Tonya Maxene[1] Harding (born November 12, 1970) is an American figure skating champion, a two-time Olympian, and a two-time Skate America Champion. In 1991 she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed second in the World Championships. She was the second woman, and the first American woman, to complete a triple axel jump in competition. She became notorious after her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, conspired with Shawn Eckhardt[2] and Shane Stant to physically assault her skating competitor Nancy Kerrigan at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. (Stant carried out the assault as planned.)
Harding was born in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of LaVona and Al Harding. She had a half-brother, Chris Davison (deceased). Her father had health problems that sometimes made him unable to work. She claims that her mother sexually abused her, a claim her mother denies.[3] She began skating at an early age under the direction of the late Sylvia Harpolscheimer. She landed her first triple lutz at age 12. Her mother made many of her skating costumes.
She stopped attending high school during her sophomore year and later earned a GED as she started receiving invitations to international skating competitions while she was still in junior high school.[citation needed]
She married Jeff Gillooly in 1990, when she was 19 years old. Their tumultuous marriage ended in divorce in 1993, when she was 22.[4] She divorced her second husband Michael Smith in 1995.[4] She married 42-year-old Joseph Jens Price[5] on June 23, 2010.[6] On February 11, 2011, it was announced that she was pregnant with her first child.[7] Harding gave birth to a son at age 40 on February 19, 2011.[8]
Harding began working her way up the competitive skating ladder in the mid-1980s, placing sixth at the 1986 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, fifth in 1987 and 1988, and third in 1989. She was considered a strong contender at the 1990 U.S. Figure Skating Championships after having won Skate America 1989 but she had a poor free skate as a result of suffering from the flu and asthma, and dropped from second place after the original program to finish seventh overall. While she was powerful with her jumps and spins she did not perform well with the compulsory figures.
Harding's breakthrough year was in 1991, where she landed her first triple axel at the U.S. Championships, winning the title with the event's first 6.0 ever given to a single female skater for technical merit. She competed well at the World Championships but finished second to Kristi Yamaguchi. She would again complete the triple axel during her long program at the World Championships, becoming the first American woman to do so. In her career, she landed four triple axels in competition (all of them in 1991) where she completed each one she tried: One at the U.S. Championships, another at the World Championships, and two at the Fall 1991 Skate America competition.
At the Fall 1991 Skate America, Harding recorded three more firsts:
- The first woman to complete a triple axel in the short program
- The first woman to successfully execute two triple axels in a single competition
- The first ever to complete a triple axel combination with the double toe loop
Despite her initial record-breaking performances, she was never able to successfully perform the triple axel in a competition after 1991 and her career began to decline as a result. In 1992, she placed third in the U.S. Championships after twisting her ankle in practice. She finished fourth in the 1992 Winter Olympics, and in the 1992 World Championships she placed sixth in a weak field. The following season, she skated poorly in the 1993 U.S. Championships and failed to qualify for the World Championship team.
The latter part of her competitive career was marked by a series of blunders, causing television commentators to observe that no competition was complete without Harding having a crisis:[citation needed]
- Skating magazine reported that at Skate America in 1991, she was stranded in heavy traffic just before her event was scheduled to begin and had to hitch a ride with people who drove her backwards through traffic to the arena.[9]
- Harding arrived so late for the competition at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games that her performance was affected by jet lag.[10][11][12][13]
- In the short program at the 1993 Nationals, she had to ask permission from the referee to restart her program after the back of her dress came unhooked as she began to skate.[14][15]
- At the 1993 Skate America, she stopped midway through her free skate and complained to the referee that her skate blade had become loose. She was allowed to resume her program after her blades were checked by a skate technician.[15][16][17] In the same event, she claimed to be suffering from an ovarian cyst that was on the verge of bursting, seriously endangering her health.[10]
- In late 1993, Harding was scheduled to compete in a regional qualifying competition for the 1994 National Championship. However, before the event, its organizers received an anonymous assassination threat against her, and the United States Figure Skating Association told her to stay away, exempting her from having to qualify.[18]
- The medal ceremony at the 1994 Championships had to be delayed because she could not be found backstage after the competition.
- During the 1994 Winter Olympics, she almost failed to appear on the ice when her name was called for the free skating because she was scrambling to replace a broken skate lace. The replacement turned out to be too short to fully lace up the skate, and after missing the opening jump in her program she again had to ask the referee for permission to find a new lace.[15][19][20][21]
In addition to the incidents listed above, Harding went through a series of coaching changes, at one point even attempting to coach herself.[22] In spite of the publicity she received about being handicapped by asthma, she also periodically smoked.[23]
International media attending Tonya Harding's practice sessions in preparation for the 1994 Olympics at
Clackamas Town Center.
Harding became notorious in conjunction with the January 6, 1994, attack on her competitor Nancy Kerrigan. The widely publicized attack took place during a practice session for the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. Her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckhardt,[2] hired Shane Stant to break Kerrigan's right leg so that she would be unable to skate. He followed her to Detroit after failing to find her at her training rink in Massachusetts, and struck her on the thigh a few inches above the knee with a collapsible police baton.[24] Her leg was only bruised, not broken, but the injury forced her to withdraw from the national championship. Harding won that event, and they both were selected for the 1994 Olympic team. After Harding admitted to helping to cover up the attack, the USFSA and United States Olympic Committee initiated proceedings to remove her from the Olympic team, but she retained her place after threatening legal action.[25] She finished eighth in Lillehammer, while Kerrigan, by then fully recovered from the injury, won the silver medal.
The attack on Kerrigan and the news of Harding's alleged involvement led to a media frenzy of saturation news coverage. She appeared on the cover of both Time and Newsweek magazines in January 1994. Reporters and TV news crews attended her practices in Portland and camped out in front of Kerrigan's home. CBS assigned Connie Chung to follow her every move in Lillehammer. Counting 400 members of the press jammed into the practice rink in Norway, Scott Hamilton complained that "the world press was turning the Olympics into just another sensational tabloid event".[26] The tape-delayed broadcast of the short program at the Olympics remains one of the most watched telecasts in American history.[27]
On February 1, 1994, Gillooly accepted a plea bargain in exchange for his testimony against Harding. Gillooly, Stant, Eckhardt, and getaway car driver Derrick Smith all served time in prison for the attack.[28] Eckhardt was sentenced to 18 months in prison for racketeering but was released four months early in September 1995.[2]
Harding avoided further prosecution and a possible jail sentence by pleading guilty on March 16 to conspiring to hinder prosecution of the attackers.[29] She received three years probation, 500 hours of community service and a $160,000 fine. As part of the plea bargain, she was also forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and resign from the USFSA.[30] On June 30, 1994, after conducting its own investigation of the attack, the USFSA stripped her of her 1994 U.S. Championships title and banned her for life from participating in USFSA-run events as either a skater or a coach.[31] The USFSA concluded that she knew about the attack before it happened and displayed "a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior". Although the USFSA has no control over professional skating events, she was also persona non grata on the pro circuit because few skaters and promoters would work with her. Consequently, she failed to benefit from the pro skating boom that ensued in the aftermath of the scandal.[26]
Harding continued to maintain that she was innocent and professed her disgust with the attack, even going so far as to get an angel tattooed on her back, allegedly as a symbol of her innocence[citation needed]. In her 2008 autobiography, The Tonya Tapes, she said that she wanted to call the FBI to reveal what she knew, but refused when Gillooly allegedly threatened her with death following a gunpoint gang rape by him and two other men she did not know. He subsequently changed his name to Jeff Stone and called the allegations "utterly ridiculous".[3] Eckhardt, who legally changed his name to Brian Sean Griffith following his release from jail, died of natural causes at age 40 on December 12, 2007.[2]
Harding entered the celebrity sex tape world when an explicit "Wedding Video" showed her having sex with her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly. Gillooly had sold the tape to a tabloid TV show after being implicated as a conspirator in the Kerrigan attack. Stills from the tape were published by Penthouse in September 1994 and the tape itself[32] was released at about the same time. Harding tried to distance herself from it.
She appeared on a USA Pro Wrestling show in 1994 as the manager for wrestler Art Barr.[citation needed]
A one-off promotional musical event was unsuccessful when she and her band, the Golden Blades, were booed off the stage in their only performance, in 1995 in Portland, Oregon.[33][34]
She had a part in a 1996 crime-film entitled Breakaway, playing the girlfriend of a criminal.
In late 1996 she used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to help revive an 81-year-old woman, Alice Olson, who collapsed at a bar in Portland, Oregon while playing video poker.[35] (Olson died at age 90 in 2005.)
In March 2008 she became a regular commentator for TruTV's The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest....
Harding had a number of minor run-ins with the law following her involvement with the Kerrigan attack. Some of the incidents that have been reported in the press[36] include the following:
- On May 25, 1995, it was reported that she claimed she was being stalked by someone driving a white Lincoln Town Car, resulting in a car chase involving her, her ex-husband Gillooly, and the police.[37]
- On February 12, 1997, Harding claimed that she was abducted at knife-point outside her home by a bushy-haired man who forced her to drive to a rural area, where she rammed her truck into a tree and escaped by running into the woods. Police found no evidence of an abduction. This alleged incident happened on the opening weekend of the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.[38]
- On October 16, 1997, she reported that her truck had been stolen from a shopping mall parking lot.[39]
- On January 6, 2000, Harding was in the news again after she lost control of her truck on an icy road and landed in a ditch. Her then boyfriend, Darren Silver, allegedly made threats against a press photographer.[40]
- On February 24, 2000, Harding was ordered by a Clark County judge to avoid alcohol and her former boyfriend, Darren Silver, after being booked on fourth-degree Domestic Violence assault charges for punching and throwing a hubcap at him at their Camas, Washington residence.[41] She was also sentenced to 3 days in jail and 10 days of community service on a work crew.[42] Shortly before this Harding was attempting to make a comeback as a professional skater, but the hubcap incident effectively ended her return to skating.[43]
- On April 20, 2002, she was involved in another accident with her truck. She was cited for drunk driving and a violation of her probation agreement from her 2000 conviction.[44]
- On October 23, 2005, Harding, apparently under the influence of alcohol again, was involved in a fight at her home in Vancouver, Washington with Christopher Nolan, a man she described as her boyfriend. Initially, she made a 911 call claiming to have been assaulted in her home by two masked men. For his part, Nolan claimed that she attacked him after having too much to drink. In the end, he was charged with assault and ordered to stay away from her and to avoid alcohol.[45]
- On March 11, 2007, the Clark County sheriff's office responded to two calls related to her.[46] The first call was from Harding, at 5 a.m. She told the officer who responded that she had observed five armed intruders trying to steal her vehicle and hide rifles on her property. The responding officer's report described her as "agitated" and her story as "very implausible," and recorded her frustration that others could not see the people she saw. He could find no evidence to back up her claims. The second call, four hours later, at 9 a.m., was from a friend who had agreed to let her visit. Her host told police that although she was not violent, she was "tweaking out, seeing animals," and she was worried about her children's safety. She requested police return her to her home. Police reported that the officer who returned to her home inspected her house, to reassure her, and advised her to seek medical help. Linda Lewis, her longtime agent, attributed her behavior to a bad reaction to legitimate prescription drugs.
In 2002, she boxed on the Fox TV network Celebrity Boxing event against Paula Jones, winning the fight. On February 22, 2003, she made her official women's professional boxing debut, losing a four round decision in the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Clifford Etienne bout, amid rumors that she was having financial difficulties and needed to box to earn money.
She won her third pro bout against Alejandra Lopez at the Creek Nations Gaming Center.
On March 23, 2004, it was reported that she cancelled a planned boxing match against Tracy Carlton in Oakland, California because of an alleged death threat against her.
On June 24, 2004, after reportedly not having boxed for over a year, she was beaten in a match in Edmonton, Alberta by boxer Amy Johnson. Fans reportedly booed her as she entered the ring and cheered wildly for Johnson as she won in the third round. Harding later protested the outcome.
Her boxing career was quite short, a brevity she attributes to asthma.[47] Her overall record was 3–3–0.[48]
| 3 Wins (3 decisions), 3 Losses (2 knockouts, 1 decision), 0 Draws[49] |
| Date |
Opponent |
Result |
Type |
Round, Time |
Location |
| 2004-06-25 |
Amy Johnson |
Loss |
TKO |
3 (4), 1:04 |
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| 2003-08-02 |
Melissa Yanas |
Loss |
TKO |
1 (4), 1:13 |
Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| 2003-06-13 |
Emily Gosa |
Win |
Decision (unanimous) |
4 (4) |
Lincoln City, Oregon, U.S. |
| 2003-03-28 |
Alejandra Lopez |
Win |
Decision (unanimous) |
4 (4) |
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| 2003-03-15 |
Shannon Birmingham |
Win |
Decision (unanimous) |
4 (4) |
Gulfport, Mississippi, U.S. |
| 2003-02-22 |
Samantha Browning |
Loss |
Decision (split) |
4 (4) |
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
On August 12, 2009, Harding set a new land speed record for a vintage gas coupe with a speed of 97.177 MPH driving a 1931 Ford Model A, named Lickity - Split, on the Bonneville Salt Flats.[50][51]
- The book Women on Ice: Feminist Essays on the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle (ISBN 0-415-91150-8), published in 1995, included a number of essays analyzing her public image in the context of the sport of figure skating.
- In an episode of the television program Seinfeld called The Understudy, Jerry Seinfeld is dating the understudy of stage performer Bette Midler named Gennice, who is played by Adelaide Miller. Seinfeld's friend George accidentally injures Midler in a softball game and the understudy has to take over Midler's part in the musical Rochelle Rochelle. Enraged fans then call Seinfeld "Gillooly," in addition to George and Gennice getting into mishaps and being shunned for the incident. When Gennice takes the stage, she has a problem with the laces on her boot and, in an act reminiscent of Harding's bootlace incident, tearfully asks that she be allowed to start over.[52][53]
- Spunk: The Tonya Harding Story was a satircal short which aired on Comedy Central during the 1994 Olympic Games. In the short, Nancy Kerrigan (Sam Carrell) plans an attack on herself and frames Harding (Tina Yothers) as the mastermind behind it. [54]
- Elizabeth Searle's novella, Celebrities In Disgrace, centers on the Harding-Kerrigan affair. The novel was adapted by Searle and composer Abigail Al-Doory to Tonya and Nancy: The Opera, a chamber opera produced in May 2006 by Tufts University and performed at the American Repertory Theater's Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the direction of Meron Langsner. A documentary on the making of the opera and the media frenzy it caused is currently in post-production at Charles River Media Group. The film, titled A Good Whack, is directed by Don Schechter. As of 2005, the novel on which the opera was based is also being adapted into a short film. Searle later created Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, which premiered on the West Coast in 2008 and which Harding herself attended.[citation needed]
- She was the subject of "Tonya's Twirls", a song by Loudon Wainwright III, a US folk musician.[55] The song draws humor from her lifestyle, but it ultimately resolves as a lament for lost innocence. The song was recorded and issued on Social Studies (1999), with a live recording also issued on So Damn Happy (2003).
- In the 1994 satire movie Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women, Julie Brown played the role of "Tonya Hardly".[56]
- The "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Headline News" contains lyrics about Harding and her role in the attack on Kerrigan.
- In addition, she and her role in the Kerrigan attack have been widely referenced in sitcom episodes, music videos, and even a primary campaign speech by Barack Obama.[57]
Sources:[58][59][60]
- ^ Michael Janofsky. Winter Olympics; Always Tonya: As Cool as Ice But Troubled The New York Times, February 7, 1994. Last accessed January 6, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Player in attack on Kerrigan dies at 40 – Yahoo! News as archived by the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Tonya Harding reveals her side of roller-coaster life Today Show May 15, 2008.
- ^ a b Tonya Harding biography at tonyaharding.com, accessed July 16, 2006.
- ^ "Tonya Harding Weds – Nancy Kerrigan Nemesis Marries Again". National Ledger. July 4, 2010. http://www.nationalledger.com/ledgerpop/article_272632991.shtml. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- ^ http://www.contracostatimes.com/nation-world/ci_15434436?nclick_check=1
- ^ Sarah Michaud (February 14, 2011). "Tonya Harding is pregnant". People. http://celebritybabies.people.com/2011/02/14/tonya-harding-is-pregnant/. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ Mike Fleeman (February 23, 2011). "Tonya Harding welcomes a son". People. http://celebritybabies.people.com/2011/02/23/tonya-harding-welcomes-a-son/#more-126909. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ Skating, December 1991, pp. 30–31
- ^ a b Christine Brennan, Inside Edge, ISBN 0-684-80167-1, pp. 38–39
- ^ E.M. Swift, Sports Illustrated, Mar 2, 1992
- ^ Scott Hamilton, Landing It, ISBN 1-57566-466-6, p. 238
- ^ Phil Hersh, The Chicago Tribune, Feb 21, 1992
- ^ Skating, April 1993, p. 21
- ^ a b c Scott Hamilton, Landing It, ISBN 1-57566-466-6, p. 259
- ^ Skating, December 1993, p. 16
- ^ Blades on Ice, December 1993/January 1994, p. 11
- ^ Detroit Free Press, January 6, 1994, p. 9F
- ^ Blades on Ice, April/May 1994, p. 30
- ^ Patinage, May/June 1994, p. 27
- ^ Mimi White, "A Skater is Being Beaten", in Women on Ice, ISBN 0-415-91151-6
- ^ Skating, July 1991, p. 11
- ^ Christine Brennan, Inside Edge, ISBN 0-684-80167-1, p. 38
- ^ Anatomy of a Plot, Sports Illustrated, February 14, 1994
- ^ "Mass Moments: Skater Nancy Kerrigan Assulted". http://massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=3. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ a b Hamilton, Scott; Lorenzo Benet (1999). Landing It: My life on and off the ice. New York: Kensington Books. ISBN 1-57566-466-6.
- ^ Nielsen Media Research (August 6, 2000). "Top 100 TV Shows of All Time". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=chart_pass&charttype=chart_topshowsalltime. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
- ^ Kerrigan Attacker and Accomplice Sent to Jail, The New York Times, May 17, 1994
- ^ Longman, Jere (January 6, 1994). "Jealousy on Ice". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/01.06.html.
- ^ A timeline of events in the scandal, Washington Post, accessed July 16, 2006.
- ^ "U.S. Title Is Taken Back From Harding". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 1, 1994. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70710FD3C5D0C728CDDAE0894DC494D81. Retrieved Sep 28, 2010.
- ^ Tonya and Jeff's Wedding Night, IMDB, accessed July 16, 2006.
- ^ "Stage Fright". People Magazine. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20101626,00.html. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
- ^ "Tonya Harding Debuts As Singer In Portland Concert For Mda". Seattle Times. August 30, 1995. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950830&slug=2139013. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ "Harding Helps to Save Woman's Life". New York Times (from AP). October 29, 1996. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E4D81539F93AA15753C1A960958260. Retrieved January 7, 2007.
- ^ "The Tonya Harding – Nancy Kerrigan saga: A Timeline". The Oregonian. May 8, 2006. Archived from the original on April 27, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070427012901/http://www.oregonlive.com/special/tonya/index.ssf?/special/tonya/timeline.frame.
- ^ Fachet, Robert (May 25, 1995). "Harding's Latest Plot Twist Is a Car Chase". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/olympics1998/history/timeline/articles/time_052595.htm. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ Harding escapes alleged abduction, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
- ^ "People, Places & Things in the News". South Coast Today. October 17, 1997. http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-97/10-17-97/zzzwnppl.htm. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ News report quoted on tonyaharding.org, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
- ^ "This Just In". Kitsap Sun. February 24, 2000. http://web.kitsapsun.com/sports/2000/february/0224this.html. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ Rose, Joe (May 22, 2000). "Cleanup duty is next for Harding". The Oregonian. http://0-docs.newsbank.com.catalog.multcolib.org/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB08C5F948849EA&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0.
- ^ Couch, Greg (February 27, 2000). "Harding's new image takes a beating". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20000227/ai_n13854991. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ Harding sentenced to 10 days in jail, accessed Aug 11, 2006.
- ^ Man Arrested After Tonya Harding Run-In, accessed Aug 11, 2006.[dead link]
- ^ Crombie, Noelle (March 15, 2007). "Former skater Tonya Harding "tweaking out," phones police". Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003618824_harding15m.html. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ Eggers, Kerry (January 5, 2007). "Ready for 'Life With Tonya'?". Portland Tribune. http://portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=116795083776471200.
- ^ Tonya Harding's professional boxing record, BoxRec.com, accessed January 13, 2007.
- ^ http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=175290
- ^ http://www.scta-bni.org/Bonneville/Speed%20Week%2009/records_12.htm
- ^ http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/whatsnew/whatsnew.html
- ^ David Lavery and Sara Lewis Dunne (2006). "Seinfeld, master of its domain". Continuum International Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=8ZOPQ-eh6z0C&pg=PA180. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3698211
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195301/
- ^ "Tonya Twirls", accessed July 21, 2007.
- ^ Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 Women (1994) at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Lester, Paul (March 4, 2009). "Tonya Harding bitter and thankful over Obama's 'kneecap' comment". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/mar/04/tonya-harding-barack-obama-name-kneecap. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ Olympic results – finishers, from www.usfigureskating.org, accessed August 30, 2006.
- ^ Worlds results, from www.isu.org, accessed August 30, 2006.
- ^ World Figure Skating Championships 1990–1999 results, accessed August 31, 2006.
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*Originally awarded to Tonya Harding, but later stripped.
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Harding, Tonya |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
American figure skater |
| Date of birth |
November 12, 1970 |
| Place of birth |
Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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