Do n’t get the ornate costumes and beautiful choreography saphead you . Figure skaters are no unknown to scandal . Here are nine notable ones .
1. Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and a Club-Wielding Hitman // 1994
In 1994 , a little club - and - run thrust the sport of figure skating into the spotlight . The rape on predominate national champion Nancy Kerrigan ( and her subsequent anguished war cry ) at the 1994 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in Detroit was heard ' assault the existence , as were the allegation that her main rival , Tonya Harding , may have been behind it all .
The account goes something like this : Kerrigan is devise to vie for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team bound for Lillehammer , Norway . She gets clubbed in the knee outside the cabinet room after drill . Kerrigan is forced to withdraw from competition and Harding receive the gold . Details soon emerge that Harding ’s ex-husband - husband , Jeff Gillooly , hired the gun for hire behind the plan of attack . Harding denies any noesis or involvement , but tank at the Olympics the following month . She then pleads guilty to block prosecution of Gillooly and his co - conspirators , bodyguard Shawn Eckhart and hitman Shane Stant . Harding is banned from figure skatingfor lifetime .
Questions about Harding ’s guilt feelings remain nearly three decades later , and the event is still a topic of conversation . An ESPN30 for 30documentary and the Oscar - nominated filmI , Tonyarevisited the saga , proving we ca n’t get enough of the dirt .
2. Ashley Wagner hand-picked for the Olympics // 2014
ordinarily , the top three medalists at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships are chosen for Team USA at the Winter Olympics every four yr . But in 2014 , atomic number 79 medalist Gracie Gold , silver medalist Polina Edmunds , and fourth - position finisher Ashley Wagner went to Sochi .
What about the bronze medalist , you involve ? Mirai Nagasu , despite out - skate Wagner by a landslide and being the only skater with prior Olympic experience ( she placed fourthly at Vancouver in 2010 ) had towatch itall on television . The decision by U.S. Figure Skating , the fun ’s governing body , deep divided the skating community and fans . Picking Wagner over Nagasu put a global limelight on the selection outgrowth .
But Team USA athletes are choose ground on a mixture of factors , including their performance in outside competitions , difficulty of each skater ’s proficient constituent , and their marketability to a Earth audience . Other skaters have been passed over before : Nancy Kerrigan was still pick out for the 1994 Games despite the kneecapping injury , and Michelle Kwan , that year ’s U.S. silver medalist , was made a team alternate . Nagasu had the right to invoke the conclusion and was encouraged to do so by mobs of wild skating fans , but she elected not to .
3. Judges fix pairs showdown at Salt Lake City Olympics // 2002
This scandal shattered the competitive anatomy skating ’s very anatomical structure . When Canadian pairs team Jamie Salé and David Pelletier find themselves in 2d topographic point after a flawless devoid skate at the winter Olympics in Salt Lake , something was n’t right-hand . The Russian squad of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze placed first , despite committing several expert errors .
An investigation reveal that judges hadconspiredto fix the results of the pairs and terpsichore events — a French judge admitted to being pressured to vote for the Russian duad in interchange for a rise for the Gallic dance team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat ( who won that event ) . In the end , both pairs teams were awarded a gold medallion , and the entire system of judging figure skating competition was completely overhauled .
4. Jackson Haines brings flair to figure skating // mid-1800s
Jackson Haines , an American figure skater in the mid-1800s , had some crazy ideas about the athletics . He had an absolutely ludicrous notion of skate to medicine ( medicine ! ) , waltz on trash , and incorporating balletic movements , athletic jumps , and spin around into competition . His new style of skating was in complete direct contrast to the inflexible , traditional , and stately criterion of follow pattern - eights into the ice . The skating world in America essentially banished Haines and he was forced to take his talent to Europe .
His new “ outside style ” did finally catch on around the orb , and Haines is nowhailedas the father of modern anatomy skating . He also invented the sit spin , an chemical element expect in almost every level and correction of the summercater today .
5. Madge Syers beats guys at their own game // 1902
In the other 20th one C , private-enterprise anatomy skating was a man ’s pursuit . Ladies simply did n’t contend by themselves on the cosmos degree ( though they did compete in pairs events ) . But a British skater named Madge Syers scoff that standard , go in the World Figure Skating Championshipsin 1902 . She sashay a lot of feathers , but was ultimately allow to compete and beat the pants off every human being save one , earning the silver laurel wreath .
Her activity trip a controversy that spur the International Skating Union to make a separate competitive humankind event for women in 1906 . Madge went on to win that twice , and became Olympic admirer at the 1908 summer games [ PDF ] in London — the first winter Olympics were n’t held until 1924 in France , several years after Madge died in 1917 .
6. Sonja Henie’s hemlines shock skating world // 1920s
Norse skater Sonja Henie was the pet of the figure skate man in the first half of the 20th century . The flirtatious blond was a three - timeOlympic hotshot , a movie star , and the role model of countless aspiring skaters . She brought sexy back to skating — or rather , inclose it . She was the first skater to wear scandalously short dame and white skate . Prior to her bold fashion choices , ladies weary black skates and long , conservative skirts . During WWII , a fabric shortage hiked up the annulus even further than Henie ’s distinctive length , and figure skate costume designers have never looked back .
7. Katarina Witt’s costumes too spicy for the ice // 1980s
A zaftig beauty from East Germany dominate ladies ’ anatomy skating in the eighties . A two - time Olympian champion in 1984 and 1988 and six - time world champ , Katarina Witt was just too sexy for her shirt . She incline to fag scandalously let out costumes ( one of which resulted in awardrobe malfunctionduring a show ) , and was criticized for attempting to flirt with the judges to earn higher rafts .
The ISU put the kibosh on the controversial outfits soon afterwards , inserting a convention that all competitive female skater “ must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for an acrobatic mutation . ” The outrage coerce Witt to tot some cloth to her competitive turnout in the belated ' eighty . But 10 class later she took it all off , posing bare for a 1998 issue ofPlayboy .
8. Russian team ticks off Indigenous groups // 2010
The ISU select “ country / folk ” as the theme for the original terpsichore segment ( since defunct and supervene upon by the “ short saltation ” ) in the ice saltation correction . contender had to produce a turn that explore some aspect of country or folk dance in their euphony , costume , and choreography . alas , the top Russian team of Oksana Domnina and Maxin Shabalin chose to emulate Aboriginal tribal dance in their program , decorate in full bodysuits adorned with their clueless interpretation of Aboriginal body paint ( and a loincloth ) .
Their performance at the European Championships drewheavy criticismfrom primordial groups in both Australia and Canada , who were justifiedly offended by the inaccuracy of the costume and the routine . Domnina and Shabalin dialed down the costumes and dialed up the accuracy in time for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver , but the judges were not impressed . They stop up with the bronze .
9. Mysterious plane crash kills U.S. team // 1961
In February of 1961 , the American figure skating team room a flying to Belgium from New York , en road to the World Championships in Prague , Czechoslovakia . The planecrashedduring its landing place in Brussels , killing all 72 passenger . America ’s top skater and coaches had been aboard , include nine - clock time U.S. champion - turn - coach Maribel Vinson Owen and her 16 - yr - old girl Laurence Owen , who had just won the U.S. ladies ’ home championship . The cause of the chance event isstill unreadable .
The ISU invalidate the contender upon the news of the crash and the United States lost its 10 - long dominance in the sport for several year . The United States Figure Skating Association established a memorial fund that helped support the skating vocation of immature jock , let in future Olympic adept like Peggy Fleming and Scott Hamilton .
A variant of this story ran in 2018 . It has been updated for 2022 .
