TONYA HARDING’S SHOCK CONFESSION
The ice skater finally admits she was aware of the plot to take out her rival
In 1994, the world was stunned when ice skating’s golden girl Nancy Kerrigan was viciously clubbed on the knee as she prepared for the Winter Olympics.
But that didn’t compare to the shocked reaction when it was revealed her USA teammate and greatest rival Tonya Harding was implicated in the attack – and, as a result, was later banned from competing, or even coaching. coach g Tonya, 47, has always claimed she knew nothing about the scheme to take out Nancy, who went on to win silver at the Games, while Tonya finished a distant eighth. But last week, on TV special Truth And Lies: The Tonya Harding Story, she finally admitted her part. “I knew something was up,” she said of the plot hatched by her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt, and carried out by h hired goon Shane Stant. “I did… overhear them talking about stuff w where, ‘Well, maybe we should take somebod somebody out to make sure she g gets on the team.’ t I go, ‘Wh ‘What the hell are you talki talking about?’ ” To Tonya has clai claimed she fear feared for her life while married to Jeff, as depicted in upcoming film I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie.
Calling herself a “pawn” who “paid the ultimate price” for the assault on fan favourite Nancy, Tonya teared up as she revealed she still struggles with the public’s perception of her.
“I’m always the bad person. And I never understood that,” she said.
For Nancy, 48, the confession vindicated her long-held belief that her one-time friend Tonya was behind the knee whack, aimed at ensuring her spot on the USA Olympic team.
“Why would the people around her want to hurt me? What did they have to gain? She’s the only one who really had anything to gain,” Nancy said in a 2014 interview. “And I was told [by the FBI], ‘I know we can’t prove it but we’re telling you. She did it.’ I hated hearing it. It stinks. It’s sad on so many levels.”