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Tonya Maxine Harding (born November 12 , 1970 ) is an American former Figure Skater . Despite a tough childhood in an unstable family, as well as being plagued by Asthma (aggravated by smoking), she became an elite figure skater. She won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships twice and placed second in the 1991 World Championships . She was the second woman, and the first American woman, to complete a Triple Axel jump in competition. She became notorious for her part in the conspiracy to harm competitor Nancy Kerrigan at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. EARLY LIFE Harding was born in Portland , Oregon , the daughter of LaVona and Al Harding. She had a half-brother named Chris Davison (deceased). Harding began skating at an early age. She landed her first Triple Lutz at age 12. Her mother made many of her skating costumes. Announcer's comments during Tonya Harding's 1991 Worlds short program , accessed July 16, 2006. She dropped out of high school during her sophomore year, and later earned a GED . She married Jeff Gillooly in 1990, when she was 19. Tonya Harding biography at tonyaharding.com , accessed July 16, 2006. SKATING CAREER Harding began to work her way up the competitive skating ladder in the mid-1980s. She placed 6th at the 1986 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 5th in 1987 and 1988, and 3rd in 1989. At the 1990 event, suffering from the flu, she could only place 7th. Harding was a powerful jumper and spinner, but had a reputation of being an inconsistent competitor and unpolished in terms of style. She was also held back by mediocre Compulsory Figures before they were eliminated from competition in 1990. 1991 was Harding's breakthrough year. She landed her first triple axel in competition at the U.S. Championships, winning the title with the first 6.0 ever given to a female singles skater for technical merit at that event. She competed well at the World Championships, but finished second to competition. At the latter competition she recorded three more firsts: #the first woman ever to do a triple axel in the short program, #the first woman to do two triple axels in a single competition, and #the first ever to do a triple axel combination (with double toe loop). After this year, she would never complete the triple axel again, and her career began falling precipitously. In 1992, Harding placed 3rd at the U.S. Championships after twisting her ankle in practice, and 4th at the 1992 Winter Olympics . At the 1992 World Championships, she placed only 6th in a weak field. The following season, Harding was noticeably overweight and out of condition, and she skated so poorly at the 1993 U.S. Championships that she failed to qualify for the World Championship team. Series of crises The latter part of Harding's competitive career was marked by a series of accidents, incidents, and excuses, causing television commentators to observe that no competition was complete without Tonya having a crisis. Some of these "crises" included:
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