A skate-around: When former Olympic skater Debi Thomas of San Jose, Calif., put in a guest appearance at Lake Forest Health & Fitness Institute’s grand opening last weekend, all topics were fair-but one.
“You can ask me anything you want, (big pause) except about Tonya Harding,” said Thomas, who captured the bronze in the 1988 Olympic women’s figure-skating competition.
After answering questions that included how she got back so fast from Lillehammer after doing CBS Olympic coverage (she broadcast from Chicago) and why she was not at the Olympics (she’s attending medical school at Northwestern University), Thomas explained her Tonya taboo.
Thomas thinks the focus on Harding’s possible role in the attack on skater Nancy Kerrigan not only distracts attention from other skaters and Olympic events but is also dangerous to athletes.
“The more attention given to the injury, the more it increases the chances of it happening again,” Thomas said.
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