“I can’t imagine a more admirable character than Nancy Kerrigan,” Heather Langenkamp as spoken on The Justin Root Show.
It was the early 1990s. Two figure skaters were winning medals and competing to being the best in the figure skating world. They were Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. They seemed like terrific friends, too, always hugging and talking freely. But it was also reported that they didn’t get along; their competitive juices flowed.
Things boiled over on January 6th, 1994. Nancy Kerrigan was attacked immediately following a practice session in Detroit. A man with a club struck her leg as she walked through the curtains separating the ice from a hallway. The perpetrator departed quickly, leaving Kerrigan lying on the floor, repeatedly asking, “WHY?”
It was a planned act, too. A month earlier, Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, approached another man, Shawn Eckardt, about eliminating Kerrigan from the competition. Eckardt set up a meeting with two other men, Shane Stant and Derrick Smith, who agreed to injure Kerrigan for a fee.
With Kerrigan injured, Harding went on to win a spot on the 1994 U.S. Olympics team. But the injured Kerrigan did, too.
A made-for-TV drama was created. Rating records were broken when the Olympics came around and the American team was set to skate. And while Kerrigan would take the Silver Medal, Harding suffered an equipment failure that removed her from medals competition.
It didn’t take long to unmask the conspiracy. Smith soon confessed to the FBI, followed by Stant. Gillooly was charged with conspiracy to assault Kerrigan. After the Olympics, Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy. She was fined $100,000, sentenced to probation, and was assigned to perform 500 hours of community service. I, Tonya, a 2017 film, tells her story.
For Nancy Kerrigan, life has been much better–a family with children and a full slate of activities, including performing at ice shows and in various media, including TV and film.
The Kerrigan-Harding story is captured in the 1994 file, Tonya and Nancy, the Inside Story.
