*Harding plays dirty*

There are many sports in this world. Many teams, and many players and participants. We all have views on what it takes to become an athlete and what kind of person those athletes are. When I think of figure skaters, I think poise. I think grace and preciseness. Tonya Harding was an amazing gold medalist figure skater. She was talented and poised. Until she wasn't. Tonya proved that she doesn't have a poised bone in her body.

Case and point. Tonya Harding was a phenomenal and talented skater who won the 1991 United States Figure Skating Championships. She also took home silver in the World Championships. She possessed the talent of landing triple axels, and knew how to use them in her routines. Instead of embracing her talents and having good sportsmanship, Harding decided to risk everything. Her main competition in the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships was Nancy Kerrigan. Kerrigan was kind of the sweetheart in figure skating. She was very kind and also a very talented woman. I suppose Harding was threatened by her talents and wanted her out of the competition. How could she make this happen? Tell her ex-husband to get someone to hurt Kerrigan so she could not perform of course! That is exactly what Harding's ex-hubby, Jeff Gillooly, did.

Gillooly and Harding's body guard hired a man named Shane Stant to hit Kerrigan on the knee. Stant instead ended up striking Kerrigan on her thigh at a practice session. This caused her to have to withdraw from the competition. Harding ended up winning that event, while Kerrigan spent it in the hospital trying to recover. Harding admitted to conspiring the attack on Kerrigan, and the Olympic Committee decided that they wanted to try and remove her from the Olympic team. Harding then threatened to take legal action on the Commitee, so they backed down and Harding remained on the team.

She ended up finishing in 8th place at the end of the Olympics. Kerrigan recovered from her injury and finished in 2nd place. I suppose Harding was kicking herself because she still lost to Kerrigan, even after she was attacked. Harding pleaded guilty to conspiring, and received a fine of $160,000, three years probation, and 500 community service hours. Later on, the United States Olympic Committee revoked Harding's 1994 title, and forever banned her from participating in any of their events.

As if that were not enough to ruin Harding's reputation forever, she ended up having a sex tape scandal. She also gained a lot of weight and became a wrestler. In 2000 she punched her ex-boyfriend and threw a hubcap at him. Because of that, she received 10 days of community service, and spent 3 days in jail. In 2002, she was driving drunk and got into an accident. In 2005, Harding called police claiming that she was assaulted by 2 men who were masked in her home. Police arrived and Harding's boyfriend at the time said that Harding attacked him and she was drunk. Her boyfriend was found guilty of assault and was told to stay away from Harding. Finally, in 2007, Harding called the police again claiming that there were 5 intruders trying to steal her car and hide some rifles on her property. The police said that Harding was "agitated" and her story did not make sense. She was disoriented and claimed that she was "seeing animals." Harding's agent claimed that her actions could have been from a bad reaction to her prescription drugs.

Obviously Tonya Harding has lost her mind. It was clear in 1994 when she decided to play dirty and sabotage her opponent. She was a great skater and was going places. Instead of embracing that, she fell off the wagon and forever ruined her reputation. When I read reports of her life drama, I feel like I am reading something that should be in a movie. I feel like no one in their right mind with so much potential would throw it all away. I really don't understand what goes through her mind. I believe she is probably on some sort of drugs. Whether those are legitimate prescription drugs or not, she could be abusing those prescriptions and she could have a problem with drinking. I honestly don't think she will ever be great or respected again, because she has gone cuckoo for coacoa puffs!

Here is a video of Nancy describing the incident, and some clips of her right after the attack occurred: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T09XWRkq5M

Thanks for reading,
Samantha