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Nancy Kerrigan (born 13 October 1969 in Woburn,
Massachusetts) is a two-time Olympic Games|Olympic
figure skating medalist.

She first came to prominence when the United
States team scored a medal sweep in the ladies'
event in the 1991 World Figure Skating
Championships; Kerrigan received the bronze medal
behind Kristi Yamaguchi and Tonya Harding.  Her
career seemed headed steadily upward as she
received a bronze medal in the 1992 Winter
Olympics, and the silver medal at the 1992 World
Championships.  The following season she became
United States Champion and was leading the World
Championship in Prague after the short program
when a disastrous long program resulted in her
tumbling to fifth in the standings and a
surprising win by Oksana Baiul.

She captured national attention beyond the skating
world on January 6, 1994, when she was clubbed in
the knee by Shane Stant, who was hired to do harm
to her by Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly
and friend Shawn Eckardt. Despite the unprovoked
nature of the attack, as a public figure she was
mocked in the press for crying "Why me? Why now?"
in what was perceived as a whine.  In fact,
Kerrigan was misquoted; her actual words in the
immediate aftermath of the attack were simply
"Why?  Why?".

Just a month after the attack, Kerrigan went on to
win the silver medal in the 1994 Winter Olympics
in Lillehammer (second to Oksana Baiul), with what
was undoubtedly the best performance of her
career.  The decision between Kerrigan and Baiul
was close and somewhat controversial, and remains
so to this day.  CBS television, which had the
U.S. broadcast rights to the event, continued to
sensationalize the story by broadcasting video of
a frustrated Kerrigan making a snippy remark after
she was mistakenly told the medal presentation was
being delayed to allow Baiul to fix her makeup. 
(In fact, the delay was the fault of the
organizers, not Baiul.)

Without a fairy-tale ending, the media and public
opinion turned on Kerrigan. She was criticized for
leaving the Olympic venue before the closing
ceremonies to take part in a pre-arranged
publicity parade at Walt Disney World, and then
for being caught on camera during the parade
saying that it was the "corniest" thing she had
ever done. Again, her remarks were taken out of
context: in truth, she was not commenting on being
in the parade, but on the fact she didn't want to
wear her silver medal in the parade. 

The tabloids also started to publish stories that
she was seeing her agent/future husband, Jerry
Solomon, while he was still married to his first
wife. Solomon had been long separated from his
first wife and they were headed to a divorce. 

Kerrigan's guest appearance on Saturday Night Live
was not well received either. She was nervous
throughout the live performance and her acting
seemed wooden. Even in the promos for the show she
looked uncomfortable.  

In a Dateline NBC interview, she responded to all
of the attacks made on her, and broke down because
of the pressure that took its toll on her everyday
life. It was clear she was having a hard time
living up to the image of being America's newest
skating sweetheart, a title which was given to her
by fate.  For her part, Kerrigan undoubtedly made
mistakes in handling her public image. 
But after a few months, the press moved on and she
was able to live a normal life again.

Kerrigan retired from active competition after the
Olympics, and is now married with two sons,
Matthew and Brian. She has appeared in a variety
of ice skating shows since turning professional.
She also created The Nancy Kerrigan Foundation to
raise awareness and support for the vision
impaired. 

==External link==
*http://www.nancyfans.com Nancy Kerrigan's
official site
*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longte
rm/olympics1998/history/timeline/timeline.htm
Washington Post article on the clubbing