Nancy Kerrigan Clubbed: Figure Skating's Most Infamous Attack

She was mid-practice. A man in black rushed the ice, swung a collapsible baton, and hit Nancy Kerrigan across the right knee. Then he ran. The attack happened six weeks before the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Investigators traced it back to Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, who hired the man. Harding claimed she didn't know — a claim that kept her on the Olympic team even after the arrest. Kerrigan recovered fast. She won silver at Lillehammer. Harding finished eighth. When they shared a practice session at the Olympics, CBS aired it live. Forty-eight million people watched two competitors skate in circles. The whole thing had played out on television since the moment it started. There was footage of Kerrigan on the ice, crying, asking "why?" The footage ran on every network. For three months, figure skating was the most-watched sport in America. It wasn't because anyone particularly loved figure skating.