Seriously this thread.
But I suppose it's not much different from the mash-up in the original
I Tonya thread, which I stopped following a third of the way through. Not because it wasn't interesting, but because I wanted to see the movie before partaking in any more conversation. But by that time, the thread had ballooned out of all proportion to my ability to keep up.
I don't blame you for being angry at her. I'm one of the few people in the middle of the love/hate for Tonya.
Tonya was raised to do one thing and one thing only, skate, and the USFSA encouraged that; and they were aware of her situation and did nothing. The USFSA never answered for their complicity in shaping her to be what she was. And they topped this off by making millions of extra dollars over the next decade riding on the prurient interests of the crowd (and failed miserably on converting it to long-term fandom) and they cut her a raw deal by stealing the one thing that she could do from her.
I just think that sports organizations have a limited guardian responsibility to ensure that children involved in their sport at a high level have a safe, sane and well-rounded situation. It could have made a great difference for Tonya. I don't excuse her behavior, and yeah, it's crossed my mind that calling her on her shit could be interesting. I'm an American and we're supposed to be about second chances. I'll go and hope to see that maybe she's learned something.
Yeah, I mostly agree with you. Still, few things are exactly black or white in this world. It's much more complicated. There were people in the skating community who reached out to Tonya back-in-the-day, but apparently her difficult upbringing led to her being very rebellious and lacking in ability to easily trust those who might actually have been able to help. Instead, Tonya threw herself apparently subconsciously headlong into being with a person who abused her and took her down the wrong road.
I absolutely agree about US fed foolish complicity, particularly regarding their WTF decisionmaking surrounding crushing the pro tour in the aftermath of bull market years post Tonya/Nancy 'scandalous' ratings bonanza, which certainly did wonders for the sport's growth. NOT!
Also in those days there was a tendency to expect skaters to conform to carefully set images and strictures. That was not Tonya's vibe! It should have been taken into consideration that she was never going to be an ice princess, and that her not being a typical ice princess was actually a good thing. But US fed and the ISU in general have for far too long been run by old-fashioned, elitist-minded, conservative thinkers who make choices in an overly politicized, status quo fashion.
IMO, the US fed never thoughtfully nor wisely took advantage of the 1-2-3 U.S. ladies podium sweep of 1991 either. It's the same refrain today: Fresh up-to-date vision, leadership, and outside-the-box thinking are sorely needed.
As far as 2018 Tonya, I agree that she deserves the opportunities she's been receiving to improve her lot in life. How many years is she required to be banned and vilified? OTOH, I believe that Hollywood obviously over-dramatized the story and slanted it in Tonya's favor, as Hollywood tends to do. And there are too many people who don't understand what really happened, and so Tonya is being given too much sob-story sympathy in many quarters. I also agree that Tonya doesn't fully acknowledge her actual role in the affair, but it does strike me that she's learned some hard lessons over the years, and she's come out a bit more mellow and savvy on the other side. Some younger people may not realize, but Tonya used to say the most ignorant, prejudiced things back-in-the-day, likely as a result of her limited and abusive upbringing. So at least in some respects, she seems to have learned how better to conduct herself in the public eye.
I can totally understand why no one would have wished to skate with Tonya in the years following the infamous incident. So there were valid reasons why she was banned. But it seems to me that Tonya has paid a heavy price for her mistakes. I'm personally not hung up on her being able to enjoy a second act. It was a shame that a skater with such huge talent was unable to contribute to advancing the sport through fully developing her career. Although, maybe it wouldn't have been possible anyway due to Tonya's rebellious obstinacy and wrongheadedness. But when I look back at the power, sass and precision of Tonya's skating, I shake my head sometimes and wonder what could have been.
