Twenty years after Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by someone close to rival teammate Tonya Harding, the ice skaters are revisiting the horrific story in an NBC documentary Nancy & Tonya: 20 Years Later.
The documentary will air during NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage and features interviews with both Kerrigan and Harding conducted by NBC sportscaster Mary Carillo.
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After winning Bronze at the 1992 Winter Olympics, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was on track to win her second consecutive national championship before going into her next Olympics. Instead, she was attacked in 1994 when a man hit her in the knee with a metal pipe, forcing her out of competition and into physical therapy. With Kerrigan unable to compete in the national championships, Harding came out victorious.
Kerrigan managed to rehab her knee and compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics, where she took home the silver medal – Harding came in eighth place. And Shane Stant was found guilty of the attack, having been asked to thwart Kerrigan by Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gilloly. Harding pled guilty to hindering prosecution resulting in three years’ probation and a $160,000 fine. She was also eliminated from the U.S. Figure Skating Association and was never allowed to compete professionally again.
The violent incident shone a new light on figure skating, creating a rivalry that captured the nation. Harding has always insisted her innocence, claiming to have had absolutely no involvement in her ex’s plans and denying that she even knew about it.
While Harding has been relatively outspoken about the attack for the past 20 years, Kerrigan has chosen to keep silent on the matter. Carillo recently stated that she had been asking Kerrigan to do the interview for years. This documentary will be her first in depth interview on the subject.
“It’s not something you celebrate, being attacked, you know. I was nervous to know how things would get twisted and turned because that’s what happened before,” Kerrigan said at a media event prior to the Olympics.
In the end, Carillo won her over with their willingness to hand over the reigns to Kerrigan herself.
“I trusted Mary and [producer] Margaret [Grossi] to really tell the story with my perspective. Instead of just assuming what my perspective would be,” Kerrigan added.
Nancy & Tonya: 20 Years Later will air Sunday night during Olympic coverage on NBC. Kerrigan is also acting as a figure skating analyst for NBC’s Olympic coverage.
– Olivia Truffaut-Wong
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