Sure, you can’t think of ice skater Nancy Kerrigan without thinking of Tonya Harding.
Harding was the nearest rival to Kerrigan back at the Figure Skating Championships of 1994 which were held in Detroit, and Jeff Gillooly, Harding’s ex-husband, wanted to make it easier for his wife to come up with the title and advance to obtain a berth for the US Olympic team heading to Norway.
And so Gillooly hired Shane Stant, a street gangster, to attack Kerrigan during the competition’s practices. The attack was successful and Nancy Kerrigan was forced to withdraw from the competition, while Tonya Harding went on winning the championship.
When the FBI got involved, they discovered that Harding knew of her ex-husband’s intentions but did not revealed anything. The US Olympic committee wanted to remove Harding from the team, but Tonya Harding filed a $20 million lawsuit, but she dropped it when the USOC said she could stay.
Despite of her injury, the USOC gave Nancy Kerrigan a spot on the Olympic team.
On Norway, everyone was ready to watch both Harding and Kerrigan competing against each other, but the Gold went to Oksana Baiul of Ukraine, while Kerrigan got the Silver and Harding finished 8th after a broken boot lace which stopped her at the middle of her act just to start back again after another 4 skaters.
Did anyone say karma?
Tags: Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding, Figure Skating Championships, Jeff Gillooly, US Olympic team, US Olympic committee, Olympic team, Oksana Baiul
