I, Tonya

Barbara Manatee said:
That's ironic though because Nancy wasn't comfortable in that role herself, and it turned people against her, too. Even now a lot of comments on the trailer are people saying they never liked Nancy because she was a snooty, stuck-up princess. Although I haven't seen any actual victim blaming, there's more than enough 'she didn't deserve to be whacked, but...' to make me cheesed off on her behalf.
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The biggest irony of all being, Oksana Baiul managed to slide by both of them to win the gold.
 
Barbara Manatee said:
That's ironic though because Nancy wasn't comfortable in that role herself, and it turned people against her, too. Even now a lot of comments on the trailer are people saying they never liked Nancy because she was a snooty, stuck-up princess. Although I haven't seen any actual victim blaming, there's more than enough 'she didn't deserve to be whacked, but...' to make me cheesed off on her behalf.
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I think most people's perception of Nancy is colored by the few unfortunate moments when the spotlight was on her hardcore and not the forced ice princess image.

1. Her supposed attitude while waiting for Oksana so the medal ceremony could begin. "She'll just cry it off again," or something like that came off as bitchy and made her look like a sore loser. She didn't know the real reason being they couldn't find a copy of the Ukrainian anthem and unfortunately made the comment with a cameraman standing by.
2. The "this is so corny" while riding with Mickey at Disneyland made her look ungrateful and snotty when all people wanted to do was celebrate her achievement. Like she was giving a middle finger to all the people who gave her well wishes after she was attacked. By the time she tried to explain what she really meant the damage was done.
3. Her natural personality as a shy person and not being fond of the spotlight made people unfairly call her standoffish, stuck up, cold and snotty. This unfortunately has happened to many shy people in the spotlight throughout history
4. Above all was the complete overexposure of the whole thing and people got tired of it and unfairly took it out on her even though she herself wanted it all over more then anybody on earth.
 
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Inessence said:
I believe Tonya had both Diane and Dody with her at one point, maybe 88-89(?) Dody was working with her on figures and endurance, and probably to give Diane a break. According to Tonya's book, Gillooly liked Diane but couldn't stand Dody.
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She wasn't taking her training seriously. Her drinking (that's going to add the pounds on for sure!), staying out late, slacking while on the practice ice, etc. all made it a nightmare for both Diane and Dody. They both became exasperated with her.

She fired and rehired Dody multiple times because of Dody's clashes with Jeff. She thought Jeff was a bad influence in Tonya's life and I believe told her so. She blamed Dody for her poor performance in Albertville and fired her for good after that. Never mind the fact that Tonya refused to take Dody's wise advice and come to France early rather then last minute because of the altitude and because it was simply common sense :rolleyes:
 
Craig Gillespie (Director of I, Tonya), when talking about filming the skating scenes:

"... it was funny that when we did get to the triple axel and I talked to our skating coordinator, Sarah, and I said, 'so we will have someone do the triple axel for us?' And she was like, 'ummmmm... no,' and I was like, 'what do you mean, no?'" :rofl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttAn7BXOb3k
(53 second mark for the above comment)
 
That's different than the account in Tonya's book and various docs I've watched. She left Dody for a couple months before separating from Jeff in '91 due to Jeff's meddling and creating fights by saying that she should be coaching herself to save money. Diane was only on-call as her "jump coach". She went right back to Dody after leaving Jeff and remained with her until after Albertville, where in the book she claims Jeff made her leave Dody for good. Of course, she didn't tell the press that and only mentioned Dody's pregnancy as a potential distraction from her (Tonya.)
 
meggonzo said:
Nancy's snarks actually made me like her more.
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Me too, sister..

I mean most grown adults would think that Disney stuff was "Corny"... well unless you are Grant. lol.

I woulda rather seen Tonya on that float with a ciggie in her lips.

As far as the "she's just gonna cry it off".... well, thats just snarky. lol
 
Anybody remember this:

"Embedded (non working) link removed by admin.

God bless Julie Brown :cool::D
 
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Coco said:
But about the "she's just going to cry it off" comment, truer words were never spoken...
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My favorite part was Lu Chen's face the whole time. I like to imagine that she agreed but was smart enough to not say anything.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/iFv_tPbTQ2s?t=328

NAOTMAA said:
Anybody remember this:
Likely Stories: “THE QUEEN OF THE ICE”

God bless Julie Brown :cool::D
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So much research went into that parody. I mean the story started out in 1993 NHK and the whole "I'll say I got a death threat ask my fan club for money to hire a bodyguard" was synthesizing two stories about Tonya having a death threat during Regionals or Sectionals and her fan club raising money for her and her never thanking them.
 
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VIETgrlTerifa said:
My favorite part was Lu Chen's face the whole time. I like to imagine that she agreed but was smart enough to not say anything.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/iFv_tPbTQ2s?t=328
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Yes I remember enjoying that too, although I remember thinking also that I wasn't sure how strong Lu Chen's English was at the time so I'm not sure if she even understood it. I took her facial expressions as kind of a "I have no idea what you are saying but I am going to nod and smile politely".
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
My favorite part was Lu Chen's face the whole time. I like to imagine that she agreed but was smart enough to not say anything.

Here it is: https://youtu.be/iFv_tPbTQ2s?t=328
Click to expand...

Just a little more context, FWIW: The Eurosport version showed some Norwegian dancers doing some sort of Norwegian folk dance on center ice to pass the time. The carpet for the medal ceremony was already out. Kerrigan and Lu Chen were sitting in the kiss and cry couch looking tired and confused as to why there were dancers on the ice as well as a delay. They would get up, look around and sit back down again. It went on a for LONG time.
 
Yeah, because whoever told Nancy that the delay was caused by Oksana putting on makeup was being snarky themselves.
 
skatepixie said:
If it was with her own hand, it's still legal in all US states. With a brush, not sure -- gets a little fuzzier around the edges -- and that's NOW. But we're talking about what? 1976? 1977?

Now, do some people view it as abusive? Yes.

But from a legal standpoint, the two statements aren't contradictory.
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I'm about the same age as Tonya. Most parents spanked their kids back then. Teachers were also allowed to spank kids. The principal at one of the nearby elementary schools was known to use a paddle. I remember being shocked when I was about ten and found out that spanking was illegal in Sweden. I figured if such a law was passed in the United States, they'd have to lock up half the adult population.

"Abused" was a label reserved for kids who were beaten, kids who had marks on them, kids who had broken bones, kids who got taken away and put in foster homes. Tonya getting spanked with a hairbrush could have fallen into either category, but I doubt a social worker at that time would have taken her out of the home for that reason alone.
 
VIETgrlTerifa said:
So much research went into that parody. I mean the story started out in 1993 NHK and the whole "I'll say I got a death threat ask my fan club for money to hire a bodyguard" was synthesizing two stories about Tonya having a death threat during Regionals or Sectionals and her fan club raising money for her and her never thanking them.
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I'm glad to hear this, because I love Attack of the 5'2" Women but I know almost nothing about the whack aside from reading Tonya's wikipedia page and watching Julie Brown ten or so times.

The scene in which Tonya uses a skate blade to cut slices of pizza in her trailer is probably up there with Mysliveckova and Novak's "Venus" program as the skating-related anything that can make me laugh out loud 100 percent of the time.

(I also love Brown's parody of Madonna's Truth or Dare, Medusa: Dare to be Truthful. Maybe even funnier than 5'2" Women.)
 
Barbara Manatee said:
That's ironic though because Nancy wasn't comfortable in that role herself, and it turned people against her, too. Even now a lot of comments on the trailer are people saying they never liked Nancy because she was a snooty, stuck-up princess. Although I haven't seen any actual victim blaming, there's more than enough 'she didn't deserve to be whacked, but...' to make me cheesed off on her behalf.
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And here we go; Nancy the bitch and Tonya becomes the victim.
 
jenniferlyon said:
Tonya getting spanked with a hairbrush could have fallen into either category, but I doubt a social worker at that time would have taken her out of the home for that reason alone.
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For heaven's sake! The only person with first-hand knowledge who claims that all LaVona Golden did is spank her daughter once with a hairbrush is LaVona Golden herself. :wall:

The camera and Diane Rawlinson say otherwise. https://www.facebook.com/tonyamovie/
 
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Aerobicidal said:
I'm glad to hear this, because I love Attack of the 5'2" Women but I know almost nothing about the whack aside from reading Tonya's wikipedia page and watching Julie Brown ten or so times.
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I was a big fan of Just Say Julie. That was back when MTV had some great comedies, like The Ben Stiller Show. I think Ivana Komova would have been a great character on the show.
 
essence_of_soy said:
The biggest irony of all being, Oksana Baiul managed to slide by both of them to win the gold.
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Nancy's affair with her still married agent, and her snooty attitude in general were what turned people against her. Her poor performances in pro competitions (including one that she admitted to not training for because she was getting paid the same regardless of placement) didn't help either. I never cared for Nancy or her skating.
Tonya's coaching switch from Dody to Dianne in 92 was partially financial ( Dianne was married to a lawyer and had a little bit more flexibility if Tonya couldn't pay right away, where Dody's sole income was from coaching so she couldnt afford to wait for payments.
 
I've always wondered how the fallout affected Dody's and Dianne's future coaching careers by being associated with Tonya at the time. Did they still continue to coach or did skaters stay away from them? I know I don't recall ever seeing them at the elite level again, which I know that few coaches achieve that level since skaters tend to move to the well known coaches when they reach that stage, but were they able to continue coaching and have successful careers as coaches?
 
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