In the quiet world of figure
skating this feud/scandal shook the world and was more like
a soap opera then anything else. There was professional
jealousy on Tonya Harding's side as she envied Nancy Kerrigan.
So what did she do? She had her ex-husband physically attack
Kerrigan. On January 6th, 1994 Nancy Kerrigan was attacked
after her practice for the Winter Olympics which were a
month away. A man hit her with a blunt object on the outside
of her right knee. The tape of Kerrigan on the ground crying
and holding her knee while crying out "Why?" was
played over and over and over for the next few months. Two
weeks later Harding's ex-husband was charged in the attack
and a week after that Harding acknowledged that she knew
about the attack (she said she didn't know who was behind
it until a week after it occured). On February 1st, Harding's
ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly plead guilty to one count of racketeering
in connection with the plotting of the attack and he dropped
a bombshell when he said that Tonya was behind the plot.
On March 17th Harding plead guilty to hindering the investigation
and under a plea deal escaped without having to serve any
jail time. There was even a musical opera created as a result
of the Harding/Kerrigan attack and Harding went on to try
boxing on a nationally televised broadcast winning against
Paula Jones. |