Sonja Henie
The girl who brought ice skating into the main stream, was World Figure Skating Champion, Sonja Henie...
She was born on October 12,1912 in Norway, and became a three time
Olympic Champion. First in 1928, again in 1932, and finally in 1936. A
Ten time world champion in Ladies skating from 1927-36, and a six time
European Champion 1931-36. She began to gain world recognition when she
finished 8th in the 1924 Winter Olympics and by 1936 she was a full
fledged star. To this day Sonja Henie as won more Olympic, and World
titles than any other figure skater, but Henie did not stop there, she
went on to become one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood.
By the mid 30s Henie was receiving fierce competition by younger
skaters, and although she held onto her title, she wanted to cash in on
her Championship status, and give up competing. Sonja signed a contract
at Twentieth Century Fox and made a string of films that featured
elaborate skating numbers, much like Ester Williams did with her
championship swimming status a decade later.
Henie was also quite notorious. She had a sweet smile and an innocent
face, but had three rocky marriages, and numerous affairs. Sonja Henie
was known for her love of money and men. She did all she could to be
wise with her money and make it work for her throughout her life.
She was diagnosed with Leukemia in the late 60s and passed away suddenly in 1969 at age 57.
Dorothy Hamill was U.S, Champion from 1974-1976 at the World
Championships in Munich, Germany, and won a silver medal at the World
Championships on 1975 at Colorado Springs. She gained national attention
in 1976, when she won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Hamill was
not only a great skater, but her hair was fabulous and cut so well that
it became her trademark. Fashion in the 70s was a decade where long and
stringy evolved into Farrah wings, and Dorothy Hamill added a refreshing
alternative to the longs styles that had become so standard. It had a
wedge shape that moved with her on the ice, fanning out while she spun
around, revealing its perfect shape. All the while, the hairstyle kept
snapping back into place.
Women all over the world began copying her trademark hairstyle, that
evolved slightly a few years later into the Lady Di haircut, when
Princess Diana became engaged to Prince Charles.
Hamill became a spokeswoman for "the short and sassy look."
Tonya Harding
She
was worked hard on the competitive skating ladder as a child and
finished 6th at the 1986 Figure Skating Championship, and skated again
in years 87, 88, and 89, each time finishing better. Tonya was
considered a strong contender at the 1990 Figure Skating Championship
after having won Skate America in 1989. She was also noted for landing
the first ever triple axel at the U. s. Championship, an event in which
she won the title with the event's very first 6.0 card ever. Harding was
riding high with a number of wins, and tremendous experience skating
and competing under pressure.
Harding is one of the best remembered champion ice skaters, although
its not really because of her skating style, or her cute personality,
but because she is connected to the only violent, soap opera style
attack, that has ever taken place between Champion ice skaters. Harding
had been a troubled child, dropping out of high school, marrying at 19,
and divorcing at 22, and now was heading for the biggest trouble of her
life.
In 1994, Harding's reputation changed forever when her competitor
Nancy Kerrigan was walking off the ice after practice. She was suddenly
struck in the knee by an unknown assailant wearing black and swinging a
police billy club. It was not long before the unknown man was traced as
Tanya Harding's ex husband, and the event caused a barrage of media
frenzy in which Harding was portrayed as a demon with an ugly past,
while Kerrigan was now the innocent damsel. The 1994 Olympics were
watched with an intensity that went beyond who was the best skater. The
American public was pulling for Kerrigan, and wanted Tonya out of there.
It was as though the other skaters did not even exist.
Neither one of them won, but Harding's performance, as it turned out,
was more stressed than Kerrigan's. She began her performance only to
break down crying after slipping around the ice a few times. The judges
let her leave the ice and fix her skates and make another attempt. She
appeared again, but was clearly shaken by the publicity and pressure.
She left the famous triple axel out of her routine and finished clean,
but uneventful.
Nancy Kerrigan
Kerrigan
rose to the national level after placing 3rd in the 1991 Figure Skating
Championship. She received a bronze medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics
and the following season she won the short program at the World
Championship. She was receiving recognition and sponsors contracts from
Reebok, and Evian to name a few.
Nancy began preparing for the 1994 Olympic season, and was working
with a sports psychologist to get a grip on her nerves for competition.
Kerrigan's reputation as a skater more than doubled when she was
captured on camera immediately after being attacked by a man who clubbed
her knee and ran away. Kerrigan was crying and screaming "why, why,
why", and the video was played repeatedly by all the news stations while
the photo of Kerrigan crying in pain made the front cover of
everything. When the it was discovered that her rival, Tonya Harding,
was responsible, Nancy Kerrigan became the focus of the Olympics.
Harding later pled guilty to the crime, but was allowed to skate in the
Olympics. She may as well have been skating against Kerrigan wearing a
black dress and carrying a broom, as the crowd was pulling for
Kerrigan's win. Remarkably, just seven weeks after the attack, Kerrigan
skated the best performance she had ever delivered in her life, while
her foe Harding stumbled through hers.
Kerrigan took the silver medal and Oksana Baiul walked away with the
gold. Instead of everybody's sweetheart walking away with the silver to
everyone's pleasure, Kerrigan received some bad publicity for the first
time in her life. It seemed that while Karrigan waited over twenty
minutes for Olympic officials to find a copy of the Ukranian anthem,
Kerrigan was told by another skater that the delay in the presentation
was because Baiul was putting on makeup. Kerrigan, showed an un-sportsman
attitude by saying "oh, What's the difference, she is just going to
come out here and cry anyway!" The comment was aired, and the public
attitude toward Nancy Kerrigan was tarnished. Since that comment, she
has been caught making similar remarks, and soon became widely viewed as
angry and temperamental.
