Skating Rivalry Turns Violent: Kerrigan Attacked

Nancy Kerrigan was mid-practice at Cobo Arena in Detroit on January 6, 1994, six weeks before the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, when a man in black rushed from behind a curtain and struck her across the right knee with a collapsible police baton. She collapsed screaming. A camera crew captured the aftermath: Kerrigan on the floor, clutching her knee, crying "Why? Why?" The footage ran on every network in America for weeks. The attacker, Shane Stant, fled through a locked Plexiglas door that had been propped open from the outside. Within days, investigators traced the plot to Jeff Gillooly, the ex-husband of Kerrigan''s rival Tonya Harding, and Harding''s bodyguard Shawn Eckardt. Eckardt had bragged about the attack to a friend, who went to the FBI. Gillooly eventually cooperated with prosecutors and implicated Harding, claiming she had approved the plan. Harding maintained she learned of the conspiracy only after it happened. The U.S. Figure Skating Association faced an impossible decision. Kerrigan recovered quickly and was named to the Olympic team. Harding, who had won the national championship after Kerrigan''s withdrawal, threatened a $25 million lawsuit if she was removed. The association let her compete. When Kerrigan and Harding shared practice ice at Lillehammer, CBS broadcast it live. The women''s technical program drew 48.5 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched sporting events in American television history at that time. Kerrigan skated beautifully and won the silver medal, losing gold to Oksana Baiul of Ukraine by a fraction of a point. Harding finished eighth after a problem with her skate lace. She later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution, was stripped of her national title, and was banned from competitive skating for life. The scandal turned figure skating into a prime-time spectacle and demonstrated something television executives already suspected: Americans would watch sports in record numbers when the story off the ice was more dramatic than anything on it.