Shawn Eckhardt
| Tonya Harding | ||||||||||||||
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Harding at Portland, Oregon, reception shortly after the 1994 Winter Olympics
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
| Full name | Tonya Maxene Harding | |||||||||||||
| Country represented | United States | |||||||||||||
| Born |
November 12, 1970 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
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| Residence | Yacolt, Washington, U.S. | |||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Jeff Gillooly (1990-1993) Michael Smith (1995-1996) Joseph Jens Price (2010-present) |
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| Height | 5 ft 1 in (155 cm) | |||||||||||||
| Coach | Diane Rawlinson, Dody Teachman | |||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Tonya Maxene Harding (born November 12, 1970) is a former American figure skater. She was a two-time Olympian and a two-time Skate America Champion. In 1991, she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed second in the World Championships. Harding was the second woman (and the first American woman) to complete a triple axel jump in competition. In 1994, she was banned for life from the U.S. Figure Skating Association after pleading guilty to hindering the prosecution following the attack on fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan.
Tonya Harding was born on November 12, 1970 in Portland, Oregon. Harding began skating at age three. Harding stopped attending David Douglas High School in Portland during her sophomore year. She earned a GED later.
Tonya Harding has stated that by the time she was 7 years old, she was mentally and physically abused by her mother. Her mother has admitted to one instance of hitting Tonya at an ice rink.
Harding began working her way up the competitive skating ladder in the mid-1980s, placing sixth at the 1986 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, fifth in 1987 and 1988, and third in 1989. She was considered a strong contender at the 1990 U.S. Figure Skating Championships after having won Skate America 1989, but she had a poor free skate as a result of suffering from the flu and asthma, and dropped from second place after the original program to finish seventh overall. While she was a powerful free skater, she typically had lower placements in the compulsory figures.
Harding's breakthrough year was in 1991, where she landed her first triple axel at the U.S. Championships, winning the title with the event's first 6.0 ever given to a single female skater for technical merit. At the 1991 World Championships, she again completed the triple axel (becoming the first American woman to perform it at an international event) but finished second to Kristi Yamaguchi.
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