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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News
May 1st, 2006 Edition - MAY DAY: TONYAPHILES OF THE WORLD UNITE!
(C) 2006 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.oocities.org/portice
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Today we have a really diverse lineup of Tonya info: we've more
on the Tonya/Nancy opera that was mentioned a few months back, a
review of a major Tonya documentary and an important skating-
oriented book that mentions her, a few odds and ends about
Tonya's appearances both on TV and in person, an article about
the shop in Arizona with a connection to an infamous incident,
and last but not least, a chance to get Stoned with the Special
Duties Section.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Tommorrow will see the debut of the long awaited opera project
based on the infamous events of 1994. The public premiere is on
May 2 at the American Repertory Theatre's Zero Arrow Theatre, in
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 7 pm and 9 pm and
will be followed by a panel discussion with the performers and
the show's creators, Elizabeth Searle and Abigail Al-Doory. The
opera stars Kristen Sergeant as Tonya, Margaret Hunter as Nancy,
Joshua Levin as Gillooly, Marli Mesibov as Oksana, and Armen
Nercessian as Shane. There is also now an official web page
available at:
http://www.tufts.edu/as/music/t&n.htm
We have also recently received an e-mail from Ms. Searle who is
the writer of the opera, and she is quite eager to assure
Tonyaphiles that it will portray Tonya in a sympathetic light,
and that alot of the media reports about it aren't accurate. For
instance, she denies making the quote about "America is full of
Tonya's who want to be Nancy's" that was widely published at the
time. She also tells us that "Tonya is portrayed by a very
beautiful talented singer who recently appeared on off-Broadway
and is a true trained opera singer. Any Tonya fan would be
thrilled with the casting."
In addition she says: "The opera really is an 'imaginative work'
not meant to be historic record; for instance, we combine 'Shane'
and 'Shawn' as one character. And the other characters, including
our 'Tonya' are our own imaginings, but based on fact."
TONYA "ANYTHING TO WIN" GSN SPECIAL
Tonya has been on TV several times since our last issue. Without
doubt the appearance most anticipated by Tonyaphiles was that on
an episode of GSN's "Anything To Win" series that screened on
March 12. At an hour long, it's one of the most important Tonya
documentaries for several years.
We have to confess that we were initially skeptical about the
producer's promises to treat Tonya fairly - it wouldn't be the
first time that someone has promised Tonya a fair hearing, only
to do a hatchet job on her in the editing suite. Thankfully we
were not disappointed. The verdict is that it's pretty much
essential viewing for any Tonyaphile, despite the fact that it
doesn't contain an awful lot of previously unseen footage, apart
from some newly-shot interviews with Tonya (who seems obviously
angry when she recalls how the 20 years of her life that she
devoted to skating was effectively destroyed in a matter of a few
days by the actions of others). The basis for alot of the
coverage of the early years of Tonya's life is the "Sharp Edges"
documentary that Sandra Luckow (who is also interviewed) shot in
1986. And there is a nice shot of Tonya posing with a bunch of
pumpkins that we haven't seen before - why has this never turned
up on line anywhere?
Its main asset is that it gives Tonya a fair hearing with none of
the Gillooly goons getting a look in, unlike what usually happens
on these things. One slight criticism is that it doesn't really
cover the "whack" itself in very much detail, though we do get to
see sequences from the Intersport "Why? Why?" tape that I've not
seen before of Nancy coming off the ice after her practice
seconds before the clubbing. It would have been a bit better if
they'd analyzed the "evidence" (or lack thereof) against Tonya
more thoroughly.
In the end it is revealed that the "anything" that Tonya will do
to win is not, as most would expect, a ruthlessness that involves
injuring competitors but rather her drive and determination to be
the best that she can be, no matter what the sport.
TONYA ON ET AND GMA
Tonya has also made a couple of other appearances on ET since our
last issue. On the 27th of February she discussed the skating at
the Olympics:
http://et.tv.yahoo.com/celebrities/14024/
"There's four minutes out of your life and it can mean
success or it can mean disaster," said Tonya. "Skating is a
luck sport; you can be perfect one night and you can just
have a really bad day the next day".
"I really missed Michelle Kwan being able to compete here,
but I do give her complete kudos and courage for what she
did do. I'm sure everyone's going to look forward to seeing
her on tours and to continue to compete if she chooses to
do so."
Tonya also appeared on ET again on March 10th with more scenes
from "Anything To Win" and also showed ET's Jann Carl some
skating tips:
http://et.tv.yahoo.com/celebrities/14147/
"Skating was all I had," exclaims Tonya. "I just had enough
of my life of being beat up, put down, telling me that I'm
not going to amount to anything in my life. I was told that
my whole entire life by my mother. I just had had enough."
Tonya was also scheduled to appear that same day on "Good Morning
America". Unfortunately Tonyaphiles were caught on the hop when
they shifted her segment to the 9th. The good news is that
Portland TV station KATU has video of her appearance available
on-line:
http://www.katu.com/entertainment/story.asp?ID=83972
The segment shows a clip from the GSN "Anything To Win" episode
and also more footage of Tonya skating (including a jump - a
double salchow, something that she didn't do on ET or "The
Insider").
TONYA MAKES APPEARANCES
Tonya has also attended a couple of autograph signing sessions in
the past two months.
According to the Kansas City Star, Tonya signed autographs at the
Metro North Mall in that city on the 25th and 26th of March,
along with what it described as "a cornucopia of colorful
athletes". Tonya was signing from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday and
Sunday in the center-court area of the mall.
Tonya was also present at Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show
at the Hilton Burbank Hotel & Convention Center in Burbank, CA.
on April 22 and 23. You can find more details at the show's
official site at:
http://www.hollywoodcollectorshow.com/Burbank.htm
Congratulations, by the way, to the organizers for acknowledging
that Tonya won TWO national figure skating titles, despite the
attempts by the USFSA to rewrite history and pretend that she
didn't.
BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Two items have surfaced in recent weeks that relate to the events
of 1994. The first is an interesting article in the Arizona
Republic about the shop that sold "the club" that was used in
you-know-what, and features an interview with store owner Kevin
Simpson:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0214p2main0214.html
Recalling his most (in)famous customer, "I didn't realize it
until Sports Illustrated called," Simpson said. "I had seen still
photos of him, but they didn't ring a bell. SI contacted us, and
then I saw some TV footage of him being led to jail. Then I
recognized him."
Meanwhile, this web page has a video clip of a short (around 1
minute) BBC news item from February 1994 reporting on Tonya's
Lillehammer skate. Quality is pretty poor, but it should have no
problem playing on a dialup:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/6/newsid_4095000/4095661.stm
Might want to check out that link about the Sex Pistols too!
This is the RealPlayer URL for the clip itself (that's Tonya, not
the Sex Pistols). You can paste this into the "Open location" box
in RealPlayer and play the clip directly if the browser plugin
doesn't work.
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/news/media/video/otdvideo/94/02/23/nb/9409_23-02-94_4x3_nb.rm
PAUL BROWN ITEM
The Oregonian also has an item about Paul Brown, Tonya's former
trainer, his transformation from boxer to mortician to preacher:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1143503749307820.xml&coll=7
Although Brown is critical of Tonya, and still claims he could
have made her rich, he says "I tell people, this girl is a human
being, and she should be treated as one".
AT THE BOOKSTORE: "ON EDGE: BACKROOM DEALING, COCKTAIL SCHEMING,
TRIPLE AXELS, AND HOW TOP SKATERS GET SCREWED" BY JON JACKSON
WITH JAMES PEREIRA
We've mentioned this book a couple of times over the past few
months: written by a long-time skating insider, the book has
promised to expose serious and long standing problems within the
sport, and we're pleased to say that it delivers.
"On Edge" starts with Jackson's recounting of Marie Reine
LeGougne's meltdown in front of him in a hotel lobby and ends
with a bloody murder on a Moscow street. It is really two books
in one; the first is essentially one man's journey through figure
skating, from his first interest in the activity (when he saw a
flamboyantly-dressed black skater at an Ice Follies show) through
to successful mid-level competitive skater, to Olympic-level
judge and finally disillusioned whistleblower. The second story,
told in parallel with the first, is that of Jackson's personal
life, in particular coming to the realization that he is gay and
trying to deal with that fact while growing up in one of the most
conservatively religious states in America, Utah.
The latter aspect also leads Jackson to tackle the one subject
about figure skating that every knows but isn't supposed to
discuss, namely the fact that a disproportionately large
percentage of the men involved are gay (Jackson estimates around
50%). He argues that there is a latent homophobia running through
the top level of figure skating, which is still largely
administered by straight men despite the fact that most of the
skaters, officials and audience are either women or gay men. This
has resulted in issues such as the impact of AIDS being swept
under the carpet, a topic already broached by Christine Brennan
in her 1996 book "Inside Edge".
As Jackson works his way through the system he starts to realize
that a skater's marks aren't totally about their performance:
having the "right" coach, outfit and background are equally if
not more important. Indeed, there is a noticeable increase in
cynicism apparent as the book progresses, as Jackson finally
starts to see the true nature of how top-level figure skating is
controlled. The portrait that he paints of many of his fellow
officials is far from flattering, which is that of a pretentious
bunch of poseurs more interested in shagging each other and
attending lavish parties than in judging skaters fairly. It is
rumored that Carly Simon's song "You're So Vain" was written
about Warren Beatty, but from the way Jackson tells it it could
well have been about a skating judge.
Ever wondered why every judge's marks for each skater are usually
so close together? It's simple - in many cases, they're decided
beforehand at these parties, something that is referred to as
"chatter". He also reveals the startling fact that some judges
are whacked out on Valium whilst judging in order to settle their
nerves. It is all information that will come as no surprise to
any Tonyaphile, though it's refreshing to hear it from a skating
insider.
Jackson mentions Tonya at several places in the book, but his
main discussion of her is from pages 144 to 148. It's stuff that
could have come straight out of any issue of "The Portlandian":
in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's read some of our
material as he even at one place uses the same phrase - "bungling
simpletons" - to describe the USFSA as we do at the bottom of
http://www.oocities.org/portice/defense.htm. He recounts the
well-known facts about Tonya's humble upbringing and rough edges,
and how the USFSA gave her no support. However, interestingly, he
not only points out how unfair this was to Tonya but also how it
arguably cost the US a gold medal in '94. He compares how the
Eastern Bloc federations, for instance, mentor athletes from
deprived backgrounds (such as Oksana Baiul), spinning their life
stories into heroic overcoming-the-odds tales and lobbying for
them amongst the judges, while as the USFSA just saw Tonya as an
embarrassment. He also gives a detailed analysis of why he thinks
Tonya was a better skater than either Baiul or Irina Slutskaya
(and drops a not terribly oblique hint that he thinks the latter
may be using drugs). He believes that had the USFSA treated Tonya
better, seen her as an asset because of her physical prowess,
positioned her as the American success story of "the poor girl
from the wrong side of the tracks made good" and lobbied for her
amongst the judges the whole kneeclubbing incident would likely
have not taken place and the US would have taken home a gold as
well as a silver from Lillehammer. Instead, says Jackson, they
blew it because they were more concerned about keeping the
"wrong" sort of person out of the sport.
Then we get to the really good oil on page 148, where he says:
It is my firm belief that the body that kept Tonya
struggling the majority of her career, and that continues
to keep her out of making a livelihood at what she does
best - figure-skating - is most at fault. Could it be that
seeing a little raggedy girl, who maybe drank too much, or
who stomped her cigarette butts out with the edge of her
blade before going out to perform, reminded many of her
judges just how close to home they still were?
He then launches into a particularly blistering attack on those
judges who play games at the expense of athletes, whom he
characterizes as "a parasitic army of insecure barnacles", a
bunch of phonies more interested in fancy fur coats and cocktail
parties than the interests of skaters. He also reiterates the
total lack of evidence against Tonya:
There was never any solid evidence that proved that Tonya
had anything to do with her worthless ex-husband's attack
on Nancy Kerrigan. Tonya said she didn't know anything
about it. No other court of arbitration was involved to
prove otherwise. Yet the bungling simpletons of U.S. Figure
Skating blamed and convicted her anyway, making her the
first person ever banned from the sport for life. They
didn't care that there was no proof. All they cared about
was that they finally had a way to get rid of the shabby
little girl that didn't represent their ideal of figure-
skating.
If Tonya could have stayed focused, she probably would have
medaled at the 1994 Olympics. She was technically better.
She had the skills to beat - or at least be on the podium
with - Nancy Kerrigan. She didn't have the elegance of
Nancy, or the propaganda of Oksana, but she was a better
athlete, and she had the triple axel.
In the latter chapters of the book he details the legal
shenanigans and bully-boy tactics used by the ISU and its USFSA
toadies to kneecap the doomed World Skating Federation before it
barely got off the ground. These included exerting pressure on
others within the skating business not to co-operate with the
WSF, changing their interpretation of the rules randomly on the
fly whenever it suited them (or just ignoring them altogether)
and trying to stack so-called "independent" arbitration panels
with their own lackeys. To call the process a "kangaroo court"
would be insulting to kangaroos. The IOC was no help - the so-
called "Mr Clean" of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, wouldn't even meet
with the WSF. So much for being the new broom. Interestingly,
Jackson seems to think that the speedskaters at the ISU
(Cinquanta excepted, of course) were actually more sympathetic
towards him than the ISU figure skating crowd were, who seemed to
be too busy plotting, conniving and stabbing each other in the
back to actually form a united group supporting their sport's
interests.
One thing, I think, that comes out of this is certain: Tonya
would have had absolutely no chance of being allowed to stay in
the USFSA even if she had gone to the hearing in Colorado Springs
and no matter how good a case her lawyer had put up. It would
have been a show trial with a predictable outcome. And it
reinforces the belief that the ISU/USFSA does have the power to
scare off others within skating that are theoretically outside of
its control from dealing with people they don't like. If the WSF,
with so much support from so many big-name skating insiders such
as fans, skaters, officials and promoters couldn't fight Darth
Speedy's evil Imperial Forces, what luck would Tonya, who was
never an insider, have had?
The track record makes depressing reading: all of the
whistleblowers - Jean Senft, Ted Clarke, Jon Jackson, Ron
Pfenning, Sonia Bianchetti - have all either been silenced,
booted out of skating or have left of their own accord because
the stench was getting so bad it was making them vomit.
Meanwhile, all of the crooks - LeGougne, Gailhaguet, Balkov, etc
have recieved slap on the wrist sentences that are due to expire.
There is, however, at least one guy who definitely won't be
rigging any more skating contests: Chevalier Nusuyev, head of the
Russian Youth Sports Federation and believed to have been part of
the Russian end of the Salt Lake City fix died late last August
of a fatal case of lead poisoning - the .38 caliber kind - when a
hitman pumped five slugs into him as he was leaving his office in
Moscow. Guess it doesn't pay to get yourself caught on a police
wiretap.
Overall, the book is quite readable, more in the style of
Brennan's "Inside Edge" than Bianchetti's "Cracked Ice". His
scathing comments on his fellow official's appearances come
across as a kind of "queer eye for the crooked judge", something
that some reviewers have criticized the book for, but at the end
of the day he's only reflecting the unhealthy obsession that his
targets have with fashion anyway, so I think it's justified. As
some people have pointed out, there is one aspect that is a flaw
in that it doesn't describe the structures of the ISU & USFSA
very well - obviously this is a book that is written for those
that follow skating closely which might make it hard for the
general reader to follow. He also asks some tantalizingly
interesting questions about where the USFSA's huge $US16m budget
and $US3m a year surplus goes (only around a tenth - $US1.6m -
gets spent on skaters), but it's a pity that there's no answers.
Perhaps some of the USFSA's "business partners" in Detroit that
we mentioned a few issues ago might know? Hopefully some local
investigative journalist will take up the case one day.
Essential reading for any Tonyaphile or serious skating fan.
GETTING STONED WITH TONYA
Recently Terry Hall of our Special Duties Section had the
privilege of seeing the Rolling Stones in concert in Wellington
in what will probably be their final ever performance in New
Zealand. As it turned out, at least one Stone (Keith Richards)
was back here rather unexpectedly when he fell out of a coconut
tree in Fiji a few days ago and had to be flown to hospital in
Auckland. Of course, some people may say that with all the drugs
he's done during his career, he's been out of his tree for about
30 years.
Which lead to an interesting question being debated around the
PDXISS offices: what, if any, is the connection between the
Rolling Stones and Tonya? We can think of two (and so far as we
know, Tonya has never skated to any Stones music). If you can
think of any, we'd be interested to hear it. The winner gets...
well, nothing, actually, apart from the smug, self-satisfied
feeling of knowing you know something that most other people
don't.
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VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:
PortIce - http://www.oocities.org/portice
David House - http://www.tonyaharding.org
Charlie Main - http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/tonya.html
Puppetboy - http://www.tonyaharding.us/tonya/
Valerie Smith - http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/LilHam.html
Swan Lake - http://members.tripod.com/~TonyaHarding/index.html
Blades of Gold - http://members.tripod.com/tmhfan/index.html
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