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| Birth Name(s) : Tonya Harding |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Full Tonya Harding Biography
Tonya Maxine Harding (born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater. Despite a tough childhood in an unstable family, as well as being plagued by asthma (aggravated by smoking), she became an elite figure skater. She won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships twice and placed second in the 1991 World Championships. She was the second woman, and the first American woman, to complete a triple axel jump in competition.
1991 was Harding's breakthrough year. She landed her first triple axel in competition at the U.S. Championships, winning the title with the first 6.0 ever given to a female singles skater for technical merit at that event. She competed well at the World Championships, but finished second to Kristi Yamaguchi. She again completed the triple axel during her long program at the World Championships, becoming the first American to do so. In her career, Harding landed four triple axels in competition, and all of them in 1991 where she completed every one she tried: one at the U.S. Championships, one at the World Championships, and two at the fall Skate America competition. At the latter competition she recorded three more firsts:
- the first woman ever to do a triple axel in the short program,
- the first woman to do two triple axels in a single competition, and
- the first ever to do a triple axel combination (with double toe loop).
The latter part of Harding's competitive career was marked by a series of accidents, incidents, and excuses, causing television commentators to observe that no competition was complete without Tonya having a crisis. Some included:
- Skating magazine reported that at Skate America in 1991, Harding was stranded in heavy traffic just before her event was scheduled to begin, and had to hitch a ride with people who drove her backwards through traffic to the arena.
- In the short program at the 1993 U.S. Championships, Harding had to ask permission from the referee to restart her program after the back of her dress came unhooked as she began to skate.
- At 1993 Skate America, Harding stopped midway through her free skate and complained to the referee that her skate blade had become loose. She was allowed to resume her program after her blades were checked by a skate technician.
- In late 1993, Harding was scheduled to compete in a regional qualifying competition for the U.S. Championships. However, before the event, its organizers received an anonymous telephoned bomb threat against Harding, which led the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) to excuse her from having to qualify. Morry Stillwell, former USFSA president, later asserted in a Usenet posting that the FBI had evidence that Harding herself participated in making the threat.
- The medal ceremony at the 1994 U.S. Championships had to be delayed because Harding could not be found backstage after the competition.
- At the 1994 Winter Olympics, Harding almost failed to appear on the ice when her name was called for the free skating because she was scrambling to replace a broken lace. The replacement lace turned out to be too short, and after missing the opening jump in her program she again had to ask the referee for permission to restart.
On June 30, after conducting its own investigation of the attack, the USFSA stripped Harding of her 1994 title and banned her for life from participating in sanctioned events and becoming a sanctioned coach. The USFSA concluded that Harding knew about the attack before it happened and displayed "a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior." As part of her plea deal, she had already resigned from the USFSA and given up her spot on the team slated to take part in that year's world championships. Although the USFSA has no control over professional skating events, Harding was also persona non grata on the pro circuit because few skaters and promoters would work with her. Consequently, Harding did not herself benefit from the pro skating boom that ensued in the aftermath of the scandal.
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 broke and needed to box to get some money.
1914: Theresa Weld | 1918: Rosemary Beresford | 1920-1924: Theresa Weld | 1925-1927: Beatrix Loughran | 1928-1933: Maribel Vinson | 1934: Suzanne Davis 1935-1937: Maribel Vinson | 1938-1940: Joan Tozzer | 1941-1942: Jane Vaughn | 1943-1948: Gretchen Merrill | 1949-1950: Yvonne C. Sherman | 1951: Sonya Klopfer | 1952-1956: Tenley Albright | 1957-1960: Carol Heiss | 1961: Laurence Owen | 1962: Barbara Roles | 1963: Lorraine Hanlon | 1964-1968: Peggy Fleming | 1969-1973: Janet Lynn | 1974-1976: Dorothy Hamill | 1977-1980: Linda Fratianne | 1981: Elaine Zayak | 1982-1984: Rosalynn Sumners | 1985: Tiffany Chin | 1986: Debi Thomas | 1987: Jill Trenary | 1988: Debi Thomas | 1989-1990: Jill Trenary | 1991: Tonya Harding | 1992: Kristi Yamaguchi | 1993: Nancy Kerrigan | 1994: * | 1995: Nicole Bobek | 1996: Michelle Kwan | 1997: Tara Lipinski | 1998-2005: Michelle Kwan | 2006: Sasha Cohen | 2007: Kimmie Meissner*Title stripped from Tonya Harding |
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