Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater, retired boxer, and reality television personality. A native of Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised primarily by her mother, who enrolled her in ice skating lessons beginning at age four. Harding would spend much of her early life training, eventually dropping out of high school to devote her time to the sport. After climbing the ranks in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships between 1986 and 1989, Harding won the 1989 Skate America competition. She was the 1991 and 1994 U.S. champion before being stripped of her 1994 title, and 1991 World silver medalist. In 1991, she earned distinction as being the first American woman to successfully land a triple Axel in competition, and the second woman to do so in history (behind Midori Ito). She is also a two-time Olympian and a two-time Skate America Champion.
In January 1994, Harding became embroiled in controversy
when her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly,
orchestrated an attack on her fellow U.S.
skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. Both women then competed in the February 1994 Winter Olympics, where
Kerrigan won the silver medal and Harding finished eighth. On March 16, 1994,
Harding accepted a plea bargain in which she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
hinder prosecution. As a result of her involvement in the assault on Kerrigan,
the United States Figure Skating
Association banned her for life on June 30, 1994.
In the early 2000s, Harding competed as a professional
boxer, and her life has been the subject of numerous films, documentaries,
books, and academic studies. In 2014, two television documentaries about
Harding's life and skating career (Nancy
& Tonya and The Price of Gold) were aired within two months of each
other — inspiring Steven Rogers to
write the darkly comedic biographical film I,
Tonya, released in 2017 and starring Margot
Robbie as Harding. In 2018,
Harding was a contestant on season 26 of Dancing
with the Stars, finishing in third place.
Early life
Tonya Maxene Harding
was born on November 12, 1970, in Portland,
Oregon, to LaVona Golden (b.
1940) and Albert Harding
(1933–2009). She was raised in East Portland and began skating at age
three, training with Coach Diane
Rawlinson. During her youth, Harding also hunted; drag raced, and learned
automotive mechanics from her father. He held various odd jobs including
managing apartments, driving a truck, and working at a bait-and-tackle store –
yet was often underemployed due to poor health.
LaVona struggled to support the family while working as a waitress, and
hand-sewed her daughter's skating costumes as they could not afford to purchase
them. Harding's parents divorced after
19 years of marriage in 1987, when she was 16 years old. She later dropped out
of Milwaukie High School during her
sophomore year in order to focus on skating, and earned a General Educational Development (GED) Certificate in 1988.
Harding claimed she was frequently abused by her mother. She
stated that by the time she was seven years old, physical and psychological
abuse had become a regular part of her life. LaVona admitted to one instance of
hitting Harding at an ice rink. In January
2018, Harding's childhood friend and filmmaker, Sandra Luckow, spoke in defense of Harding's mother because she
felt that the 2017 film I, Tonya stretched
some truths about LaVona's character. Luckow said that although Harding's
mother could be "egregious" towards
her daughter, LaVona funded and appreciated Harding's skating lessons, and had "a huge amount of humanity."
In Harding's 2008 authorized biography, The Tonya Tapes (written by Lynda
D. Prouse from recorded interviews with Harding), she said she was the
victim of acquaintance rape in 1991 and that her half-brother, Chris Davison, molested her on several
occasions when she was a child. In 1986, Harding called the police after
Davison had been sexually harassing and terrorizing her. He was arrested and
spent a short time in prison. Harding said her parents were in denial about
Davison's behavior and told her not to press criminal charges against him.
Davison was killed in an unsolved vehicular hit-and-run accident in 1988. On May 3, 1994, during an interview with Rolonda Watts, Harding said that
Davison was the only person in her life unworthy of forgiveness and "the only person I've ever hated."
Skating career
Harding trained as a figure skater throughout her youth with
Coach Diane Rawlinson. In the
mid-1980s, she began working her way up the competitive skating ladder. She
placed sixth at the 1986 U.S. Figure
Skating Championships, fifth in 1987 and
1988, and third in 1989. After competing in the February 1989 Nationals Championship,
Harding began training with Dody
Teachman as her coach. She then won
the October 1989 Skate America competition, and was considered a strong
contender at the February 1990 U.S.
Figure Skating Championships. However, she was suffering from the flu and
asthma and had a poor free skate. After the original program, she dropped from
second place and finished seventh overall.
Harding was a powerful free skater and typically had lower placements in
the compulsory figures.
Harding's breakthrough year came in 1991 when, at the U.S. Championships, she completed her
first triple Axel in competition on
February 16 — the first American
woman to execute the jump. She landed seven triple jumps in the long
program including the triple Axel. She won the 1991 U.S. Ladies' Singles title with the event's first 6.0
technical merit score since Janet Lynn's
1973 performance at the U.S.
Championships. She won the long program when seven of the
nine judges gave her first place, and in doing so won the whole competition. She scored eight 5.9s and one 6.0 for technical
merit and six 5.9s, one 5.8 and two 5.7s for composition and style. At the March 1991 World Championships, an
international event, she again completed the triple Axel. Harding would finish second behind Kristi Yamaguchi, and in front of Nancy Kerrigan, marking the first time
one country swept the ladies medal podium at the World Figure Skating Championships.
At the September 1991
Skate America competition, Harding recorded three more firsts:
·
The first
woman to complete a triple Axel
in the short program
·
The first
woman to successfully execute two
triple Axels in a single competition
·
The first
ever to complete a triple Axel in
combination (with the double toe loop)
Despite these record-breaking performances, after 1991,
Harding was never again able to successfully complete the triple Axel in competition; her competitive results began to
decline. She and Dody Teachman had
briefly parted ways in April 1991, but had reunited in June; Harding was still
training under Teachman for the upcoming 1992 season. She placed third in the January 1992 U.S. Figure Skating Championships despite twisting her
ankle during practice, and finished fourth in the February 1992 Winter Olympics. On March 1, 1992, Harding gave
Teachman a summary dismissal and returned to Diane Rawlinson to be coached by her. On March 29 Harding placed sixth in the 1992 World Championships, although she
had a better placement at the November
1992 Skate Canada International event finishing fourth. In the 1993 season,
she skated poorly in the U.S. Championships
and failed to qualify for the World
Championship team.
In January 1994, Harding won the U.S. Championships but was later stripped of her title. The USFSA disciplinary panel voted to
vacate the title in June 1994, following an investigation of the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. In February 1994,
Harding was permitted to remain a member U.S.
Olympic ice skating team, despite brief legal controversy. After
an issue with a broken skate lace in the long program, she was given a re-skate
by the judges and finished in eighth place, behind Oksana Baiul (gold) and Nancy
Kerrigan (silver). Despite her USFSA
ban, however, she did later compete at the professional level, placing second
at the ESPN Pro Skating Championship
in 1999.
In June 1994, Claire
Ferguson, the President of the U.S.
Figure Skating Association, voted to strip Harding of her 1994 title.
However, the competition results were not changed and the title was left vacant
rather than moving all the other competitors up one position.
Assault at Cobo Arena
/ Legal repercussions
Nancy Kerrigan
On January 6, 1994, one day before the U.S. Figure Skating Championship first Ladies' Singles competition,
Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in a
corridor after a practice session at the Detroit
Cobo Arena. The immediate aftermath of the attack was recorded on a news
camera and broadcast around the world. The assailant was Shane Stant, contracted to break her right leg; he turned himself
in to Phoenix FBI on January 14. Stant and his uncle, Derrick Smith, were hired for this assault by Harding's ex-husband,
Jeff Gillooly, and her one-time
bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt. After failing to find Kerrigan in Massachusetts, Stant had taken a 20-hour
bus trip to Detroit. Nancy
Kerrigan was walking behind a curtain when Stant rushed behind her. Using
both hands, he then swung a 21 in (53 cm) ASP telescopic baton at her right
leg, striking her above the knee. The attack was intended to seriously injure
Kerrigan so that she could not compete in the Nationals (Kerrigan was the defending 1993 Champion) nor the Winter Olympics. Kerrigan's leg was not
broken but severely bruised, forcing her to withdraw from the Championships and forgo competing to
retain the U.S. Ladies' title. On January 8, Harding won the U.S. title; she and Kerrigan were then
both selected for the 1994 Olympic team.
Crime discovery &
Harding's response
Harding's practice sessions at Clackamas Town Center, in preparation for the 1994 Winter Olympics were attended by thousands of spectators and
dozens of reporters and film crews.
On January 11, Ann
Schatz interviewed Harding at the KOIN-TV
station in Portland, Oregon. Schatz
asked if she had considered whether someone she knew had planned to attack Nancy.
Harding answered "I have definitely
thought about it. No one controls my life but me...if there’s something in
there that I don’t like; I’m going to change it." Harding also confirmed she had spoken with FBI agents in Detroit and again in Portland. On January 13, Eckardt and Smith
were arrested. On January 14, the USFSA made a statement on whether
Eckardt's arrest affected Harding's Olympic
placement: "we will deal only
with the facts." Harding and
Gillooly's separate lawyers confirmed the couple was in daily contact and
cooperation with law enforcement. On January 15, Harding and Gillooly spoke
with reporters, but declined to comment about the investigation. On January 16, her lawyer read a news
conference statement denying Harding's involvement in the attack on Kerrigan. Harding left her home that evening to practice
figure skating with her coaches, where she spoke with reporters and performed a
triple Axel.
Harding's confession
On January 18, 1994, Harding was with her lawyers when she
submitted to questioning by the DA
and FBI. She was interviewed for over 10 hours. Eight
hours into the interview, her lawyer read a statement announcing her separation
from Jeff Gillooly: "I continue to believe that Jeff is
innocent of any wrongdoing. I wish him nothing but the best." Her full
FBI transcript was press released on
February 1. The Seattle Times
reported the transcript stating that Harding had "changed her story well into a long interview...After hours of
denying any involvement in trying to cover up the plot, an FBI agent finally 'told [her] that he knew she had lied to him,
that he would tell her exactly how she had lied to him'." In the transcript's final passage, Harding
stated "I hope everyone understands.
I'm telling on someone I really care about. I know now [Jeff] is involved. I'm
sorry." On January 19, Jeff Gillooly surrendered to the FBI. On January 20, Diane Sawyer asked Harding on Primetime about the criminal
investigation. Harding said she had done nothing wrong. On January 27, it was reported
that Gillooly had been testifying about the attack plot since January 26;
possibly implicating Harding as having allegedly assisted. Harding's close
friend Stephanie Quintero, with whom
she was living, spoke to reporters on her behalf: "[Tonya] was shocked, very hurt…She was believing in [Jeff]."
Harding later held an 11 a.m. press
conference to read a prepared statement. She said she was sorry Nancy Kerrigan was attacked, that she
respected Nancy, and claimed not to know in advance of the plot to disable her.
Harding then publicly took responsibility "for
failing to report things [about the assault] when I returned home from
Nationals [on January 10]...my failure to immediately report this information
is not a crime." Many state laws including Oregon certify that the act of concealing criminal knowledge alone
is not a crime.
The attack on Kerrigan received a substantial amount of
publicity and news media crews camped outside her home. In January 1994, the
story was on the covers of Sports
Illustrated, Newsweek, and TIME. There was now much speculation about Harding's
alleged involvement in the assault plot.
Because Harding and Kerrigan would be representing the U.S. in the February Lillehammer Olympics, speculation reached a media
frenzy. Abby Haight and J.E. Vader,
journalists for The Oregonian, wrote
a biography of Harding called Fire on Ice,
which included excerpts of her January 18 FBI
interview.
Men's guilty pleas
& sentencing
On February 1, Gillooly's attorney negotiated a plea bargain
in exchange for testimony regarding all involved parties in the attack. In
July, he was sentenced to two years in prison after publicly apologizing to
Kerrigan – even though, he said, "any
apology coming from me rings hollow." Gillooly and Eckardt pleaded guilty to
racketeering, Stant and Smith (who drove Stant in the getaway car and funneled
money) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree assault. Judge
Donald Londer noted the attack could have injured Kerrigan more
seriously. Eckardt died in 2007.
USFSA disciplinary
panel
On February 5, 1994, the disciplinary panel of the U.S. Figure Skating Association stated
reasonable grounds existed to believe Harding had violated the sport's code of
ethics. Her admitted failure to report
about an assault on a fellow competitor, supported by her FBI transcripts, had Harding formally charged with "[making] false statements about her
knowledge". The panel also recommended that she face a disciplinary
hearing. Claire Ferguson, president of the USFSA, decided not to
suspend Harding's membership before a hearing took place. If Harding had been
suspended, she likely still would have competed at the Olympics after filing suit, seeking an injunction against USFSA, and asserting her Amateur Sports Act of 1978 rights. The panel examined evidence including the
testimonies of Stant and Smith, Harding and Gillooly's telephone records, and
notes found in a Portland saloon
trash bin on January 30. Harding was
given 30 days to respond.
Harding & Connie
Chung travel to Norway
News media began attending Harding's Portland practices, also recording footage of her on February 7,
running barefoot to stop a tow truck from hauling her illegally parked pickup. On February 10, Connie Chung interviewed Harding. When asked about Gillooly,
Harding said: "I never did anything
to hurt [Jeff]. If I ever did anything, it was to stick up for him and protect
him." Chung also negotiated to
fly on the same airplane with Harding to Oslo,
leaving on February 15, and interviewed her again in Norway. Chung admitted she would not have traveled to Norway were it not for the scandal.
Kerrigan &
Harding share ice, Harding's eighth-place finish
On February 17, 1994, Nancy
Kerrigan and Harding shared the ice at a practice session in the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre.
Approximately 400 members of the press were there to document this practice. Scott
Hamilton believed the sport was depicted as a "tabloid event". It was noted that Nancy Kerrigan chose to wear the same skating costume at the
practice session that she was wearing when Stant attacked her. Kerrigan later confirmed that her choice of
dress that day was deliberate: "Humor
is good, it's empowering." The
tape-delayed broadcast of the February 23
Ladies' Olympic technical program remains one of the most watched telecasts
in American history. On February 25, Harding finished eighth in
the Olympics; Nancy Kerrigan, having recovered from her injury, won the Olympic silver behind gold medalist Oksana Baiul from
Ukraine.
Guilty plea,
admissions
On March 9, Judge
Owen Panner granted Harding a requested halt until June on her disciplinary
hearing. Meanwhile, Portland authorities stated the criminal investigation would
conclude by March 21 with any indictments and a grand jury report to be made at
that time.
On March 16, 1994, Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
hinder prosecution as a Class C felony
offense at a Multnomah County
court hearing. She and her lawyer, Robert
Weaver, negotiated a plea bargain ensuring no further prosecution. Judge
Donald Londer conducted routine questioning to make certain Harding
understood her agreement, that she was entering her plea "knowingly and voluntarily." Harding told Londer she was.
Her plea admissions knew of the assault plot after the fact, settling on a
cover story with Gillooly and Eckardt on January 10, witnessing pay phone calls
to Smith affirming the story on January 10 and 11, and lying to FBI with the story on January 18. Law enforcement investigators had been
following and videotaping the co-conspirators since January 10; they knew about
the pay phone calls. Her penalties
included 3 years of probation, $100,000 fine, and 500 hours community service.
She agreed to reimburse Multnomah County
$10,000 in legal expenses, undergo a psychiatric examination, and volunteered
to give $50,000 to the Special Olympics
Oregon (SOOR) charity. Oregon sentencing guidelines carried a
max penalty of 5-years-prison for the offense.
Response from
prosecution, defense, & USFSA
Phil Knight, CEO
of Nike, donated $25,000 toward Harding's
legal fees. She had also made approximately $600,000 from an Inside Edition deal. Harding's plea conditions imposed her U.S. Figure Skating Assn resignation,
necessitating her withdrawal from the World
Championships (for which she was scheduled to leave on March 17). District
attorney Norman Frink stated that if Harding had not agreed to the plea, "we would have proceeded with an
indictment on all possible charges...punishment were taking away [skating]
privilege." Weaver said the
plea agreement was satisfactory to Harding, partly because she avoided prison: "we would have prevailed at
trial." An executive of the USFSA commented "[We] don't know if Tonya is innocent or guilty...if [she was
involved before] the national championship." On March 18, Claire Ferguson decided Harding's disciplinary hearing would
proceed in June. The USFSA's
executive committee convened to discuss their position should Harding seek
reinstatement and whether they might strip her of the 1994 National Championship title. Neither issue was decided at that
time.
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