Tonya and Nancy: The Inside Story

"How do I write this? Sometimes I think that this could be a fairy tale. Not the "happily ever after" type that we tell each other to make ourselves feel better, but one of those strange dark tales where monsters eat little children. And it would begin the usual way: Once upon a time there were two little girls...and, oh, they loved to skate. But there came a day when joy and love were not enough."

"What I kept wondering was why was America so obsessed? And if all the rumours and all the speculation was true, how could it come to pass that one young woman could be so desperate for an Olympic medal that she would try to maim the competition?"

"Character, some say, is plot. And plot is what we do, not what's happened to us or how we've suffered, but what we do."

"Imagine how it would feel to know that 100 million people want you to fall. Imagine how it would feel knowing that, if you fall, you would fail 100 million people."

"Tonya and Nancy...we imprisoned them both in images that we use to sell soup, and newspapers, and Olympic Games, and TV movies."

"They're victims of those the media serve, they're victims of us."

""Tonya the Bad"...one Tokyo promoter tried to get her to wrestle on the Japanese circuit for millions of dollars, as "Tonya the Terrible". See, some fairy tales don't have a happy ending."

"We the judges meet the athletes at receptions, of course we observe the practice sessions. In reality, it's almost like a teacher who forms an opinion about a student outside of class, and grades them accordingly."

"Now the public's very fickle and athletes, even when they've won the gold medal, have a very short shelf-life. A great skating performance is a thing of the moment and when a window of opportunity opens, you've got to be ready."

"Sure they used cash, but then they'd call their home phones, and they'd register in hotels under their own names."

"In a way it was funny, but it was also pathetic and it was dangerous."

"I've got two operatives feuding, which means I'm caught in the middle, so now everything's riding on my mediation skills. It's reminiscent of something I was up against in Eastern Europe a couple years back; which was actually a more precarious situation 'cause you're dealing with foreign governments and who wants the responsibility of a Cold War? Not me."

"In my day, you competed for God and country. But now their entire lives are at stake, their financial futures, the future of their families, they've sacrificed so much. Winning means everything – only one person can win."

"Fair play is for the leisure class. The only ones who get paid are the winners. Kids ask me, I tell them the truth, I tell them: "Take the money and run." Before you get hurt, or get old."

"Anymore, it's like achievement is downright undemocratic because, hey, all men are created equally likely to be in the right place at the right time."

"Who says crime doesn't pay?"

"At the risk of self-parody, stop me if I sound like Network (1976), the facts are these:"

"The bigger the controversy, the bigger the ratings – and yes, our circulation too. The bigger the ratings, the more the Olympic Committee could ask for next time around, and the more the networks could charge their advertisers."

"Whenever the financial stakes are so enormous – and in sports these days, they usually are – ethics, fair play, sportsmanship; forget it. The only Olympic ideal is money. Aw hell, we're all whores."