Summary I, Tonya 2017
Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
From the proverbial wrong side of the tracks in Portland, Oregon, former competitive figure skater Tonya Harding was never fully accepted in the figure skating community for not inherently being the image of grace, breeding and privilege that the community wanted to portray, despite she being naturally gifted in the sport athletically. Despite ultimately garnering some success in figure skating being national champion, a world championship medalist, an Olympian, and being the first American woman to complete a Triple Axel in competition, she is arguably best known for her association to "the incident": the leg bashing on January 6, 1994 of her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan, who, unlike Tonya, was everything that the figure skating community wanted in their representatives. Her association to that incident led to Tonya being banned from competitive figure skating for life. Tonya's story from the beginning of her figure skating life at age four to the aftermath of the incident is presented. Besides Tonya herself, key people in her life give their perspective of their role in her life. Although they may agree on the broad issues at hand, such as that the incident did occur, they may vary widely in their recollection of the details. These people are: her waitress mother Lavona Golden, who despite having paid for her expensive figure skating lessons, was abusive toward her physically and emotionally, never believing she being good enough in any aspect of the word, and who pulled her from school to focus solely on the figure skating; Diane Rawlinson, her first and longest serving coach, who, for good or bad, largely let Tonya be Tonya in the way she presented herself to the figure skating world; Jeff Gillooly, her first husband, the two who also had a turbulent relationship on a need to be loved perhaps without truly loving the other; Jeff's friend and Tonya's bodyguard Shawn Eckardt, a dim bulb who believed himself to be a bigger player in the big scheme of life than he actually was; and sports journalist Martin Maddox, a fictional character who provides general commentary of what the sports media as a collective wanted out of Tonya and the incident.
Loved for a fleeting moment and then hated for life, Tonya Harding, the child prodigy who was forced into the realm of skating by her overbearing and abusive mother, LaVona Golden, recounts the events in her bumpy life. From her harmful relationship with her first beau, Jeff Gillooly, to her utter defeat in the 1992 Winter Olympics, and from that disgraceful incident with her friend and fellow skater, Nancy Kerrigan, to her last chance at the 1994 Winter Olympics, Tonya was always a victim of her abundant talent. However, talent alone isn't enough, even if you are the first American figure skater who can perform to perfection the notoriously difficult triple axel in competition.
In 1991, talented figure skater Tonya Harding becomes the first American woman to complete a triple axel during a competition. In 1994, her world comes crashing down when her ex-husband conspires to injure Nancy Kerrigan, a fellow Olympic hopeful, in a poorly conceived attack that forces the young woman to withdraw from the national championship. Harding's life and legacy instantly become tarnished as she's forever associated with one of the most infamous scandals in sports history.
Growing up with an alcoholic and abusive mother, poor and on the wrong side of the tracks in Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding would never be accepted when it came to the world of figure skating. Even though Tonya was somewhat a figure skating prodigy, beginning her career at the age of 4 & winning competitions against competitors twice her age, she lacked the grace, beauty and lifestyle of what had become known worldwide as the image of a ladies competitive figure skater. This didn't stop Tonya however. With the help of Diana Rawlinson, her first and longest coach, Tonya overcame many obstacles and began to make a name for herself in this cut throat world of skating. Tonya became a national champion, a world medalist, a member of the US Olympic team twice and made history by being the first ever American woman to land a triple axel in competition. Her alcoholic mother, Lavona worked as a waitress to pay for Tonya's coaching, but, was horribly abusive and demeaning to Tonya despite her success. Around the age of 15, Tonya met her future husband Jeff Gillooly and his friend, her future "bodyguard" Shawn Eckardt. Young, rebellious and in-love, Tonya marries Jeff who later becomes physically and mentally abusive. Despite Tonya's successes, she is probably most famously known for the 1994 attack on fellow figure skater and Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan. Following the attack an investigation began and quickly concluded that Jeff Gillooly and Shawn Eckardt were at the center of it. This led to the unveiling of Tonya's involvement in the attack as many had suspected. Tonya's involvement, regardless of how large or small, resulted in her being banned from the world of competitive figure skating. This movie shows Tonya's life from the beginning of her career as a child through the end of her career and what follows. Based on actual interviews with Tonya, Lavona, Jeff, Shawn, Diana and others from that time frame, the viewers get an inside look at her life, her issues, her relationships and her point of view on the attack. I was afraid to watch it since I was a fascinated teen when this took place and figured it would be an exaggerated version of the truth. However, this is tastefully done.
In 1970s Portland, Oregon, four year-old Tonya Harding is forced to ice skate by her abusive mother, LaVona Golden. As Tonya grows up, her parents take her out of school to focus on her skating career, and she trains under coach Diane Rawlinson. Tonya rapidly becomes one of the best figure skaters in the United States, but is held back by her "white trash" reputation, home-made costumes and unconventional choice of performance music. At 15, she begins dating 18-year-old Jeff Gillooly, and the two marry, but Jeff becomes abusive. When LaVona scorns Tonya for putting up with it, Tonya blames LaVona for her raising her badly..
