, and according to her husband, started to become unnerved by lack of professional progress. - the biggest star of them all was the ice queen Nancy Kerrigan. SHE was Americas sweet heart. She was amazing. Jennifer Love Hewitt with skates. She was gorgeous, talented, and graceful. She had the look of an American champion. After the 92 Olympics, Nancy started to gain momentum, commercially and on the skating rink. She was Americas princess. Nancy started to make money. Alot of money. But she had not won a major competition yet, Tonya had. - The rivalry between the two began to fester, although it was more from Tonyas side. Tonya was aware that a gold medal could set her up for a long time. Like forever. It would secure mad loot, and fame. Those Ice Skating tours pay out dude. ESP if you are a gold Medal winner. With the 1994 US championships looming and a berth in the Lillehammer Olympics on the line, Tonya decided she needed to level the playing field. Tonya allegedly decided to conspire to attack Nancy Kerrigan. Her plan, her brainchild, her idea. It was TOTALLY her idea IMO. - Tonya and her Husband Jeff Gillooly went about hatching the plan. They put together an assault team, a group of clowns that were something out of Central Casting. Shawn Eckhardt the body guard, Shane Stant, the hitman, and a getaway driver whose name currently escapes me. They planned it for months. Tonya started to research Nancys practice schedule at her facility in Massachusetss. She made allegedly made numerous phone calls to the facility. Trying to pin down Nancys schedule. - Shortly before the national championships in Detroit, Shane acting on Tonyas information, went to Boston looking for Nancy. With the intention of doing god knows what. He staked out her home, and the facilty. But Nancy was not there, she had flown to Detroit for the competition, narrowly averting a serious injury, or being kidnapped who knows. Shane leaves Boston for Detroit. The asshole puts the entire trip on a credit card. Trail of bread crumbs that a 5 year old could follow. Even staying in the hotels under his real name. What kind of hitman is that???? - On January 6th 1994, on the eve of the national championships, Nancy was attacked at practice, Shane ran up on her, from behind like a coward, and struck Nancy above the knee, using an ASP Baton, Shane came within inches if ending Nancys career. Luckily she suffered simple Bruising, the media portrayed the injury as a broken leg or something, but in reality, the injury was minimal.The lasting image of Nancy shrieking, crying why is one of the most infamous moments in sports history. One of the saddest. Shane ran out the back before he could truly be identified but two witnesses later told police they believed they had seen someone from Tonyas entourage rushing out of the rink area. - Tonya goes on to win the competition. She is all smiles. Not a care in the world. She makes it clear she could care less about the whispers that were starting to follow her team. Tonya had her dream in front of her, she was headed to the Olympics as the US champion. - shit really hits the fan when these idiots go home to Portland, Oregon and brag about it. The dumbest collection of criminals in the history of crime. According to the film last night they told everybody. Anyone that would listen, we planned the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. Parents, bar buddies, people around town. Naturally it was only a matter of time before an anonymous tip was sent in. That tip went to a television station. The network informed Tonya they had a received a letter, that implicated the entire team in the plot to assault Nancy. They only allowed Tonya to read the letter if she consented to an interview. Tonya does the interview, and looks guilty as hell. At that point the FBI steps in, and conducts a detailed investigation. The entire team, including Tonyas Husband Jeff fold like a cheap suit. They ALL turn states evidence against Harding. They tell authorities that Tonya planned the entire thing. She did the research, she hired the hitman, she was completely involved conceptually. Claims that Tonya denied for the rest if her life. - the media crushes her. The media takes Tonya Harding to the woodshed. She is portrayed as a sadistic, jealous, low income jerk that ovb attempted to steal fame. Tonya almost loses her spot in the US team, but sues the skating association for the right to compete. - Tonya lays an egg at the Olympics, skates horribly. Pathetic performance. It is believed that the media crush, and the steely glare of a rejuvenated Nancy Kerrigan shook Tonya Harding. This was the Super Bowl for the Media. The worlds media was obsessed with the story, and followed it like animals during the Olympics. - Tonya comes home, she pleads guilty to hindering prosecution. She admits she knew about the attack after it happened not before, which is BS. The DA lets her off with a slap on the wrist. The skating association does not however, banning her for life, stripping her of her titles. No promoters for the Ice tours would work with her, the 160 grand she incurred in fines rendered her destitute. She lost everything. Her life as she knew it was over. Ovb the big question this morning is, did Tonya know about the attack beforehand? How involved was she?? Did she give the order??? She swears up and down she had no clue. She had no idea about the plot, the actual attack, she even claimed not to know the men involved. She told the world last night that she was framed in so many words. Do you believe her???
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:45:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015