Before the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in Detroit, Michigan, Harding along with her ex-husband plotted against Kerrigan to gain an edge over her opponent. A man named Shane Stant, whom was connected to Harding and her ex, clubbed Kerrigan in her right knee with a police baton after the practice session. The attack was caught on camera, and was broadcast internationally.
After the attack, Kerrigan could not compete in the event, as damage was done to her, and Harding went on to win the event. Although she was unable to participate in the championship, she was still chosen as one of the two American spots on the Olympic team, the other was filled by Tonya Harding. Kerrigan had a speedy recovery from her knee injury, and seven weeks later she won the silver medal in the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Harding on the other hand, plead guilty to conspiring, she received three years probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $160,000 fine. She was also forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships. In my opinion, she's lucky she didn't have to serve time in jail. Some people are desperate to win in professional sports and it is sickening. You go Nancy Kerrigan.
Crazy post! It's unbelievable what some people will do to win! I was wondering if you had looked into other figure skating stories like this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/21/sport/kim-sotnikova-skating-controversy/
Pretty crazy ideas!
I really like the subject content of your blog! This is by far one of the most interesting I have seen. To me I can definitely associate professional sports with several different big scandals throughout the evolution of these professional activities. But the thought of someone paying off an external person to literally beat your opponent is sickening. But at any and all levels of competition we will see those who will do anything they can to win, even if it means crossing the guidelines of the game or ethical values of society. But most of all, the people love to see a happy ending. But I wonder if Nancy Kerrigan has any thoughts that this injury prevented her from receiving the gold in the 1994 Olympics. I am also very surprised to see that Harding didn't serve any jail time. It would be cool to see a little story reporting where both individuals are today!
ReplyDeletePretty interesting to see these kinds of articles. Scandals are always the energizers of a hyped-up conversation! (Well, some might say that it's a worthless mouth-moving crap though.) It was interesting to read about an incident in professional sports scene that's led by a competitive spirit. The emotion might be a jealousness or even a pure hatred (which is derived by a competitiveness), but the result was.. a pretty unacceptable thing. I'm wondering how the victim of this incident reacted.
ReplyDeleteI watched a documentary about this whole story called "The Price of Gold". It was very interesting. In the documentary Tonya gave an interview and it was refreshing to hear her side of the story and to see what she dealt with through the whole ordeal and to see how she has dealt with the aftermath.
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