I, Tonya

[overedge]

I remember hearing that at the time and took it to mean the USFSA didn't want a divorced woman as their U.S. champ.

I also remember hearing that "the powers that be" - not sure if this was USFS or the ISU - didn't like Tonya listing her name as "Tonya Harding-Gillooly" for at least some of the '91-92 season. I'm not sure if this was because someone identifying herself as being married went against the "ice princess" stereotype, or because by that point they already didn't like Gillooly.

 

[Inessence]

Hyphenating his name (that no commentator could pronounce) after their reconciliation seemed so clingy and sad to me. Maybe I'm just not a romantic...

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Sorry guys, I thought I was following along.

Can you refresh my drink... what is the unhooking of the costume all about????

 

[MacMadame]

I also remember hearing that "the powers that be" - not sure if this was USFS or the ISU - didn't like Tonya listing her name as "Tonya Harding-Gillooly" for at least some of the '91-92 season. I'm not sure if this was because someone identifying herself as being married went against the "ice princess" stereotype, or because by that point they already didn't like Gillooly.

I'm guessing it was both.

I don't think, from the excerpts we've seen that Tonya is being painted as an Angel. They show her smoking. They show her telling a bunch of judges to suck her d**k and cursing like a sailor. These are not things that angels do.

 

[meggonzo]

Sorry guys, I thought I was following along.

Can you refresh my drink... what is the unhooking of the costume all about????

Her collar of her dress came unhooked during the short program at one of her grand prixs. She stopped and asked for a re-start. I think after blowing the lutz. There was also another time that her skate blade was loose. And of course the infamous lace incident.

 

[casken]

Her collar of her dress came unhooked during the short program at one of her grand prixs. She stopped and asked for a re-start. I think after blowing the lutz. There was also another time that her skate blade was loose. And of course the infamous lace incident.

It was the sp at 93 Nationals. As she was skating around for her lutz combo, the back of the dress around the neck/collar popped open, and as a result of the distraction, she singled the lutz. She reached back to feel what happened with the dress, skated over to the boards to show them what happened, and was allowed to fix the dress and a re-skate, which was clean.

If I recall correctly, USFS member Morry Stillwell posted here once that he saw her unhook it herself, but video of the event turned up on youtube later which video showed she didn't. The dress popped open on it's own.

 

[Japanfan]

Bleah. We don't need revisionist history. Tonya committed a crime, and probably more than she was charged with. I don't wish her ill, but she'd finally gone away and gotten out of the spotlight and was living a quiet life, and oh, boy, here we go again!!!

It's not Tonya's fault that the media wants to keep revisiting the incident. She didn't conceive the film, participate in its production, or promote it to distributors, and she won't share in the proceeds SFAIK.

 

[bardtoob]

It's not Tonya's fault that the media wants to keep revisiting the incident. She didn't conceive the film, participate in its production, or promote it to distributors, and she won't share in the proceeds SFAIK.

She will. I am pretty certain that the rights to her biography were purchased in the process.

 

[Carolla5501]

I have no desire to watch it. And honestly I don't think it's going to have a broad appeal.

 

[bardtoob]

I have no desire to watch it. And honestly I don't think it's going to have a broad appeal.

I told myself I would never watch another TV documentary or interview regarding the story, but I have decided that this is okay because it is probably good for skating in someway.

 

[Coco]

I don't care if Tonya makes some money now because her involvement created vast money making opportunities for many others in the skating world back then. So much time has passed, hopefully she can use this money to give her kid a boost on his start in life

 

[skatepixie]

Chip??? Are you kidding? Try a pole the size of a Scottish caber.

I do want to see this movie. But my biggest concern about the movie is that it's going to make people think Tonya is some poor, innocent angel who was wronged by the wealthy and the figure skating system and who deserves more sympathy. And yet again, the public will forget about the actual incident. An athlete was attacked and harmed. But it was that snotty Nancy Kerrigan, and she wasn't really hurt, and she whined "Why, me" like a spoiled brat...We've seen quite enough over the past 23 years almost implying that the attack and injury were no big deal to almost that she deserved what happened to her because she was such a bitch.

Bleah. We don't need revisionist history. Tonya committed a crime, and probably more than she was charged with. I don't wish her ill, but she'd finally gone away and gotten out of the spotlight and was living a quiet life, and oh, boy, here we go again!!!

This is exactly why Tonya's victim act bothers me so much. She wasn't the one assaulted because of someone else's complete and utter lack of sportsmanship. Any sympathy I would normally have for someone with Tonya's background goes out the window with that simple fact.

 

[skatepixie]

I'm guessing it was both.

I don't think, from the excerpts we've seen that Tonya is being painted as an Angel. They show her smoking. They show her telling a bunch of judges to suck her d**k and cursing like a sailor. These are not things that angels do.

And yet, there's a trend now of women being, or wanting to be, rough and nasty to show that they are "strong" or some such. A way of rebelling against the princess image by, just being as low class as possible, I guess?

 

[skatepixie]

If I recall correctly, USFS member Morry Stillwell posted here once that he saw her unhook it herself, but video of the event turned up on youtube later which video showed she didn't. The dress popped open on it's own.

I could see someone thinking that the "feeling back to check" motion was her unhooking it? Especially when not viewing a video that you can rewind. "I saw her mess with it, must have unhooked it" is logical and forgiveable, I think -- and I'm saying that not knowing Morry personally. Just pointing out that wrong doesn't mean lying.

 

[vesperholly]

I've been watching old videos of Tonya from 91/92/93 ... Uncle Dick was very complimentary of Tonya's skating, even when she didn't skate very well. Peggy also had nice things to say. I also found her skating as less tacky than I had remembered - except that terrible purple open-chest dress in 94.

She really was an extraordinarily talented jumper. One of the best of all time, I'd say. And quite a good spinner as well. Shame.

 

[overedge]

And yet, there's a trend now of women being, or wanting to be, rough and nasty to show that they are "strong" or some such. A way of rebelling against the princess image by, just being as low class as possible, I guess?

This trend is where, exactly?

 

[skatepixie]

This trend is where, exactly?

All over the internet, real life too. "Look how cool and crass I am, drinking beer from a bottle." That sort of thing. Not in the skating world specifically, but it's a "thing" -- and a persona like Tonya plays into it well.

 

[casken]

I could see someone thinking that the "feeling back to check" motion was her unhooking it? Especially when not viewing a video that you can rewind. "I saw her mess with it, must have unhooked it" is logical and forgiveable, I think -- and I'm saying that not knowing Morry personally. Just pointing out that wrong doesn't mean lying.

Yes, he assumed her reaching back to check was her unhooking it. But they could easily check the footage after.

Not to excuse anything Tonya did (I think she knew about everything regarding the attack), but knowing that high ups in the USFS were spreading untrue stuff about her faking equipment failure might have fed her notion that the USFS was against her.

 

[VGThuy]

It seemed like by the time the 1993-1994 season started, there was a lot of feelings between some USFS higher-ups and Tonya. I can see them pushing and judging Tonya in ways that wasn't conducive or helpful to her, and I can see her behavior becoming even more erratic and less reliable for the USFS as things were spinning more out-of-control for her personally. I wonder if she actually received a death threat when she had to withdraw from I think from the Pacific Northwest sectionals. Some obviously thought she just didn't want to compete there. I bet some in the fed thought the whole Shawn Eckhardt bodyguard thing that came out of that was another headache out of many she was giving the USFS by that point in time.

P.S. I do wonder. She was charged (and I think convicted) of domestic assault on at least two separate counts after the whack, and I do wonder if some would have been as forgiving about that if she was a man even if he got his life together and had the same upbringing that Tonya did. I don't mean to take away the extra layer of hardship that being a woman with her background gave her and all the expectations that comes with in a sport like this (that was part of the problem), just musing.

 

[bardtoob]

I bet some in the fed thought the whole Shawn Eckhardt bodyguard thing that came out of that was another headache out of many she was giving the USFS by that point in time.

Hmmm ... I bet Shawn was there to control Tonya rather than protect her. As in Tonya was Jeff's and Shawn's meal ticket, so never letting her be alone was their way of keeping her from getting away ... A similar dynamic often happens with domestic violence; the spouse is very controlling ... and also similar to human trafficking.

 

[casken]

I wonder if she actually received a death threat when she had to withdraw from I think from the Pacific Northwest sectionals.

Jeff Gillooly later claimed he did that for Tonya to get her out of having to qualify. It's on youtube in some interview.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I've been watching old videos of Tonya from 91/92/93 ... Uncle Dick was very complimentary of Tonya's skating, even when she didn't skate very well. Peggy also had nice things to say. I also found her skating as less tacky than I had remembered - except that terrible purple open-chest dress in 94.

She really was an extraordinarily talented jumper. One of the best of all time, I'd say. And quite a good spinner as well. Shame.

Yeah her spins are often overlooked because of her powerful jumps. She was able to produce some very fast and oftentimes very good positions in her spins!!

 

[VGThuy]

Tonya was a beautiful spinner. I remember in one of her many retrospectives, she described herself as a skater who just loved to jump and spin. That was obvious. I have no evidence of this, but a part of me thinks she liked figures too because she was able to dig deep into the ice.

 

[quartz]

All over the internet, real life too. "Look how cool and crass I am, drinking beer from a bottle." That sort of thing. Not in the skating world specifically, but it's a "thing" -- and a persona like Tonya plays into it well.

If women drinking beer out of a bottle is a cool and crass trend, I and millions of other women have been on that train for decades.
Do you get out much?

 

[meggonzo]

All over the internet, real life too. "Look how cool and crass I am, drinking beer from a bottle." That sort of thing. Not in the skating world specifically, but it's a "thing" -- and a persona like Tonya plays into it well.

Well drinking beer from a bottle is certainly classier than drinking from a can!

 

[quartz]

Not a fan of cans, makes the beer taste tinny. They do get chilled a lot quicker though.

 

[skatepixie]

Well drinking beer from a bottle is certainly classier than drinking from a can!

Women drinking beer at all is strange, to me, at least.

 

[Coco]

Drinking beer from a bottle needs to be a new rep level, if we still had rep levels.

 

[quartz]

Women drinking beer at all is strange, to me, at least.

What is strange to me is a woman who thinks women are strange for drinking beer.

 

[skatepixie]

What is strange to me is a woman who thinks women are strange for drinking beer.

Fair enough. I think I was over 18 the first time I saw it, though, and it stuck me as very strange. The woman in question was doing it for effect, too.

It's strange in the way that seeing a lady (post-Sonja Henie, anyway, haha) in black skating boots is strange.

To be fair, beer in cans is also a bit odd -- wasn't, and isn't, common among the men I know. I don't think I've ever seen my husband with canned beer.