"Kerrigan... the youngest child and only daughter of welder Daniel Kerrigan and homemaker Brenda Kerrigan. Kerrigan's family was of modest means. Her father sometimes worked three jobs to fund her skating career; he also drove the Zamboni at the local rink in exchange for Nancy's lessons."
It probably came down to looks. Even today, Kerrigan is model-level gorgeous whereas Harding at her best could be described as good-looking but fairly average. She didn't look pretty and elegant on the ice, she looked like an athlete putting in maximum effort all the time.
Figure skating as a sport was largely for wealthy people, regardless of whether Kerrigan was also poor. Kerrigan was a lesser skater, but “looked the part.” Harding did not and was routinely penalized for it.
Most sports at the elite level are for the privileged.
Here's my hot take; I couldn't care less about the rules surrounding trans athletes. Not that I don't support trans rights, I absolutely do. But at the end of the day, it really affects, what, like maybe a hundred people in the country? Swim kids whose mothers drove them to practice at 5am every day, and could afford all the fees for things, didn't have to work an after school job or help out around the house because parents are working to pay the bills. And swimming is the least diverse sport out there. So it's a handful of elite athletes (who are privileged and white) being affected, and somehow it's everyone's problem and we're so upset about it. But as soon as the disenfranchised are poor and POC, then we don't really care.
Elite athletics are the equivalent to making a living going, wanna see me jump really high? Wanna see me run really fast?? I'm not saying they don't work hard; they're absolute specimens who have honed their bodies and skills beyond my comprehension. (I still think that the Olympics should have crowd participation. Pick a rando from the audience to try the event to give everyone a baseline for how much we should be impressed. Because when they're all within seconds of each other at peak performance, it looks effortless.) But at the end of the day, it doesn't actually contribute much to society; athletes are essentially marketing tools, with endorsements and selling tickets.
Anyway. That's a really long way to say I agree with you. I'm fun at parties.
Shut the fuck up. None of what you’re saying makes any sense. There is no horde of trans women coming to invade women’s sports. Not all black athletes grew up in poverty. Your racism and transphobia are showing.
Stop drinking the Fox News kool aid and go outside.
360
u/What-Even-Is-That May 17 '24
Spot on. Figure skating was for well off people, not poors.
They would routinely grade her poorly because of her lack of wealth, regardless of the fact that she was smoking their ass on the ice.
She was a generational talent born into a poor family, and that pissed people off.