World Watches Nancy Kerrigan Attack in Disbelief
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T09XWRkq5M
On January 6, 1994, Nancy Kerrigan had just completed a practice session in Cobo Hall in Detroit. She was preparing for the U.S. Women’s National Figure Skating Championship which was going to be held there, the following day.
As she was leaving the ice, an unidentified man struck her on the back of the knee with a club like object, causing her to fall to the floor, writhing in pain. As paramedics were getting her ready to be taken away in the ambulance, Kerrigan gave out her iconic wail, Why? Why? Why?
Kerrigan’s arch rival, Tonya Harding, won the competition (without Kerrigan of course), earning a position on the Olympic team. Even though she had not been able to compete in Detroit, on January 8, Kerrigan was given the second position on the team
On January 9, while the world was pondering who could have done such a thing, Jere Longman wrote in the New York Times,
This was only Act 1 of a great unfolding soap opera. Harding the talented but troubled champion, versus Kerrigan, America’s darling, the victim of a chilling assault. Muscular power versus swan-like grace. Harding has more technical skills, Kerrigan has elegance and the sympathy of an entire country. Everything about them is being compared, their hair, their costumes, their figures, their make up. One usually has to see a John Waters Movie to witness this sort of high camp.
Five Days Later the Soap Opera Takes a Wild Turn
The high camp soap opera took a bizarre turn on January 11, when The Oregonian reported that the FBI was investigating an allegation that the attack had been orchestrated by Harding’s body guard Shawn Eckardt, her ex-husband, Jeff Gilhooly; and a friend, Shane Stant.
The following day Eckardt confessed and implicated Gilhooly, Stant, and another friend, Derrick Smith. He also named Harding as a co-conspirator.
Tonya Insists She’s Innocent
On January 18, Harding met with investigators for ten hours. Her story, which she repeated at a nationally televised press conference on January 27, was that she only learned that her ex-husband and body guard were involved, after the attack. At the press conference Harding said. “Within the next few days, I learned that some persons that were close to me may have been involved. My first reaction was one of disbelief, and the disbelief was followed by shock and fear. Although my lawyers tell me that my failure to immediately report this information is not a crime, I know I’ve let you down, but I have also let myself down. I have devoted my entire life to one objective, winning an Olympic gold metal for my country.”
Both Girls Go to the Olympics
On February 5, the U.S. Figure Skating Association met, in order to decide what to do about Harding. Five days later Harding sued the U.S. Olympic committee in an effort to stop them from conducting a hearing to determine whether or not she should be allowed to compete in the Olympics. She dropped the suit two later after the committee agreed to cancel the hearing. Tonya Harding was given the green light to go to the Olympics in Lillehammer.
She placed 8th in the competition, but in typical Tanyaesque fashion, her Olympic performance will long be remembered almost entirely for the drama involving the laces on her skates. She was almost disqualified for not appearing on the ice in a timely fashion, and her skating was interrupted for an “equipment mishap”. The Judges generously allowed her to return to the ice and she managed to skate well enough to rank among the top third of all the competitors.
Meanwhile, Kerrigan recovered and was also able compete at the Olympics. On February 25 she won the silver medal (in a close and controversial competition with gold medal winner Oksana Baiul). Sadly Kerrigan is known much more today for her anguished cries after the brutal attack, than for winning Olympic bronze (Albertville, 1992) and silver medals.
The Melodrama did not quite end at the Olympics in Lillehammer. On March 16 in Portland, Harding plead guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution. She was put on probation for three years and was fined $160,000. She also agreed to resign from the U.S. Figure Skating Association