Tonya Harding was the first American woman to ever land a triple axel in competition, but was banned for life from figure skating just three years later in 1994. Get you a girl who can do both, am I right?
Tonya’s fall from grace can’t be discussed without first explaining her shrewd come-up. Left alone with her abusive mother, Tonya escaped her impoverished life by excelling on ice. She quickly climbed the ranks despite criticisms of her homemade costumes and brash style. But at just fifteen years old, Tonya entered a relationship with the infamous Jeff Gillooly – a man who wanted her first but would ruin her life later. Isn’t that always how it goes?
Tonya was hoping to escape her mother’s mistreatment by moving in with Jeff, but unwittingly put herself right back in another abusive relationship. And at the 1994 National Championship, Jeff and his accomplice Shawn Eckhardt hired hitmen to take out Tonya’s competition: Nancy Kerrigan.
With Nancy’s knees out, Jeff had thought he’d given Tonya a straight shot to gold. But he had done the exact opposite. Under scrutiny from the nation and questions from the FBI on whether she had orchestrated the attack, Tonya’s performance in the Olympics was lackluster. A judge then allowed her to avoid jailtime, but decreed that she would never professionally skate again.
For her whole career, the media had been looking for a reason to burn Tonya to the ground, and now that they had a reason, they jumped down her throat. Nancy was the perfect victim – pretty, sympathetic, and well-off. In comparison to Tonya’s “rough around the edges” personality and troubled background, it was no hard feat to label her as the vindictive poor girl who shouldn’t have been skating to begin with.
But Tonya was a victim too. From childhood to adulthood, she was being dragged down by the people around her. Tonya’s flashy jumps and song choices changed the sport of figure skating forever – her ban was a giant slap in the face to everything she had done for them. Her image didn’t start to change until Margot Robbie’s fantastic portrayal of her in the mockumentary I, Tonya.
It took TWENTY-THREE years before someone finally told Tonya’s side of the story. It was my first introduction to her story, and I was shocked to see how easily Tonya’s livelihood was taken from her. Figure skating is a notoriously exclusive sport – it’s no wonder they did anything to keep Tonya from breaking anymore barriers in the field.
There’s a scene in the movie that really broke my heart. Tonya starts talking directly to the camera and addresses the viewer:
“I thought being famous was going to be fun. I was loved for a minute, then I was hated. Then I was just a punch line. It was like being abused all over again, only this time it was by you. All of you. You’re all my attackers too.”
And she’s right. The issue with female celebrities is that we treat them like gods. And when they inevitably fall from grace, we spit in their face and except them to get back up unscathed. For athletes, it’s even worse, because they didn’t do it for the fame. They did it for the love of the sport, and at the end of the day, figure skating was both all she ever had and everything she lost. Jeff got to live a cushy anonymous life after prison, but Tonya still has to cover up in public places. It’s about time we let her take down the mask and appreciate her for everything she is: villain, victim, and everything in between.
Figure skating is my favorite sport to watch during the winter Olympics. I always heard about Tonya and her so-called “fall from grace” but I never knew what that actually meant. I think you made a great point about the way celebrities/athletes– especially women– fall victim to the criticism of the public. They’re constantly under scrutiny, more so than their male counterparts, which really only highlights the prevailing sexism and sexists standards that remain well engrained into the social fabric.
You did a good job here of garnishing your post with the rhetorical question and phrases like “straight shot” or “rough around the edges.” It adds dimension to your writing and helps the reader truly grasp your ideas.