Posted on 01/14/2018 4:18:06 PM PST by EdnaMode
Picked-up pieces while wondering whether bomb cyclone and survive the ground have ever been used in the same sentence . . .
■ For the record, Nancy Kerrigan has not seen I, Tonya and doesnt care to discuss the cinematic softening of Tonya Harding.
I, Tonya is a terrific film, perhaps Oscar-worthy, and Harding is on a redemption tour 24 years after her goons kneecapped Kerrigan before the Lillehammer Olympics. Tonya was a guest of honor at the recent Golden Globes and the subject of a TV special that aired on ABC Thursday night. Dollars to doughnuts shell be at the Oscars.
This had me wondering what Kerrigan thinks about the whole thing. Kerrigan, after all, was a victim of Hardings dysfunctional life. The only daughter in a working-class Stoneham family (her father, the late Dan Kerrigan, was a welder who worked three jobs so Nancy would have ice time), Kerrigan delivered one of the clutch performances of all time at Lillehammer in 1994, winning a silver medal just a few weeks after she was attacked by Hardings gang of nitwits.
I gave her a call this week. (I had a 20-year-old at-a-glance phone book and hoped my Kerrigan number was not for Joe Kerrigan.) Incredibly, Nancy answered my call on the first try.
I congratulated her on raising three children with her husband/agent, Jerry Solomon, and maintaining her dignity during this pop-culture-driven redemption of Harding. I asked if Kerrigan wanted to comment on it.
Not right now, she said. I really have nothing to say about it. I havent seen anything. I havent watched anything.
Ive been busy. I was at the national [figure skating] championships this week so I didnt watch the Golden Globes. I havent seen the movie. Im just busy living my life.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
How f’ed up are you? Kerrigan worked hard, her family sacrificed, she was clubbed on the knee and lucky to escape being permanently disabled as it barely missed a critical joint let alone nearly missing the Olympics she was working so hard for.
As if you wouldn’t cry about that happening to you!!
She got a metal baton to the knee. Came close to actually doing major damage to her knee permanently. And in the planning for the attack and what they would do it was actually discussed to kill her.
Midori Ito of Japan could and did many times. Tonya was the only American girl at that time and only one other than Ito that could and only did it once.
Actually Kerrigan lost out on gold by very slim margin. She was much improved going into that US championship and solved her inconsistency with her jumps. She was nailing perfect programs leading to the Olympics.
I thought at the time that Kerrigan’s performance in the Olympics was not worthy of the scores she got. Not to say she didn’t do well, I just remember thinking at the time, that they were OK, but not medal worthy. But I am not a judge of the technicals when it comes to such things. I just felt that it was more of a gift to her rather than she performed significantly better than her competitors.
I am not attempting to besmirch her or belittle her skills, I just felt then that her competitors performed with more panache.
Oksana Baiul of Ukraine won the gold for her free skate, but did it landing pretty much all her jumps with the toepick hitting the ice with her landing foot (two footed). Kerrigan was at peak performance then. She stepped out or turned out of a jump if I remember correctly. Have to check youtube.
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