Legendary figure skater Tonya Harding has said she’s happy her competing days are behind her because it’s gotten easier.
In an appearance on The Ellen Show, scheduled to air Monday, the 47-year-old said of current Olympian figure skaters: ‘Wow. I’m so glad I’m not competing against them now.’
She explained to the talk-show host that the point system had drastically changed from her skating days in the 1990s.
‘I was always about doing the triple axel or the triple-triple [triple-lutz-triple loop]. Nowadays you can do the triple-triple and still get the same points you can when you do the triple axel so why do the triple axel?’
Harding was the first American woman and only the second ever to to land a triple axel in international competition.
A two-time Olympian, Harding won the US championship in 1991 and earned a silver medal at the world championships that same year with the historic move.
Legendary figure skater Tonya Harding (pictured) said she’s happy her competing days are behind her, in an appearance on The Ellen Show, scheduled to air Monday
The 47-year-old explained to the talk-show host that the point system had drastically changed from her skating days in the 1990s and that the current score system made two jumps, the triple axel and the triple-lutz-triple loop, the same number of points
Harding (left) was the first American woman and only the second ever to land a triple axel in international competition. A two-time Olympian, Harding won the US championship in 1991 (right) and earned a silver medal at the world championships that same year with the historic move
Harding has come back into the limelight recently with ‘I, Tonya’ with Margot Robbie portraying the figure skater.
Robbie has won both a Golden Globe and a SAG award and, in just one week, she will appear at the Academy Awards as a nominee for the best actress Oscar.
The movie chronicles a great deal of Harding’s life, including the attack on her main team competitor Nancy Kerrigan.
Kerrigan was attacked after a practice session at the 1994 US Figure Skating Championships in Detroit by an assailant, later identified as Shane Stant.
Stant had been hired by Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her self-appointed bodyguard, Shawn Eckhardt, to break Kerrigan’s right leg so that she would be unable to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.
Both Kerrigan and Harding were selected for the 1994 Olympic team. Harding finished eighth in Lillehammer, while Kerrigan – who only suffered a bruise from the injury – won the silver medal behind Oksana Baiul from Ukraine.
Gillooly, Stant, Eckhardt, and getaway car driver Derrick Smith all served time in prison for the attack.
Harding made headlines in 1994 after rival Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed in the knee by an attacker hired by Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her self-appointed bodyguard, Shawn Eckhardt (Pictured, left to right: Kristi Yamaguchi, Tonya Harding, and Nancy Kerrigan at the 1991 US Figure Skating Championships)
The 2017 film ‘I, Tonya’ has Margot Robbie portraying the figure skater (left and right). The film does not seek to answer who knew what and when definitively, but it mostly is sympathetic to Harding
Harding (pictured, portrayed by Robbie) received three years’ probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $100,000 fine. She was also forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and resign from the United States Figure Skating Association
Harding was charged in Multnomah County, Oregon, but avoided further charges by pleading guilty of conspiring to hinder prosecution of the attackers.
She received three years’ probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $100,000 fine.
As part of the plea bargain, she was also forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and resign from the United States Figure Skating Association.
The film does not seek to answer who knew what and when definitively, but it mostly is sympathetic to Harding.
Harding has always maintained that she did not know her ex-husband was planning an attack on Kerrigan.