I recently went to see the movie 'I, Tonya' directed by Craig Gillepsie with Margot Robbie playing the disgraced US Olympian figure skater Tonya Harding.
I highly recommend the movie. The actors were brilliant and ever since I saw it I have now become fascinated with what really went down in 1994. The true story is intriguing as you have the contrast between the two figure skaters, Nancy Kerrigan being the snow white, a beautiful, elegant and classy skater then you had Tonya. Tonya was a redneck/frizzy haired skater who did not fit the mold. Incidentally, it's probably worth noting that Nancy Kerrigan was not from a rich background herself but she appeared that way with her looks and elegant skating style.
The movie unravels the snobby world of figure skating where it was not just enough to skate top form, but also to 'fit the image'. Something that Tonya struggles with throughout the movie.
LaVona Harding (Tonya's mother) was a mouthy waitress. She pushed Tonya's talent using negative encouragement rather than positive encouragement. She claims that Tonya thrived under negative pressure. According to Tonya, her mother was abusive and at one stage threw a knife at her. Allison Janney did a fantastic job portraying LaVona. The real LaVona was not impressed with her portrayal in the film.
The movie allows you to empathise with Tonya, as you can see the obstacles she had to overcome in order to be a champion figure skater. She was from a dirt poor background, faced a lot of snobbery within the figure skating world, her partner Jeff Gilooly was also abusive towards her. She did not have a good support network and figure skating was her life since she was an infant.
The movie is told through both Tonya's version and Gilooly's version of the events that occurred leading up to Nancy's attack. If you believe her version, Gilooly and a man called Shawn Eckhardt plotted the whole thing and failed to inform her until after the event. Gilooly and Eckhardt hired Shane Stant to do the actual attack on Kerrigan. They hired a fourth man called Derrick Smith as the getaway driver.
Tonya maintains that her husband never told her until after the events had occurred. That she knew nothing about it.
She delayed telling authorities and entered into a guilty plea of hindering the prosecution. She was fined $100,000 and ordered to do 500 hours community service. She was then banned from the US Figure Skating Association for life and was forced to withdraw from the championships. This was crippling for her.
I'm now going to dissect the reasons why I don't believe Tonya.
1. Winning was everything to her
She was a fiercely competitive skater beyond the healthy level of competitiveness. Skating was her life. Winning was her first priority. I believe that she would have done anything possible to increase her chances of winning based on the testimonies of people closest to her.
2. Look at the timing of the attack on Kerrigan
Tonya had established herself as a strong figure skater. She had a massive career peak in 1991. She was the first US figure skater to land a triple axel in competition. She won several other awards in 1991. To say that 1991 was a good year for her was an understatement, she was in top form.
Then something changed.
Whether it was her focus slipping or distractions at home. She failed to get back on track and by 1994 she was starting to get desperate. As a result of her desperation I'm going to posit that she felt that she had no other option but to take out Kerrigan.
3. She wasn't educated and neither were her associates
I'm not saying this to be a snob. I'm usually a proud supporter of the under dog. Lets face facts, Tonya was not educated. She dropped out of high school to be a figure skater. When a bunch of desperate uneducated people get together, dumb ideas can start to look viable.
A person with reasonable intelligence would know that taking out one competitor is not the way to win. That it would have dire consequences and would risk losing much more in the long run (and she did). An uneducated person may not think that far ahead. Their focus is on the short term gain. Combine that with the desperation she felt to win and then you have a botched plan to take an innocent girl out of the competition.
4. Who gained the most from taking Kerrigan out?
If you look at any crime the why behind it is the 'motive', in particular, look for anyone who actually gains something from a crime.
The person who would have gained the most by taking Kerrigan out of the competition wasn't Gilooly or any of the associates (unless they were paid). It was Tonya. Gilooly assisted with the attack but ultimately the attack was designed to benefit Tonya, no other person benefited as much from it. I believe she helped orchestrate the attack or at least knew about it from day one.
5. Her apologies and explanations seem (and seemed) very insincere
This one is not hardcore evidence. It's subjective, but is it just me or did all of her public apologies and approaches towards Kerrigan seem very insincere?
She had no empathy for what had occurred to Kerrigan. Only sulked because Kerrigan won a silver medal as though that excused the attack. She had the same glassy cold look in her eyes the whole time. She seems to have no depth or understanding of how much of an impact that would have had on Kerrigan at the time. How unfair it would have been if the tables had turned and it happened to her.
In fact, she fluctuated between apologising and attacking Kerrigan which suggests some form of jealousy or unresolved resentment that is lingering. She seems to take no responsibility for her role in the attack at all. She plays the victim card, uses her poor background as an excuse. Sincerity is something that cannot be faked.
6. If she was innocent then she wouldn't need to keep asking for forgiveness/approval or justification.
On several occasions, Tonya has tried publicly to approach Kerrigan to ask for forgiveness and seems to have this need for her approval. If you were not guilty of the crime, why would you feel the need to gain approval? If you did nothing wrong, why vie for approval?
Why keep on trying to desperately convince the public? If it were me and I was innocent, I would say my bit and then move on.
7. Evidence was pointing against her.
Remember the point about her lack of education?
A smart criminal would have destroyed the paper with the evidence of where Kerrigan trained and her training times (information Tonya had access to). The paper was not a 'coincidence'. It was evidence. The handwriting matched hers as confirmed by the FBI. It was a monumental mistake, they severely underestimated the likelihood of the crime being traced back to them.
8. I'm not saying she's a complete liar..but there was something odd about the Winter Olympics 1994 delay
Tonya had issues with her laces and was due to come out onto the rink. She came out late. Apparently one of her laces had broken and wasn't tied correctly. She came out very flustered as a result and stopped her performance to explain her situation to the judges.
It could have very well been that her laces were broken or not tied correctly. I believe that this antic was a little strange and could have been another desperate stunt. As previously mentioned by '94 she was slipping. She was getting desperate and resorting to desperate measures. I believe she felt the mounting pressure by this point and it wouldn't surprise me if that was just another one of her stunts.
9. I'm very skeptical of the claim that she knew nothing about her husband's planned attack
I'm not saying that husbands don't occasionally lie to their wives and keep secrets from them. However, most husband and wife relationships are pretty open. They are family and it would be highly unlikely that Gilooly wouldn't have told her or at least involved her in the planning, considering that it was going to impact Tonya.
I don't know the full story but based on the above 9 reasons, that is why I don't believe Tonya.
I'm sure that Kerrigan was not the perfect athlete made out and there probably is competitiveness and bitchiness in figure skating. One thing is for sure, Kerrigan didn't deserve that and bounced back like a true professional. She has moved on, Tonya hasn't.
What saddens me about the whole series of events is that I vouch for under dogs. I liked the fact that Tonya didn't fit the mold. I believe she could have continued to have a great career but ultimately suffers for her bad choices to this day.
Unfortunately for Tonya, not many will sympathise with her or believe her version no matter how loud she shouts it.
I highly recommend the movie. The actors were brilliant and ever since I saw it I have now become fascinated with what really went down in 1994. The true story is intriguing as you have the contrast between the two figure skaters, Nancy Kerrigan being the snow white, a beautiful, elegant and classy skater then you had Tonya. Tonya was a redneck/frizzy haired skater who did not fit the mold. Incidentally, it's probably worth noting that Nancy Kerrigan was not from a rich background herself but she appeared that way with her looks and elegant skating style.
The movie unravels the snobby world of figure skating where it was not just enough to skate top form, but also to 'fit the image'. Something that Tonya struggles with throughout the movie.
LaVona Harding (Tonya's mother) was a mouthy waitress. She pushed Tonya's talent using negative encouragement rather than positive encouragement. She claims that Tonya thrived under negative pressure. According to Tonya, her mother was abusive and at one stage threw a knife at her. Allison Janney did a fantastic job portraying LaVona. The real LaVona was not impressed with her portrayal in the film.
The movie allows you to empathise with Tonya, as you can see the obstacles she had to overcome in order to be a champion figure skater. She was from a dirt poor background, faced a lot of snobbery within the figure skating world, her partner Jeff Gilooly was also abusive towards her. She did not have a good support network and figure skating was her life since she was an infant.
The movie is told through both Tonya's version and Gilooly's version of the events that occurred leading up to Nancy's attack. If you believe her version, Gilooly and a man called Shawn Eckhardt plotted the whole thing and failed to inform her until after the event. Gilooly and Eckhardt hired Shane Stant to do the actual attack on Kerrigan. They hired a fourth man called Derrick Smith as the getaway driver.
Tonya maintains that her husband never told her until after the events had occurred. That she knew nothing about it.
She delayed telling authorities and entered into a guilty plea of hindering the prosecution. She was fined $100,000 and ordered to do 500 hours community service. She was then banned from the US Figure Skating Association for life and was forced to withdraw from the championships. This was crippling for her.
I'm now going to dissect the reasons why I don't believe Tonya.
1. Winning was everything to her
She was a fiercely competitive skater beyond the healthy level of competitiveness. Skating was her life. Winning was her first priority. I believe that she would have done anything possible to increase her chances of winning based on the testimonies of people closest to her.
2. Look at the timing of the attack on Kerrigan
Tonya had established herself as a strong figure skater. She had a massive career peak in 1991. She was the first US figure skater to land a triple axel in competition. She won several other awards in 1991. To say that 1991 was a good year for her was an understatement, she was in top form.
Then something changed.
Whether it was her focus slipping or distractions at home. She failed to get back on track and by 1994 she was starting to get desperate. As a result of her desperation I'm going to posit that she felt that she had no other option but to take out Kerrigan.
3. She wasn't educated and neither were her associates
I'm not saying this to be a snob. I'm usually a proud supporter of the under dog. Lets face facts, Tonya was not educated. She dropped out of high school to be a figure skater. When a bunch of desperate uneducated people get together, dumb ideas can start to look viable.
A person with reasonable intelligence would know that taking out one competitor is not the way to win. That it would have dire consequences and would risk losing much more in the long run (and she did). An uneducated person may not think that far ahead. Their focus is on the short term gain. Combine that with the desperation she felt to win and then you have a botched plan to take an innocent girl out of the competition.
4. Who gained the most from taking Kerrigan out?
If you look at any crime the why behind it is the 'motive', in particular, look for anyone who actually gains something from a crime.
The person who would have gained the most by taking Kerrigan out of the competition wasn't Gilooly or any of the associates (unless they were paid). It was Tonya. Gilooly assisted with the attack but ultimately the attack was designed to benefit Tonya, no other person benefited as much from it. I believe she helped orchestrate the attack or at least knew about it from day one.
5. Her apologies and explanations seem (and seemed) very insincere
This one is not hardcore evidence. It's subjective, but is it just me or did all of her public apologies and approaches towards Kerrigan seem very insincere?
She had no empathy for what had occurred to Kerrigan. Only sulked because Kerrigan won a silver medal as though that excused the attack. She had the same glassy cold look in her eyes the whole time. She seems to have no depth or understanding of how much of an impact that would have had on Kerrigan at the time. How unfair it would have been if the tables had turned and it happened to her.
In fact, she fluctuated between apologising and attacking Kerrigan which suggests some form of jealousy or unresolved resentment that is lingering. She seems to take no responsibility for her role in the attack at all. She plays the victim card, uses her poor background as an excuse. Sincerity is something that cannot be faked.
6. If she was innocent then she wouldn't need to keep asking for forgiveness/approval or justification.
On several occasions, Tonya has tried publicly to approach Kerrigan to ask for forgiveness and seems to have this need for her approval. If you were not guilty of the crime, why would you feel the need to gain approval? If you did nothing wrong, why vie for approval?
Why keep on trying to desperately convince the public? If it were me and I was innocent, I would say my bit and then move on.
7. Evidence was pointing against her.
Remember the point about her lack of education?
A smart criminal would have destroyed the paper with the evidence of where Kerrigan trained and her training times (information Tonya had access to). The paper was not a 'coincidence'. It was evidence. The handwriting matched hers as confirmed by the FBI. It was a monumental mistake, they severely underestimated the likelihood of the crime being traced back to them.
8. I'm not saying she's a complete liar..but there was something odd about the Winter Olympics 1994 delay
Tonya had issues with her laces and was due to come out onto the rink. She came out late. Apparently one of her laces had broken and wasn't tied correctly. She came out very flustered as a result and stopped her performance to explain her situation to the judges.
It could have very well been that her laces were broken or not tied correctly. I believe that this antic was a little strange and could have been another desperate stunt. As previously mentioned by '94 she was slipping. She was getting desperate and resorting to desperate measures. I believe she felt the mounting pressure by this point and it wouldn't surprise me if that was just another one of her stunts.
9. I'm very skeptical of the claim that she knew nothing about her husband's planned attack
I'm not saying that husbands don't occasionally lie to their wives and keep secrets from them. However, most husband and wife relationships are pretty open. They are family and it would be highly unlikely that Gilooly wouldn't have told her or at least involved her in the planning, considering that it was going to impact Tonya.
I don't know the full story but based on the above 9 reasons, that is why I don't believe Tonya.
I'm sure that Kerrigan was not the perfect athlete made out and there probably is competitiveness and bitchiness in figure skating. One thing is for sure, Kerrigan didn't deserve that and bounced back like a true professional. She has moved on, Tonya hasn't.
What saddens me about the whole series of events is that I vouch for under dogs. I liked the fact that Tonya didn't fit the mold. I believe she could have continued to have a great career but ultimately suffers for her bad choices to this day.
Unfortunately for Tonya, not many will sympathise with her or believe her version no matter how loud she shouts it.
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