The Scandal That Changed The Olympics Forever: Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan

when people hear the name Tanya Harding more than anything else they probably associate it with breaking things and I'm not just talking about shattering Nancy carrigan's knee no because Tanya Harding if you didn't know actually broke some really significant barriers when it came to the world of figure skating Not only was Tanya a top-notch athlete but she was a complete Outsider to a sport that had been historically dominated by the wealthy figure scanning is a notoriously expensive sport it can cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars to become competitive remember you don't just have to

be solid on the ice you have to look the part Rock graceful costumes take lessons the whole nine yards Tanya Harding though she blew that all the way up Tanya came from workingclass Blue Collar Roots Her Image was the exact opposite of what a lot of people expected from figure skaters and she lit up plenty of her competitors while on the ice breaking records in the process but despite her ambition and Edge Tanya could not run her past and that's what ultimately led to her undoing this girl is so strong you made me out at

45 the first woman ever to land a triple axle in United States competition why why someone was running by me and and he just like whacked me with this long black like stick have some bad points about me but overall I think I'm pretty good person I'm excepting compl G the media had me convicted of doing something wrong before I had even done anything at all tin was born in Portland Oregon where her mother Lana golden great name played a huge role in shaping her dreams of ice skating even though Tanya grew up in a

trailer park with the most minimal of means Lavana had her on the ice when Tanya was just 3 years old and while Lavana struggled to provide for her family as a waitress she was adamant about Tanya's prospects as a figure skater she hand seed Tanya's costumes while shelling out money for competition fees and lessons Lana was absolutely instrumental in pushing Tanya into sports but Tanya has levied some really troubling allegations about her mom namely that Lana abused her since she was a child in one instance she claims that Lana threw a steak knife at her

leaving her with a permanent Scar and Tanya's claims of abuse are partially corroborated by one of her friends who says she witnessed Lana abusing Tanya through the crack in a bathroom stall after a competition Tanya also accused her late half-brother Chris Davidson of molesting her when she was a child even calling the police on him back in 1986 and while Davidson was arrested and served in prison time Tanya said that both Lana and her dad downplayed and denied her accusations what's abundantly clear is that Tanya had a rough tumultuous childhood Leana wanted Tanya to become

a star but the deck was stacked against her in 1986 Tanya met a 17-year-old Jeff guli again great name when she was just 15 years old and they started dating within two years they moved in together Tanya couldn't have known it at the time but Jeff would play a major part in the unraveling of her career but during their earlier years together Tanya claimed that Jeff would chip in to take care of her and pay for first skate lessons Lana reportedly opposed the relationship because of Jeff's quote violent streak kind of the pot calling the

kettle violent but you know whatever sure enough Jeff was reportedly physically abusive toward Tanya after getting married in 1990 they would divorce just a year later and Tanya would file a rest trting order against him citing that she feared for her safety by the time she was a sophomore in high school Tanya made the decision to bet it all on herself she dropped out at the age of 16 so that she could pursue competitive skating she racked up placements in the US figure skating championships and only got better year after year in 1986 she ranked

sixth in ' 87 she bumped that up to fifth by ' 89 she'd secured third place her real breakthrough though came in 1991 when she competed in the US championships and shattered yet another barrier by becoming the first American woman and only the second woman in history to execute a triple axle good girl oh isn't that great the first time in American only Maori EO has completed a triple axle in competition oh how nice how terrific by itself the axle jump is considered the most difficult figure skating jump one can attempt executing a triple axle

means completing 3 and a half full 360 Revolutions in midair and then sticking the landing try it in sneakers it's really hard now do that in skates on ice it's like impossible but she did it Tanya made huge waves at the US championships with seven out of n judges ranking her first place and a staggering 6.0 technical Merit score that hadn't been seen since 1973 when she competed in the March 1991 World Championships she doubled down completing another draw dropping triple axle just a few months later in the 1991 Skate America competition Tanya Harding became

the first woman ever to land two triple axles in the same competition she's picking up speed for it now forward takeoff three and a half revolutions Landing backwards into a double toop she nailed one in warm up look at the height here big one beautifully done history she was on fire but she never quite managed to reach the same high she had during her incredible run in 91 in 1992 Tanya Twisted her ankle while practicing for the US figure skating championships but still managed to place third and during the 1992 Winter Olympics she ended up

placing fourth later that year she came in a surprising sixth at the World Champ ionships despite all the record she broke in 1991 Tanya was never able to again land a successful triple axle in competition Tanya might have still been a formidable figure skater but her star was falling she wasn't getting the same kind of groundbreaking results she had managed to rack up just a year earlier her anxiety over her declining scores might have played a big part in what ended up being the defining episode of her career which had nothing even to do with

her prowess on the ice because on January 6th 1994 Tanya's main rival and arch nemesis Nancy carrian was brutally attacked you see Tanya and Nancy were both vying for a spot on the Olympic figure skating team and they couldn't have been more different Nancy's family came from modest means but she had the kind of poise that most people associated with figure skating Tanya was still that tough girl from Portland with an aggressive attitude that refused to look the part she was rough and tumble all the way in 1992 a sheriff's deputy even reported seeing Tanya

confront someone with a baseball bat over a traffic dispute now remember when I mentioned that Jeff gy would play a major role in destroying Tanya's career at this point Tanya and Jeff were divorced but it was way more complicated than that in fact just 10 days after her divorce was finalized Tanya's lawyer submitted a request to scrap the restraining order against Jeff because the two wanted to reconcile Tanya had previously accused Jeff of violent abuse but she was still in love with him Jeff guli meanwhile hatched a hairbrain plan to take Nancy carrian out of

commission Jeff and T's bodyguard hired two men Shane Stant and Derek Smith to attack Nancy Carrick the original plan was to hit Nancy at her home rink in Cape Cod Massachusetts but that plan fell through when Shane traveled to Cape Cod and couldn't track her down that meant that Shane had to toggle over to plan B attacking Nancy while she was practicing for the US championships in Detroit after Nancy left the ice rink Shane came up behind her busted out a telescopic baton and swung it hard smashing her leg Nancy collapsed to the floor screaming

in pain while Shane fled the scene journalists on the scene captured camera footage of Nancy just moments after Shane attacked her wailing in agony and contrary to popular belief ny's knee wasn't broken but the bruising was so bad that she had to withdraw from the Championships and guess who competed and won the US championships just two days later yep Tanya Harding the timing and location of the attack was viewed as highly suspicious which was something that Jeff himself had feared I mean if the original plan had gone through and Shane managed to track Nancy down

in Cape Cod this would be a whole other story but nobody could deny what looked like a targeted hit on a really high-profile athlete there was nothing random about it Tanya obviously denied involvement but faced scrutiny and questioning from the FBI and within days Jeff had surrendered to the FBI and implicated Tanya as being part of the conspiracy the US figure skating Association found ample evidence that Tanya had been involved in the attack and said there was reasonable grounds to believe that she had violated the sports code of ethics a grand jury indictment also pointed

to evidence of her involvement but despite all this Tanya was never charged in nany's assault Nancy even recovered in time to make the 1994 Winter Olympics where she and Tanya would actually end up competing Tanya's performance at the Olympics was mired in its own drama she had a scrap for skate mid routine and complain to the judges about a broken lace after an impassioned plead to the judges she was given the opportunity to reskate I mean the whole scene was pretty bizarre you just don't see like that at the Olympics despite or maybe because of

all the controversy and publicity around her Tanya would Place eighth behind Nancy who would actually win the silver medal meanwhile Jeff would negotiate a plea deal and was sentenced to two years in prison his co-conspirators would also see prison time Jeff expressed regret for what he did publicly apologizing to Nancy carrian and later asserting that he talked time into the whole thing years later Jeff would say that while he was the architect behind the attack Tanya would end up becoming a punchline of sworts a consequence that he seemed genuinely sorry for Tanya was pretty much

barred from any serious skating competition despite the years of hard work and grinding that she'd put in her figure skating career was effectively over Tanya went from setting records to effectively being put in Exile while she did pop back up in 1999 to play silver at the ESPN pro skating Championship she was more or less persona ngr in the years since the Nancy caran debacle Tanya has had an exceptionally colorful and wild resume she managed to land a role in a very very modestly budgeted action movie called Breakaway there was a sex tape featuring Tanya

and Jeff that was marketed by Penthouse and then she had a number of stints in reality TV including the weakest link and Dancing with the Stars she even competed on a show called the worst chefs in America yeah I guess that's a show I don't know and she won raising $25,000 for charity which you know is okay she did a thing that was nice Tanya Tanya even had a short-lived boxing career but her record in the ring was pretty spotty her official debut was marred by a loss and then rumors floated that Tanya was only

getting into boxing because of financial problems with an overall record of three wins and three losses Tanya ended up bowing out of boxing because of difficulties with her asthma speaking of fights Tanya did end up serving three days in jail after she admitted to punching her boyfriend at the time fellow named Darren silver and launching a hubc cap at his face back in 2000 yeah he is a fighter but one of the wildest things about Tanya Harding's story is that she might have been looked at as a Trailblazer when she burst onto the scene she

definitely challenged people's concept of what figure skating looked like she was a far cry from the stereotypical image of privileged ice ballerinas who were long associated with the sport not only that but she was powerful out on the ice setting Landmark records while competing diligently all while running from a past Laden with trauma and abuse instead Tanya Harding's name has become something of a joke people will forever associate her with the attack on Nancy carrian a choice that when you really think about it did little to boost Tanya's competitive prospects for what it's worth Nancy

still outpaced T competitively just months after Shane Stant bashed her leg in her whole life Tanya Harding tried to escape her circumstances a childhood of abuse trauma and hard living through her dedication to sports but like so many others she couldn't outrun or Out Skate her difficult past