Thursday, February 19, 2009

the tonya harding nancy kerrigan scandal tonya harding biography

Tonya Maxene Harding was born November 12, 1970. She is an American figure skating champion. In 1991 she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed second in the World Championships. She was the second woman, and the first American woman, to complete a triple axel jump in competition.
interview Tonya Harding - Real sports

She became notorious after her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly conspired with Shawn Eckhardt and Shane Stant to attack competitor Nancy Kerrigan at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Tonya Harding entered the world of the nude Internet celebrity with the appearance of a pornographic "Wedding Video" that showed her having sex with her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly. Gillooly, who, not long after the scandal, began to fade from prominence and changed his name to Jeff Stone, sold the tape to a tabloid show after having been implicated as a conspirator in the Kerrigan attack. Stills from the tape were published by Penthouse in September 1994, and the tape itself was released at about the same time. Harding tried to distance herself from it.
98 Breaking the Ice Pt 4-Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan

Harding appeared on a USA Pro Wrestling show in 1994 as the manager for wrestler Art Barr. info (c) wikipedia.org

In late 1996, Harding used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to help revive an 81-year-old woman, Alice Olson, who collapsed at a bar in Portland, Oregon while playing video poker.

Harding had a number of run-ins with the law following her involvement with the Kerrigan attack. Some of the incidents which have been reported in the press include the following:
On May 25, 1995, it was reported that Harding claimed she was being stalked by someone driving a white Lincoln Town Car, resulting in a car chase involving Harding, her ex-husband Gillooly, and the police.
On February 12, 1997, Harding claimed that she was abducted at knife-point outside her home by a bushy-haired man who forced her to drive to a rural area, where she rammed her truck into a tree and escaped by running into the woods. Police found no evidence of an abduction. This incident happened on the opening weekend of the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
On October 16, 1997, Harding reported that her truck had been stolen from a shopping mall parking lot. On January 6, 2000, six years to the day after the attack on Kerrigan, Harding was in the news again after she lost control of her truck on an icy road and landed in a ditch. Her then boyfriend, Darren Silver, allegedly made threats against a press photographer. On February 24, 2000, Harding was ordered by a Clark County judge to stay away from alcohol and her former boyfriend, Darren Silver, after being booked on fourth-degree Domestic Violence assault charges for punching Silver and throwing a hubcap at him at their Camas, Washington residence. Harding was also sentenced to 3 days in jail and 10 days of community service on a work crew. Shortly before this, Harding had been attempting to make a comeback as a professional skater, but the hubcap incident effectively ended her return to skating. On April 20, 2002, Harding was involved in another accident with her truck. She was cited for drunk driving and a violation of her probation agreement from her 2000 conviction. On October 23, 2005, Harding, apparently again under the influence of alcohol, was involved in a fight at her home in Vancouver, Washington with Christopher Nolan, a man she described as her boyfriend. Initially, she made a 911 call claiming to have been assaulted in her home by two masked men. For his part, Nolan claimed that Harding attacked him after having too much to drink. In the end, Nolan was charged with assault and ordered to stay away from Harding and to avoid alcohol. On March 11, 2007, the Clark County sheriff's office responded to two calls related to Harding. The first call was from Harding herself, at 5am. She told the officer who responded that she had observed five armed intruders trying to steal her vehicle, and hide rifles on her property. The responding officer's report described her as "agitated" and her story as "very implausible," and recorded her frustration that others could not see the people she saw. He could find no evidence to back up Harding's claims. The second call, four hours later, at 9am, was from a friend who had agreed to let Harding visit. Harding's host told police that although Harding was not violent, she was "tweaking out, seeing animals," and she was worried about her children's safety. She requested police return Harding to her home. Police reported that the officer who returned her home inspected her trailer home, to reassure her, and advised her to seek medical help. Linda Lewis, Harding’s longtime agent, attributed her behavior to a bad interaction of legitimate prescription drugs.
In 2002, Tonya Harding boxed on the Fox TV network Celebrity Boxing event against Paula Jones, winning the fight. On February 22, 2003, she made her official women's professional boxing debut, losing a four round decision in the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Clifford Etienne bout, amid rumors that she was having financial difficulties and needed to box to earn money.
Tonya Harding vs Paula Jones funny boxing

Harding won her third pro bout against Alejandra Lopez at the Creek Nations Gaming Center.

On March 23, 2004, it was reported that Harding cancelled a planned boxing match against Tracy Carlton in Oakland, California because of an alleged death threat against her.

On June 24, 2004, after reportedly not having boxed for over a year, Harding was beaten in a match in Edmonton, Alberta by boxer Amy Johnson. Fans reportedly booed Harding as she entered the ring, and cheered wildly for Johnson as she won in the third round. Harding later protested the outcome.

Harding's boxing career was quite short, a brevity she attributes to asthma. Her overall record was 3-3-0. info (c) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding