Tonya Harding - 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate (ABC) 

She looks pretty slender to me

@@msmo2060 no?

Tonya played dirty !! Lots of skaters come ftim nothing back in the 80's and 90's. Plushenko lived away from home in one room . Lots of skaters live with their coaches and have sponsors to support them. Tonya wanted gold and needed Nancy our of the way. She was trash and played like trash. She got caught and blamed everyone and everything except herself. That I Tonya movie was from her own perspective ...such a joke .

True, when her equipment wasn't working right and she had to quit she had so much pain when going to the judges. You can see that skating was what she loved the most and was heartbroken.

@@aspenrobinson8797 Nancy, on her best day never was as good as this performance by Tonya. Tonya had no reason to fear Nancy….none! It’s not like Nancy could do a triple AXLE! You and your ilk (news media) turned on her and caused undo stress…..I’d argue had her husband not assaulted Nancy, Tonya very well may have won Gold.

Yes, seven triples was almost unheard of at the time (I think only Midori Ito had done that). Not only did she do the jumps but they were exceptionally high and the landings were so precise and smooth. Even if we discounted the second triple toe as under-rotated, this program merits a 6.0 easily. She literally did every triple jump it is possible to do, all in one performance. What does earn a 6.0 if not this?

​@@Dylvente exactly 💯

@@goober479 Yes, I think that made the difference in close calls. Fortunately, when she skated a clean program (or close to clean, as at Worlds this same year) I think she got the medal she deserved. When she messed up because of erratic training habits and self-created personal problems, she gave any biased judges an excuse to mark her down unduly, and the problem is she did that too often in her career. Imagine if she had stayed at her 1991 level of commitment for the rest of her years in skating!

@@goober479 For me the truth is somewhere in between the extremes of wanting attention/fake drama and being a helpless victim. I think the physical and sexual abuse she suffered probably made some behavioral problems inevitable (and make her professional athletic accomplishments almost unbelievable!) but I also think she had choices, like the choice to either not be involved in the planning of the attack on Kerrigan or the choice to tell the authorities what she knew before (or, in the most optimistic scenario, which I desperately want to believe, after) the attack. She remains one of my favorite athletes of all time. She became my immediate favorite when I was 8 and watched the women's 1992 Olympic free skate, and then I remember being disappointed when she didn't win a medal at Worlds that year. I don't know exactly why she was my favorite, as I thought Nancy and Kristi were wonderful too, but there was just something special about Tonya. I did not mean to disparage her or discount the immensity of her accomplishments overall. The number of national- and world-level medals she won is more than enough to place her among the greats even with the slip-ups in her training and performance.

​@@Dylvente agreed

💯 I believe she would have won more with todays scoring system that rewards innate athleticism like hers

One of the best skaters in the world.

Absolutely ❤

He was a former multi World champion ice skater. He knew what it took to complete a 3Axel.

Tonya did a quad in a commercial .

they were friends

Joe Price indeed that’s the fact. She’s the greatest skater during her time. Love her Movie I, Tonya.

Actually, cmpl24, at the 92 albertville olympics, Scott Hamilton said Tonya was the 2nd best technical skater in the world behind Midori Ito. Midori was far and away the best skater in the world at this time.

@@lsrasr158 actually newsflash Midori is amazing , but tonya was the first woman to ever do two triple axels (3A+3A) the first woman to ever do a triple axel in a short program and the first woman to ever do a triple axel in a combination ( with a double toe loop). Though i agree with you Midori was amazing , but Tonya was too.

The only one that took it away from Tonya was Tonya herself.

@@stefanicvetanoska505 WOW!! 3A+3A?!?..😃👍🏼👌🏼I didn't know....

She's best no matter what.

What about Midori Ito?

@@ravenel2 during 1991 Tonya had the best scores in female figure skating that year hence to why everyone said she was better than Midori because the first time Midori went up against Tonya that year she beat her and with the high scores Tonya revived she was called the best female figure skater that year

@@Emeowlord who wins a competition doesn't make them the best skater in the competition. We have countless, literally countless, examples of that throughout sporting history. Midora jumps were higher, more consistent, and she blended it with a peppy and fluid style that was all her own. She is still the best ladies jumper in history (height, speed and consistency matter more than skinny little things being able to pop off a quad 8 inches off the ice before their bodies mature).

@@ali_tafa006 Tonya knew about the hiring of thugs.

apparently she still is good

andres segui that's what I was gonna say

Riff Chick yes and the trouble may necessary be created by her , it was her husband

Riff Chick It cost $1000 a week for a coach, plus there is dresses, choreography, music, traveling, fees to skate at competitions, gym, massages, nails.. some have to pay for their coaches travel fair. Tonya did all this..she was not the poor little girl you all think she was. OSKANA was poor though and lived in a room and then with her coach orphaned..so many other left their home and family for two years at a time to train with coach because they couldn't afford to train any other way. TONYA was one of the lucky ones , nobody treated her like trash , they all cheered her on. She was in a Texaco commercial and a news show endorsement. . She had a wonderful coach that guided her along and you can see Tonya in a documentary telling her to shut up and cussing and stomping off on her. 92Instead of being the great athlete she always thought she had to prove , why didn't she train harder and not resort to cheap tactics and dirty deeds to get ahead. Oh yeah that wasn't her fault ...please Lol. She always thought she deserved more and didn't play by the rules . Even her asthma woild be better if she quit smoking.

edited because of some typos @@aspenrobinson8797 Her name is Oksana ;) And she had other support Systems in the Country she came from. Tonya WAS poor, and if Diane Rawlinson hadn't donated most of her Training fees it wouldn't have been possible. Some of Tonya's costumes had to be sewn by Hand (first by her mother, then by herself), and even the bought or professionally sewn ones weren't created by Designers like Vera Wang. She probably had to make do without massages etc. and I am absolute sure she did her nails herself and didn't use expensive make-up etc. She WAS viewed as trash by many People in the Skating Scene. If you don't know the context of the Scene out of the documentary "Sharp Edges", where Tonya tells Diane to be quiet (she says "Please" btw!!) you really shouldn't Judge. Tonya tried to explain something to Diane and Diane just talked over her until Tonya hadn't another Option than to Interrupt her (she stormed off to skate eventually when Diane still wouldn't listen). And the Texaco Commercial was one of very few chances. The other Skaters got far more Commercials, endorsements deals etc. yes, Smoking when you have Asthma certainly isn't sensible, it is self-destructive or even self-harming, but the Trauma Tonya suffered through the abuse by her mother and Jeff Gillooly is an Explanation for that. Trauma sometimes makes you act irrational and even self-sabotaging/self-destructive. (I know that from own experiences with being abused :( ) This is not abot excuses for everything that went wrong in Tonya's life, but About explanations. And she wasn't the ringleader in the Kerrigan attack. She has not a TOTALLY clean slate, but she's NOT as guilty as many People want her to be. All the "hard" evidence against her is actually rather shaky. This article explains it nicely: mahonblog.com/b14jan26.htm So it really wasn't ALL her fault and she wasn't the dirty plotting criminal. Some People just seem to WANT to hate Tonya because it's much easier to condemn her completely than to take a closer look. There are many shades of Grey in this Story.

@@aspenrobinson8797 Tonya lived in a small house. Tonya had to make her own fur coat. Tonya's mother worked three jobs. Tonya had cheap skates and finally Tonya made the costumes herself. The training was paid by her mother. When tonya got famous , like any other famous skater she got a lot of money. That's how she paid for all the fees. Also She wasn't loved at first because she wasn't prim and perfect and because she couldn't afford a lot of stuff at first. Even judges admitted that she wasn't always named the best because they judged on presentation (costumes) as well. You could see Tonya's dresses they are obviously self made. Oh and Tonya was way better than Nancy Kerrigan. Her husband hired other people to do the attack on Nancy. Tonya didn't know how to behave because her mother never taught her anything. Tonya was constantly abused and beaten. If you ask me little princess Nancy needs to stop crying about ONE HIT in the knee. She wasn't beaten repeatedly , Nancy was hit once. Tonya worked through an arm stab by her own mother , and constant beatings. So Tonya was strong and you don't have a shitty idea about what you're talking about. Also In the documentary which u spoke of im sure you don't even know it's called "Truth and Lies" it also shows a video clip of her mother yelling at her on the phone. Please do some research first. With all do respect you can't judge somebody you don't know a shit thing about.

@@stefanicvetanoska505 omg. Tonya's coach paid for EVERYTHING even her traveling, skating fees, clothes etc...coached for free. That coach was Ike a mother to her guiding her. Read up on some interviews from her coach. She tells it out of her own mouth. Tonya never made a costume..her mom did and so what. A lot of skaters came to the states and lived in a room sharing a bathroom, away from all family. You never hear them whine and blame everyone else for their mistakes and bad choices . If Tonya practiced and focused she may of won those Olympics instead of plotting to take out Nancy and trying to skate after all that. Did she really think they would just sweep Nancy under the rug and that would be thd end of it. BTW I can't stand Nancy, but Tonya always blames others and never takes accountability for her choices.

She should have gotten 7's, they always marked her down because she didn't play all the ass kissing games.

She never got enough credit for her spins. The positions in her spins were always soo strong, so fast, and so centered.

Hi :)

No she couldn’t do a layback or a spiral, it’s not just jumps that matter

@@snopesshop1903 her layback was just fine. and spirals in those days were mostly mediocre by Cohen and Bobek standards. Her spins were fast and well centered and showed variations in positions.

Sadly they don't.

iamkarenh I do

I cried watching her here - the joy from hard work paying off.

Now that the movie about her is out (yes, I know your comment is 3 years old) I think that's changed a little. A lot of people don't entirely trust her motives, rightly so, but understand her back story a bit more and where she was coming from.

Rhaegar Targaryen I think your 99% right. However, I don't think she was 100% in the dark about the attack. I think it basically was one of those nights where you go out with friends, whatever, and have a few and start up with some thoughts that should never see the light of day. No matter how small or extreme, we all have done it. What a crazy situation. Who's going to see the movie? Margot Robbie, looks like, did a phenomenal job!!!

The ban was something the federation was looking for with her. She didn’t fit the mold of Wholesome and American. She was the rebel, and poor, and not what ice skating was wanting to promote. I’ve been apart of grooming processes in ballet- it is no different with ice skating. If they don’t like one thing about you, they will spend every waking hour trying to push you out. The attack with Kerrigan was opportunity for the federation to kick out their troublemaker (even though her talent was what the federation needed).

Rhaegar Targaryen exactly just how Sharapova was banned for real small negligence people just want to o crush powerful women

tehliah05 what’s sad is that they chose image over talent. Honestly, Nancy was a beautiful skater but she would’ve never ever achieved what Tonya did. If they would’ve just given Tonya a chance instead of worrying about image, Tonya would have a been an inspiration to millions of skater who had similar upbringings as herself, that with hard work, passion and dedication you can achieve anything. But unfortunately they preferred prim-proper princess over actual potential and talent

Good for you, I have written more or less the same above, this new film will help to show people that she was to trusting and how he was a very complicated and dangerous domineering man. "Good for you Tonya" , I hope we will she her on tv, she deserves to have the love she lost through that horrible time when she should have been on top of the world

Actually, it's her and Kristi Yamaguchi, and then with Nancy Kerrigan who set the stage for US Ladies to start putting more difficult triples in their routines.

3Axel1996 And they wouldn't have done it without Midori Ito, that's for sure.

Lillian Eversole Tonya is not THE reason women focused on triples/quads. Midori was trying triple Axels in practice in the mid-80's. If you watch Midori's programs all the way up to 1991 they were technically stunning. Tonya was competing in the mid to late 80's obviously too but had not risen to the top as quickly as Midori did. The late 80's / early 90's saw the big jumpers come to the forefront when the figures were dropped. There was a big change in ladies skating over that time.

You can go back even further. Tiffany Chin was doing triple axels in practice and Denise Bielmann who is more famous for the spin named after her was the first woman to do a triple lutz. Before her most women did triple salchow and triple toe because they are the easiest. When Elaine Zayak won the World Championships completing 7 triples she mostly repeated those jumps. That's when the, "Zayak Rule" came into play that you could only repeat a triple if you did it in combination. I remember how when Debi Thomas won the '86 US Nationations Jim McKay commented how she was doing 5 triples and complimented Dick Button on being the first skater to do a triple jump ever. She did two triple Salchows & triple toes and one triple loop.

+officeaddict33 Indeed. Isn't it hilarious how people will make proclamations about something as if they are an authority, when they're completely wrong?

kamwrites yeah...so unfair!!

it was her own doing

kamwrites what was up with Christie yamaguchi face? I know its jealousy lol

What is she remembered by than ?

For her part in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994.

hehehe im watching it right now and thats why i came here :D cool movie even if you dont like figure ice skating

same just watched it was ba

She threw it all away... Even before The Incident. She arrived at the Albertville Games a day or two before the Ladies competition began, which is something Olympic-level athletes just don't do... And she *still* managed to place 4th. She was an asthmatic smoker and was chronically undertrained.

@@queenmaoasada8447 According to Tonya's Coach Diane Rawlinson (in a 1993 profile About tonya Harding, available here on RU-vid) it wasn't Tonya's fault that she arrived late at Albertville. She was Held back by officials because they were not sure wether she should be allowed to takle part/wether she was good enough, also for Health Tests, if I am not mistaken. yes, Smoking when you have Asthma certainly isn't sensible, it is self-destructive or even self-harming, but the Trauma Tonya suffered through the abuse by her mother and Jeff Gillooly is an Explanation for that. Trauma sometimes makes you act irrational and even self-sabotaging/self-destructive. (I know that from own experiences with being abused :( ) This is not about excuses for everything that went wrong in Tonya's life, but About explanations. And she wasn't the ringleader in the Kerrigan attack. She has not a TOTALLY clean slate, but she's NOT as guilty as many People want her to be. All the "hard" evidence against her is actually rather shaky. This article explains it nicely: mahonblog.com/b14jan26.htm So it wasn't really her who threw it away. (Actually she did get amazingly far, considering the horrible circumstances...)

Her 3A was flawless in Skate America later, but this first time will still be my favorite skate of hers.

+tide32athlete Maybe if she had those things, she'd never have been a skater at all.

Very true. Either way, I'm glad we at least got what we got from her. She made ice skating more exciting than anyone else, on and off the ice.

+tide32athlete A great comment. Because of her broken and troubled background, and lack of financial resources and even having her own skating federation being unsupportive and discriminate, consider all of these factors and how Tonya was still able to achieve what she was able to achieve in skating. This only shows that Tonya is one of the greatest figure skaters ever in the history of the sport.

You might be overlooking the idea that because of her life and upbringing is what drove her to be this great ... just for a moment it all had a purpose.

I think a better question would be: What if the USFA had done everything in their power to promote and nurture Tonya after witnessing her run during the 91 season. She landed a 3axel at National and won it; then went on to kill it at 91 Skate America. If only the federation had her back, her already established grit and perseverance from her hard childhood would’ve been fortified that much more!

Exactly, Nancy Kerrigan couldn't compete with Tonya Harding as an athlete. That's why I don't believe that Tonya had anything to do with planning the attack....but she sure suffered from it. Many people think Tonya was the one who wacked her on the knee.

Keegan Thorpe Nancy at her weak moments looks so amateur, while Tonya, at her worst always managed to do something impressive in her performance, Nancy fell on combination spins!

Nancy was not quite on the same level as Kristi, Tonya and Midori Ito

I feel for Tonya but that is baloney. Being an Olympic or world champion means you can withstand the pressure of the Olympics or Worlds against the best of the best from other countries. Tonya was a national champion but never a world champion. Michelle Kwan, Nancy Kerrigan and Sasha Cohen didn’t win Olympic gold, but Nancy was gutsy enough to come back from an injury and win silver. It’s the person who can stay on their feet and perform through that kind of pressure. As amazing as she was here, Tonya didn’t do that. Americans think because someone pulled off an amazing triple axel at U.S. nationals that they will do it consistently in the Olympics and they are the best in the world without ever having to prove that in an international competition. Uh, no. And disparaging Nancy for being a tall ice princess is just as misogynistic as attacking Tonya for being a short powerhouse.

I swear I think it’s more believable that Nancy was behind her own attack to ruin Tonya’s career than it is that Tonya was behind the attack to ruin Nancy’s career. Nancy was nothing compared to Tonya.

Why do you have to apologize to her? She destroyed Nancy Kerrigan.

@@kkstar1297 no, she didn’t

@@crazeekids9744 Yes she did. She knew this attack on her was going to happen because she planned it. She knew that Kerrigan had a chance of beating her so she devised the scheme that cost her from competing ever again.

@@kkstar1297 WOW you know better than the FBI. Even the FBI couldn't prove it. So STFU. She was found guilty of hindering......Basically not snitching on her husband AFTER the fact.

@@kkstar1297 SHE DIDN'T!!!

Word

Irina had no artistry at all. She was a horse on ice. Tonya atleast had a bit of artistry when skating well to go along with her powerful jumps.

Slut shaming!😂 Irina's last name!😂 Too funny Lmao. 😂😂😂

baritonebynight Nobody said she did...

@@douglasvarley3633 her 2002 olympic SP was amazing - too had her Lp was awful

Fer Rivera me too

What a lovely post. I hope that Tanya gets to read this someday.

Pussy

Me 2

Yes, when she gets her marks and is laughing and crying and gasping for breath at the same time, I Always get Tears in my eyes...

You are so right! As her husband I will love her forever! Thanks for the kind comments.

+Kris Ten You get your wish. She never met anyone named "Galooley".

Gillooy is an asshole!

She had been with him for many years at that point. That shows she was able to succeed with him there. Can't blame everything on him. She was capable of putting in the work, just not consistently.

baritonebynight - Tonya's best years by far were 1991. her crowning achievements were this skate and her 1991 skate america LP. Tonya was rated as the 2nd best technical skater in the world by Scott Hamilton, behind only Midori Ito. Scott stated this during Tonya's skate at the 1992 albertville olympics.

She worried about rivals for lots of reasons - one being she knew she was not the most artistic. Also, she worried that the USFSA and the politics of skating would make sure to choose the golden "perfect" girls for the World Teams and leave "rough & tumble" Tonya behind because her image was wrong - no matter how they skated. I never heard Tonya say a bad word about Kristi. Maybe she knew Kristi was very talented & good jumper whereas Nancy was not as good as Kristi and thus beatable.

officeaddict33 I've heard Tonya say she was focused on herself, and if you see her reactions after a messy program, she seemed disappointed, but often kind of chill about it like 'I'll do better next time' she never seemed so determined to get somebody out of her way. Nancy however had rude looks all over her face, snotty and entitled..

JusticeForTheSilenced I agree, when he finally got it through his head, she wanted a divorce, she was sick of his behavior, he thought he had to either help her win quickly, and/or just ruin her career, either way, he had to have realized it make her look bad

Miki who said to u that??

To me it Looks like that Tonya was confident enough About her abilities at this Point in time (she was back in shape at the nationals 1994). She wanted to beat Nancy Kerrigan on the ice, not by unfair means and was sure she could do it. As to the People who are convinced that Tonya knew and planned everything: She wasn't the ringleader in the Kerrigan attack. She Maybe has not a TOTALLY clean slate (not going to the authorities at once when she learned who did it... but then Jeff Gillooly had intimidated her in a massive and violent way. She was afraid and at the same time emotionally dependent of him at the time), but she's NOT as guilty as many People want her to be. All the "hard" evidence against her is actually rather shaky. This article (yes, it's very Long, but it has to be to cover all Points)explains it nicely: mahonblog.com/b14jan26.htm

Nate W she landed it tho,I see what your saying..

Triple triples were very important. But the triple toe triple toe was a ho-hum triple triple by this point. Yamaguchi was doing triple lutz triple toe, as was Ito. Ito landed the triple toe, triple toe in the early 80s when she was 12.

Jonathan Wallach but she could also t/loop t/loop in practice and there is video too I think?,also she could do q/loop..which would good to see around this time too.??.

She did triple triple combinations in 88 nationals 90 us olympic festival,93 nhk(I was there.) and at practice.

I literally thought the same thing when I rewatched this. Lol