Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan (BBC TV)
Over the last two nights, I watched, first, "I, Tonya", a 2018 movie:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000mtlv/i-tonya
Seeking figure-skating success, Tonya Harding instead finds notoriety in this darkly comic recreation of a sporting scandal
Last night, I watched "The Price of Gold", a 2020 documentary:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08yrl5s
The world couldn't keep its eyes off two athletes at the 1994 Winter Games – Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
Just weeks before the Olympics in 1994 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was injured by an unknown assailant. Harding's ex-husband had plotted the attack with his misfit friends to eliminate Kerrigan from the competition.
Twenty years later, The Price of Gold takes a fresh look at the scandal that elevated the popularity of professional figure skating with Harding still facing questions over what she knew when she knew it.
TBH, I recollected the "incident" but vaguely. In the USA, though, the attack on Kerrigan by a "hitman" hired by Harding's husband's best friend made front-page news and, eventually, made figure-skating the new "go to" sport for young girls.
The film was the eye-opener - Harding was uncouth "white trash", abused by everyone, but her "gift" (especially the triple axel) transported her to the National Championships. Kerrigan, equally gifted, was working-class but was trained to become the elegant "ice princess".
Kerrigan made the most of her chances while Harding blew it all away .....
The documentary revealed that the film had not exaggerated real-life - contemporary footage exposed (almost) the whole amateur conspiracy by Harding, et al., to "take Kerrigan out" .....
I found both presentations compelling viewing .....