Inside Nancy Kerrigan's Tragic Real-Life Story

It was her raw talent and clear Olympic potential that almost led to Nancy Kerrigan's downfall. Two days before the trials for the 1994 winter games began, she left the ice at Detroit's Cobo Arena, and before she could even remove her skates, she was attacked by a man. The assailant (who clubbed Kerrigan in the knee with a baton before fleeing) was later identified as Shane Stant, who had reportedly been hired by the ex-husband of Kerrigan's skating rival Tonya Harding.

"I was walking from the practice rink to the locker room but I never made it," Kerrigan told the Daily Mail. "After I walked through some curtains, someone came from behind them and ran alongside me on my right. He hit me very hard, just once, then kept running. Fortunately, I guess, his aim was bad. The doctors who treated me told me that if the bar had hit me one finger-width lower my knee cap would have been smashed and I might never have walked again."

The aftermath of the attack was captured in shocking footage, sparking a media frenzy fueled by the revelation that Harding was somehow involved in the plot to crudely remove Kerrigan from the running. The plan backfired, as Harding (caught up in a media storm of her own) only managed to finish eighth at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, while Kerrigan was able to recover in time for the Games and take home a silver medal.

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