Tonya Harding will join 'Dancing with the Stars' season 26

By Farooque Omer

Apr 07, 2018

12:14 A.M.

The disgraced former ice skater will now compete in a different field.

Daily Mail reported that 47-year-old Tonya Harding is all set to be part of the new season of Dancing with the Stars.

She was back in the spotlight after the movie, I, Tonya released in 2017. Starring Margot Robbie, the movie looked at the scandal involving her former husband.

Now, the athlete is gearing up to compete on the new season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

She will join the cast for the reality show’s 26th season that is expected to feature all athletes.

Harding grabbed headlines in 1994 when her then-husband attacked a fellow skater, Nancy Kerrigan. The young athlete was attacked just ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

The scandal led to her being stripped of her U.S Champion title. She was also banned for life by the U.S. Figure Skating Association.

Her breakthrough came in 1991 when she landed her first triple axel at the U.S. Championships and won the title. She competed at the World Championships the same year and finished second.

She was involved in one of the biggest scandals in American sports history when her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckhardt, hired Shane Stant to break Kerrigan’s right leg. Though she escaped with a bruise, she was forced to withdraw from the national championship.

Interestingly, Kerrigan competed on season 24 of Dancing with the Stars but was eliminated in the seventh week.

Besides Harding, Olympians Adam Rippon and Jamie Anderson are also said to be participating in the reality dance competition.

28-year-old Rippon became the first openly gay U.S. male athlete to win a medal in a Winter Olympics after he won bronze in the figure skating team even in South Korea February this year.

Snowboarder Anderson won gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and in 2018 games in Pyeongchang.

The source reported that ABC will officially announce the 26th season of Dancing with the Stars competitors on Good Morning America on April 13, 2018.