Tonya Harding

Tonya Maxene Price née Harding born November 12 1970 is an American former figure skater and boxer and reality television personality Born in Portland Oregon Harding was raised by her mother who enrolled her in ice skating lessons when Tonya was 3 years old Harding spent much of her early life training eventually dropping out of high school to devote her time to the sport After climbing the ranks in the US Figure Skating Championships between 1986 and 1989 Harding won the 1989 Skate America competition She was the 1991 and 1994 US champion and 1991 World silver medalist In 1991 she became the first American woman and the second woman in history after Midori Ito to successfully land a triple Axel in an international competition Harding is a twotime Olympian and a twotime Skate America Champion In January 1994 Harding became embroiled in controversy when her exhusband Jeff Gillooly orchestrated an attack on her fellow US skating rival Nancy Kerrigan On March 16 1994 Harding accepted a plea bargain in which she pled guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution As a result of her involvement in the aftermath of the assault the United States Figure Skating Association banned her for life on June 30 1994 she was stripped of her 1994 title From 2003 to 2004 Harding competed as a professional boxer Her life has been the subject of many books films documentaries and academic studies In 2014 two television documentaries were made about Hardings life and skating career Nancy Tonya and The Price of Gold inspiring Steven Rogers to write the film I Tonya in 2017 for which Australian star Margot Robbie portrayed Harding and also produced the film