The Top Five Craziest Moments In the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan Case

Karma's a bitch!

By Dominique Haikel Oct 19, 2016 5:00 PMTags
Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding, 90s ScandalsMike Powell/Getty Images; Chris Cole/Allsport

If you lived through the '90s, you know about the drama between Olympic figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. To jog your memory, things took a turn for the worst, when a group consisting of Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly and her bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt, hired hit man Shane Stant to break Kerrigan's leg so that she could not participate in the 1994 Winter Olympics, Wikipedia notes. Things didn't quite happen as Harding might have hoped, and Kerrigan's leg was only bruised, not broken. The attack took place after she finished practice at the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. After the skater walked off the ice at Cobo Arena, she was smashed in the thigh with a baton by Stant. The aftermath was caught on camera, with Kerrigan, screaming "Why why, why?" Read on to remember more of the wildest moments from one of the craziest scandals of the '90s. 

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The Biggest Scandals of the '90s

1. Tonya Harding never went to jail for the crime. While Harding wasn't the person who physically did the damage, she did plead guilty to "hindering the investigation" of the attack. By doing so, this ensured she would not serve any time in prison, The Washington Post noted. What did happen was still pretty intense, however. Harding got three years of probation, had to pay a ton of fines and costs, perform community service and take part in a psychiatric examination and undergo any necessary treatment, to name a few things. 

2. Nancy Kerrigan won a medal despite her injury. Much to everyone's shock, she killed her routine and took home the silver medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. A true boss. She finished in second place next to Oksana Baiul, according to Biography.com.

3. Tonya Harding is no longer allowed to skate for the U.S. for the rest of her life. Specifically, she had to resign from the U.S. Figure Skating Association. In addition to that bad news, she was also stripped of her 1994 national figure skating title. Ouch. 

 

4. More than one person went to prison for the attack. Tonya's former hubby, Jeff Gillooly, and an additional three people, one being her bodyguard, all did some time for the crime. 

 

 

5. Harding's bad karma came back to haunt her. Was the attack really worth it? Not for Harding.

While Nancy was busy winning a silver medal in at the 1994 Winter Olympics, her bitter rival barely scraped by, earning her spot in 8th place. Cue the tiny violins.