Tonya Harding is a retired American figure skater, who won the ‘US Championship’ in 1991 and 1994. She gained prominence as a skater in 1989, when she won the ‘Skate America’ competition. After a controversy in 1994, Tonya was forced to quit figure skating, and turned her attention towards boxing. Tonya became a professional boxer in 2003. Her popularity increased when she started appearing in films and TV shows, which made her an international celebrity. What made her a national celebrity though was the 1994 incident when Tonya’s main competitor Nancy Kerrigan was mysteriously attacked just before the ‘National Championship.’ Tonya used her notoriety and fame to her advantage so much so, that she rewrote the history of women's ice skating culture. Her life story and achievements became a part of many academic assessments and in 2017 a biopic titled ‘I, Tonya’ was released.

Childhood & Early Life

Tonya Harding was born on November 12, 1970, in Portland, Oregon. She was raised by her mother, LaVona Golden, in East Portland. Tonya started skating at the age of three and by the time she was four, her mother took her to Diane Rawlinson, who trained her in figure skating.

Tonya was born into a poor family and had to wear her mother’s hand-sewed dress for her competitions. She had a troubled childhood as she was often subjected to physical and psychological abuse by her mother.

During her early teens, Tonya started spending time with her father Albert Gordon Harding, from whom she learnt about various automobiles. She also started hunting and participated in several drag races throughout her teenage years.

Tonya, who was enrolled at ‘Milwaukie High School,’ dropped out of her school in order to concentrate solely on her figure skating career. She later completed ‘General Equivalency Diploma’ and then devoted her time to skating.

Career

Tonya continued her training with Diane Rawlinson and began participating in several figure skating competitions all over the U.S. In 1986, she took part in the ‘U.S. Figure Skating Championships’ and managed to finish sixth. She then competed for the championship for three consecutive years.

She gained prominence as a figure skater when she won ‘Skate America’ in 1989. Tonya’s big breakthrough came in the year 1991 when she won the U.S. Championship quite convincingly after landing her first triple axel. In the ‘World Championships,’ which was held in the same year, she once again landed a triple axel, becoming the first American woman and only the second woman in the history of figure skating to do so.

She went on to master the triple axel jump as she achieved various feats by executing the jump on three different occasions during the 1991 ‘Skate America.’ After becoming the first woman to land a triple axel in a short program, she also became the first woman to land two successful triple axels during the course of a single competition. She then became the first woman to land a triple axel with double toe loop.

Tonya then had a poor run and was never able to successfully land the famous triple axel jump after 1991. During the 1992 ‘U.S. Championship,’ she twisted her ankle during a practice session and was hence unable to win the competition. Her subsequent performances in ‘Winter Olympics’ and various other championships were rather poor, which resulted in her name being removed from the ‘World Championship’ team.

She returned to her winning ways in 1994 when she managed to win the ‘U.S. Figure Skating Championships,’ which was held in Detroit. Though her victory earned her a place in the 1994 Olympic team, people could sense that there was something amiss about her victory. Just before the ‘National Championship,’ Tonya’s main competitor Nancy Kerrigan was mysteriously attacked, which helped her in winning the competition.