For good, for bad, depending on your point of view, Tonya Harding has been one of the most influential or perhaps controversial persons in Figure Skating history, and in all sports history, in notoriety, perhaps second only to Mohammad Ali. There are all kinds of websites pushing the wonderful accomplishments of their namesakes but with Tonya's rebellious spirit, her website is dedicated to desires and dreams.

Tonya remains a figure people wish to know more about, even if it's idle curiousity. So, let's be real, that is, except for the Fantasy area.

"I always wanted someone to love me for me," Tonya says, "not for who I was. That was so naive. Nowadays, I could care less about anybody but me. I am not about to care for someone else. It sounds cruel and selfish, but I've been there and done that."

Only one of two American woman to land a triple axle in US competition, Tonya told Harry Smith when she appeared on The Early Show that she is seeking reinstatement in the U.S. Figure

Tonya would like to make enough money boxing then retire to live alone with her Persian cat, Smalls.

"It would be having enough money to go hunting and fishing and go to the big four-wheel-drive mud bogs," she says. "And every once in a while put on a really pretty dress and go to dinner at a place like Applebee's or something."

From The Oregonian:

"I really do believe," says Christine Brennan, best known skating author, "that the boom that figure skating has experienced for a decade really started with what we know as 'the whack heard 'round the world.' . . . Everyone in figure skating, to this day, should be sending a thank-you note to Tonya Harding."

If she hasn't already, Brennan might consider dropping the two-time Olympian a card, too. The story launched Brennan's career on such a rocket ride that she calls her condominium in an upscale Washington, D.C., neighborhood "the house that Tonya built."

The Triple Axel is the Everest of women's figure skating, both terrifying and compelling. The only jump that starts on the forward foot, it explodes in 31/2 revolutions -- yet demands a delicate touch on takeoff and iron strength on landing.

Tonya Harding became the first U.S. woman to land the jump in competition when she completed it 45 seconds into her free skate at the 1991 U.S. championships. The second young woman to land the triple axel was cute and bouncy teenager, 15 year old Kimmie Meissner on January 15, 2005. She finished third place after landing the triple axel during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships here in Portland, Oregon.