The Shady Side Of Tonya Harding

Publish date: 2024-05-08

It's no secret that Tonya Harding grew up in poverty. Her longtime coach, Diane Schatz-Rawlinson, explained the extent of Harding's situation as early as 1986 in the documentary film, "Sharp Edges." "Skating, for Tonya, is her ticket out of the gutter," she said. "[She lives] in a terrible rental house, no supervision at all, she has no direction, there's not much to do." Schatz-Rawlinson added that she would pay for many of Harding's figure skating expenses and sometimes her costumes were homemade.

Harding recalled a confrontation she had with a judge who scolded her for wearing a bright pink dress she'd made herself to a competition in ESPN's film, "30 for 30: The Price of Gold." "I said, 'Well, you know what? If you can come up with $5000 for a costume for me, then I won't have to make it. But until then, stay out of my face." Vulture reported on the conversation. 

It seems as though Tonya Harding often blames the powers-that-be in her former sport for the consequences of her behavior. "I never get to skate again, ever, in competition. I'm kicked out of the association," she said in "The Price of Gold," frustrated as she feels she didn't get true support from the USFSA at the 1994 Olympics. Harding claimed they let her go knowing she wouldn't "get the marks that she deserves" or "anything in her life to do with skating ever again [afterward]."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7XCpKCsr5mbwW%2BvzqZmbW9jboZxe9OhnGarmJaxunnSopueZZ%2BberW7zbKYZqCRp7GqusZo