WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 Do you know the Olympic story that shocked the 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:07.620 world in 1994? A figure skater was attacked and 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:11.619 her main competitor was connected to it. Welcome 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:13.880 back to the Learn English Podcast, the podcast 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:16.140 teaching English in context so you can learn 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:19.100 naturally. The Winter Olympics are occurring 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:23.539 in Milan right now and on today's episode, I 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.640 wanted to discuss one of the biggest Olympic 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:31.039 stories in US history. This story dominated the 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.100 news right before the Lillehammer Games, and 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:37.340 it is still talked about today. And while you 00:00:37.340 --> 00:00:39.520 listen to this story, we're also going to give 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:43.520 you real -life English vocabulary terms, words 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:45.820 and phrases that you will hear in conversation 00:00:45.820 --> 00:00:49.579 and see in the news when people discuss scandals. 00:00:49.799 --> 00:00:52.439 If you're interested in learning more about this 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:56.280 shocking story while building your English vocabulary, 00:00:56.659 --> 00:00:59.119 then follow along. Because we're about to begin. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:07.019 We're going to start with the people who were 00:01:07.019 --> 00:01:11.019 involved in this story. They were both ice skaters 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:13.579 or figure skaters. Those are terms that you will 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:16.280 hear when talking about this particular sport. 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:20.640 And they were trying to make the 1994 Lilyhammer 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:24.840 Olympic Games. The first skater was Nancy Kerrigan. 00:01:25.049 --> 00:01:27.329 Nancy Kerrigan was a skater from Massachusetts, 00:01:27.329 --> 00:01:31.689 and in the early 1990s, she became well known 00:01:31.689 --> 00:01:35.790 for her skating style. People often described 00:01:35.790 --> 00:01:39.849 her as graceful and elegant. Graceful means moving 00:01:39.849 --> 00:01:43.310 in a very smooth and beautiful way, and elegant 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:47.829 means calm, polished, and controlled. If you 00:01:47.829 --> 00:01:51.689 watch figure skating commentary in English, usually 00:01:51.689 --> 00:01:56.040 the commentators will use the term artistry if 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:59.200 they say that a skater is very artistic or has 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.780 a lot of artistry that means they skate with 00:02:01.780 --> 00:02:06.060 this very elegant and beautiful style with female 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:09.099 skaters in particular you also hear the term 00:02:09.099 --> 00:02:13.319 ice princess usually royalty are considered to 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:17.919 be very elegant very polished very graceful and 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:21.300 because those qualities are important in figure 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:24.770 skating You will hear this term. So it means 00:02:24.770 --> 00:02:27.509 that a figure skater, of course, is on the ice, 00:02:27.550 --> 00:02:30.349 but that they look very beautiful, like a princess. 00:02:31.169 --> 00:02:34.409 Nancy Kerrigan definitely had this artistic style. 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:38.009 She worked very hard, and by 1994, she was one 00:02:38.009 --> 00:02:40.990 of the best figure skaters in the country. The 00:02:40.990 --> 00:02:43.689 media liked her image. She was pretty, she was 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:46.370 graceful, and she was very focused on skating. 00:02:46.650 --> 00:02:49.650 She just looked like the perfect American figure 00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:52.300 skater. The other person that was involved was 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:55.860 Tanya Harding. Tanya grew up in Oregon and had 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:58.919 a very different childhood from Nancy Kerrigan's. 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:03.159 Her home life included poverty, abuse, and instability. 00:03:03.639 --> 00:03:07.080 Her mother wasn't a great person and they did 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:10.919 not have a good relationship. Instability means 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:14.840 not feeling safe or secure. So Tanya Harding 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:18.939 did not have a very safe childhood. but she was 00:03:18.939 --> 00:03:21.500 extremely talented and she worked really hard. 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:24.819 She was a powerful figure skater who was really 00:03:24.819 --> 00:03:27.860 good at performing the jumping passes in figure 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:31.460 skating. Again, if you watch the commentary of 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:33.879 figure skating in English, you will hear the 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:37.400 term jumper. The commentators will say that a 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:40.719 particular figure skater is a jumper. What that 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.699 means is that they are very good at doing the 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:46.520 jumping passes because they're so powerful, but 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:49.759 they're not. so good at the artistry tanya was 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:53.340 a jumper and she was the first american woman 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:57.740 to ever land the triple axle if you are familiar 00:03:57.740 --> 00:04:00.439 with figure skating you will know that jump if 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:02.900 you're not just know that that is a very difficult 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:07.000 jump to do even today a lot of female figure 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.379 skaters do not do this jump because it is so 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:14.400 difficult and here is a clip of her landing that 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:34.990 triple axle This shot made her famous, but she 00:04:34.990 --> 00:04:37.709 also got a lot of negative attention from the 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:41.550 judges and from the media. People focused on 00:04:41.550 --> 00:04:44.769 her background, her personal life, and her appearance 00:04:44.769 --> 00:04:47.730 more than her actual figure skating. I've seen 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:50.430 interviews where Tonya Harding has said that 00:04:50.430 --> 00:04:54.310 judges actually came up to her and told her that 00:04:54.310 --> 00:04:57.430 they would not give her high scores because they 00:04:57.430 --> 00:05:00.470 didn't like her hair, her makeup, her costume, 00:05:00.730 --> 00:05:04.149 or the way that she talked. And this is also 00:05:04.149 --> 00:05:07.769 shown in the movie I, Tonya. I outskated him 00:05:07.769 --> 00:05:14.079 today. We also judge on presentation. Over time, 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.079 Tanya and Nancy started to be viewed as opposites. 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:21.579 Nancy was seen as elegant and polished. Tanya 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:25.360 was seen as difficult and rough. Then on January 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:28.980 6th, 1994, everything changed. Nancy Kerrigan 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:31.319 was in Detroit and she was practicing at the 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:33.500 U .S. National Figure Skating Championships. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.139 This is the competition where skaters compete 00:05:37.139 --> 00:05:40.120 for a chance to go to the Olympics. There is 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.040 footage of her practicing. and then leaving the 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.699 ice rink, going behind a curtain and walking 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:48.959 down a hall. What happened next was not caught 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.279 on camera, but what happened was as she walked 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:55.259 down the hallway, a man suddenly ran up to her 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:58.480 and hit her in the leg with a metal baton. A 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.839 metal baton is a stick that can be used as a 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.180 weapon. For example, police use batons when they 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:08.180 are trying to control crowds. After she was hit, 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.089 she fell to the floor and began crying. There 00:06:11.089 --> 00:06:14.329 is video footage of her on the ground and she 00:06:14.329 --> 00:06:21.189 is crying. Why? Why? That video was shown on 00:06:21.189 --> 00:06:24.589 news media outlets around the world. Nancy Kerrigan, 00:06:24.629 --> 00:06:26.709 the American figure skater who is widely considered 00:06:26.709 --> 00:06:29.850 a favorite to win a Winter Olympics gold medal, 00:06:29.990 --> 00:06:32.470 was attacked at a practice session for the U 00:06:32.470 --> 00:06:34.970 .S. Figure Skating Championships. This was an 00:06:34.970 --> 00:06:38.009 assault, which means it was a violent physical 00:06:38.009 --> 00:06:41.230 attack. And it was done on purpose. Someone had 00:06:41.230 --> 00:06:44.449 wanted to hurt her before the US championships. 00:06:44.930 --> 00:06:47.709 Immediately, the search for the attacker began 00:06:47.709 --> 00:06:50.769 and people started wondering who did this and 00:06:50.769 --> 00:06:53.490 why. Police began their investigation, which 00:06:53.490 --> 00:06:55.629 means that they started gathering evidence and 00:06:55.629 --> 00:06:58.949 trying to determine what happened. And they discovered 00:06:58.949 --> 00:07:02.410 that the man who hit Nancy was called Shane Stant. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:04.860 Police also learned that there were other people 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:08.300 involved, including a driver and a planner of 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:11.300 the attack. And one of the people who was involved 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:15.680 was Tanya Harding's ex -husband, Jeff Gilouli. 00:07:16.060 --> 00:07:19.660 Their goal had been simple. Injure Nancy, prevent 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:22.180 her from skating at the championship, and give 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:25.360 Tanya a better chance at winning. And that's 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.180 when the media really went crazy. You will hear 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:31.399 this term media frenzy. It means that one particular 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:35.360 story is on all of the news channels all of the 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.860 time. The media really becomes obsessed with 00:07:37.860 --> 00:07:40.339 this story. And that's what happened here. This 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:45.199 story was a media frenzy. I was extremely young 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.379 when this story happened, but even I remember 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:51.439 that everyone was talking about it. And here's 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:54.259 Nancy talking about being followed by the media. 00:07:54.730 --> 00:07:57.829 After being attacked, like I was being followed 00:07:57.829 --> 00:07:59.870 around by all the camera crews and everybody, 00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:02.310 wherever I went to the training, to the pool, 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.329 my world was completely out of control. Like 00:08:05.329 --> 00:08:07.970 in a little bit, you know, it was crazy. People 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:11.089 started thinking that Tanya must have been involved 00:08:11.089 --> 00:08:14.370 in the attack. Since it involved her ex -husband, 00:08:14.569 --> 00:08:18.250 they thought that she was involved in some way. 00:08:18.329 --> 00:08:21.029 Maybe she helped plan it. Maybe she told them 00:08:21.029 --> 00:08:24.000 to go do it. Her ex -husband also told police 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.899 that she had been involved in planning the attack. 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:29.660 Telling investigators that Tonya Harding not 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:32.100 only knew about the attack, but gave the final 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:35.019 okay. A lot of people thought she had to have 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:38.539 been involved. Tonya, though, denied that. She 00:08:38.539 --> 00:08:42.080 said that she had nothing to do with this attack. 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:44.919 She did not know that it was going to happen 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:48.840 and that her ex -husband did it all on his own. 00:08:50.570 --> 00:08:55.350 Both what Jeff and Sean say is not true. Anybody 00:08:55.350 --> 00:08:58.889 who knows me knows it's not true. However, she 00:08:58.889 --> 00:09:02.370 later pled guilty to hindering the investigation. 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:06.289 To hinder an investigation means that you slow 00:09:06.289 --> 00:09:10.509 it down, that you prevent the police from completing 00:09:10.509 --> 00:09:14.350 their investigation. So she hindered the investigation 00:09:14.350 --> 00:09:17.769 after she learned that her ex -husband was involved. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.519 and she did this by hiding information from the 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:24.659 police. Her decision had serious consequences. 00:09:25.139 --> 00:09:28.779 In the media and in public opinion, Nancy Kerrigan 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:32.179 was clearly seen as the victim and Tonya Harding 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:35.440 was the villain. Nancy received sympathy and 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:40.000 support while people wanted Tonya to fail. Besides 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.840 the media frenzy and all of the craziness that 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:47.559 was going on, both women were allowed to compete 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:51.379 the following month at the 1994 Olympics. And 00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:53.899 millions of people watched because they wanted 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:56.399 to see what was going to happen between the two 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.200 of them. They did have to practice and warm up 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.440 on the ice at the same time, but they seemed 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.580 to try to avoid each other and did not talk to 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:08.190 each other. But we didn't really speak to each 00:10:08.190 --> 00:10:11.490 other, so it was very awkward and strange. Nancy 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:14.289 Kerrigan skated well. She ended up winning the 00:10:14.289 --> 00:10:17.629 silver medal, while Oksana Bayul of Ukraine won 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:20.570 the gold. Tanya Harding, though, really struggled 00:10:20.570 --> 00:10:23.610 during her performance. She was delayed coming 00:10:23.610 --> 00:10:27.330 onto the ice, and she had a difficult start to 00:10:27.330 --> 00:10:30.809 her skating performance. She said that the reason 00:10:30.809 --> 00:10:34.200 was because her skate lace broke. And because 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:36.759 it was an equipment issue, she was allowed to 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:39.720 restart. People were really angry at this. They 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:42.379 thought that she was just making up an excuse 00:10:42.379 --> 00:10:45.000 as to why she was skating so poorly. And she 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.019 ended up in eighth place. After the Olympics, 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:51.360 Tonya Harding was banned for life from skating 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:55.659 and her career basically ended. Nancy Kerrigan 00:10:55.659 --> 00:10:57.919 continued to skate. She became a professional 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:01.889 skater and stayed a beloved public figure. A 00:11:01.889 --> 00:11:04.549 few years ago, this story came back up in the 00:11:04.549 --> 00:11:08.029 media because of the movie I, Tonya. I, Tonya 00:11:08.029 --> 00:11:11.950 came out in 2017 and it stars Margot Robbie as 00:11:11.950 --> 00:11:15.909 Tonya Harding. It shows the years from 1991 to 00:11:15.909 --> 00:11:20.149 1993 from Tonya's perspective. It adds context 00:11:20.149 --> 00:11:23.909 to her life and asks viewers to re -examine what 00:11:23.909 --> 00:11:28.190 they think about class, abuse, and the story 00:11:28.190 --> 00:11:30.830 that the media tells them. i will say that this 00:11:30.830 --> 00:11:32.970 was a little bit controversial because it did 00:11:32.970 --> 00:11:36.289 put tanya back in the spotlight margot robbie 00:11:36.289 --> 00:11:38.769 is great in everything that she's in and she 00:11:38.769 --> 00:11:41.730 plays this role very well it is a very well made 00:11:41.730 --> 00:11:44.470 movie but some people weren't happy with the 00:11:44.470 --> 00:11:46.929 attention that tanya got from this she was doing 00:11:46.929 --> 00:11:49.409 photo shoots with margot robbie she was on the 00:11:49.409 --> 00:11:51.889 cover of magazines and on tv again and she even 00:11:51.889 --> 00:11:55.460 went to award shows even though harding has always 00:11:55.460 --> 00:11:58.059 said that she was not involved in the attack 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:00.620 there are a lot of people who just don't believe 00:12:00.620 --> 00:12:03.340 her and even if she didn't know of the attack 00:12:03.340 --> 00:12:07.240 before it happened she still did hinder an investigation 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:10.740 and pled guilty to a crime so there was some 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:13.360 discussion about whether this movie was giving 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.279 too much attention to tanya harding and if it 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:19.200 was putting her in too much of a positive light 00:12:19.789 --> 00:12:22.809 But I also think that was the entire point of 00:12:22.809 --> 00:12:25.350 the movie to see if there was a different way 00:12:25.350 --> 00:12:28.230 of looking at the story and with also looking 00:12:28.230 --> 00:12:32.250 at her and seeing what events led her to that 00:12:32.250 --> 00:12:35.269 place in her life. But leave a comment and let 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:37.950 me know what you think. And also, if you have 00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:40.389 seen this movie, leave a comment and let me know. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:43.159 I would recommend the movie. Like I said, Margot 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:45.820 Robbie is great in everything that she's in, 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:49.440 and this really just gives a different perspective 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.240 to what happened around those Lilyhammer games. 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:56.860 I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope you 00:12:56.860 --> 00:12:59.899 learned some real -life vocabulary words that 00:12:59.899 --> 00:13:03.519 you can use in conversation. If you are enjoying 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.639 the episode, if you think that it helped you 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:08.879 with your listening comprehension and your vocabulary, 00:13:09.179 --> 00:13:11.759 please share it with someone. Send it to someone 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.399 who is also learning English. You can also leave 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.360 us a review on whatever app you're using to listen 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:20.080 to this podcast on. You can follow us on social 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.440 media or go to our website, learnenglishpod .com. 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:25.980 And remember to subscribe to the show so you 00:13:25.980 --> 00:13:28.139 don't miss our next episode when it comes out 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:31.000 next week. Until then, keep learning English.