The Kerrigan-Harding story and why it matters today

In the lead-up to the Winter Olympics, one of the stories that received significant attention in the news was the 20th anniversary of “the whack heard round the world,” an alleged attack on American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan by her rival Tonya Harding in 1994. The incident quickly gained media fame when an unknown assailant hit Kerrigan in the knee with a lead pipe as she was making her way off the practice ice at the U.S. National Competition. The video of an injured Kerrigan crying “why” after the attack was played repeatedly over the next seven weeks, eliciting a deeply sympathetic response from the American public.

Kerrigan soon recovered from her knee injury and resumed her intensive training, hoping to still compete in the Olympics. However, intrigue over the attack only continued to grow during this time, especially once it was revealed that the hit man had been intentionally hired by Jeff Gillooly, the then-husband of Kerrigan’s rival Tonya Harding, to break Kerrigan’s right leg so that she would not be able to compete. Since nobody could ever prove that Tonya Harding was involved in planning the attack, the United States Figure Skating Association was forced to allow both skaters to compete in the Lillehammer games, making the women’s free skate the most watched program in Olympic history.

The Kerrigan-Harding story was the subject of intense debate when it occurred 20 years ago and now it is once again being remembered as one of the world’s most important sports controversies. ESPN even released a critically acclaimed documentary aboout the event in January, called “The Price of Gold,” and NBC will present another documentary on the attack as part of its Olympic coverage. When Bleacher Report, one of the top sports reporting websites, created its Olympic page, one of its first stories featured Kerrigan and Harding. Other notable events, such as the “Miracle on Ice” and Kerri Strug’s vault in 1996, are usually mentioned on talk shows or commercials before the Winter games officially begin, but none of them get the level of coverage that the Kerrigan-Harding story does.

Part of the fascination is due to the strange nature of the incident. At no other time has one competitor tried to deliberately hurt an opponent to win, or at least not with the help of a hit man. The contrasting characters of Nancy Kerrigan, who was perceived as a graceful lady, and the rougher and more boyish Tonya Harding also help to keep the story engaging. In many ways, it is the perfect soap opera saga, in which the victim, Kerrigan, wins a silver medal and the villain, Harding, gets her comeuppance by breaking a skate lace and being unable to perform as well as she wished.

Yet, the main reason I believe in the relevance of the Kerrigan-Harding story 20 years later is because of the way it took over American media. The seven weeks during which the attack on Nancy Kerrigan was exhaustively covered not only foreshadowed the era of instant information, but also sped up its integration into our modern lifestyles. “The Price of Gold” details the outrageous amount of reporting that was carried out regarding both Kerrigan and Harding in order to satisfy public curiosity. Hundreds of news staff members showed up at Harding’s practices every day, sometimes following her around to induce her to talk. Some reporters even tapped her phone and looked through her trash for evidence. The story became such an obsession that according to rumors, 400 reporters came to watch when Kerrigan and Harding were made to share the practice ice in Lillehammer.

Considering how much drama was produced as a result of this incident, the whole thing can seem kind of silly. However, it also reveals a shift in our culture, as a new demand for instant information arose before and cell phones could capture and send messages or photos around the world instantaneously. It is an event that seems as if it was made for social media in an era before those services existed. One can only imagine the hashtags, pages and GIFs that would be created if this conspirancy had happened today.

The Kerrigan-Harding story was effective because it quickly grabbed the country’s interest and still bears influence on our view of good sportsmanship and fair play. The incident managed to be simultaneously unbelievable and entertaining and its legacy continues to draw people in 20 years later.