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History of the 90s

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan | 152

History of the 90s

Kathy Kenzora

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.7610 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In one of the most shocking scandals in sports history, figure skating collided with true crime. This episode dives into the bitter rivalry of Olympic skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, and the 1994 attack that stunned the world just weeks before the Winter Olympics.

Kathy Kenzora unpacks what really happened, how the media shaped the narrative, and why this story still sparks debate more than 30 years later.

Guest Info:

Alison Brown and Jill Jaracz host the podcast: Keep the Flame Alive

www.flamealive.com

Show Info:

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@that90spodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email:  ⁠1995podcast@gmail.com⁠

Tik Tok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠90spodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠

Substack: ⁠@historyofthe90s⁠




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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey there, it's Kathy. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to History of the 90s

0:04.7

early and ad-free on Amazon music included with Prime.

0:09.6

In January 1994, Nancy Kerrigan was in Detroit, preparing for the U.S. figure skating championships.

0:17.9

Nancy was the defending champ, and if she won again, would earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

0:24.4

On that day, she finished a practice session at Kobo Arena. She stepped off the ice, put on her

0:29.9

skate guards, and walked toward the change rooms. As she passed behind a blue curtain and into a narrow

0:36.0

corridor behind the rink,

0:38.1

Nancy stopped to speak with a reporter, but she never got the chance.

0:42.7

A man wearing a leather jacket bolted in her direction.

0:46.9

He crouched down and struck her right leg with a metal baton.

0:51.5

Nancy dropped to the floor and started screaming.

0:54.1

What happened? battle baton. Nancy dropped to the floor and started screaming. The answer to the question why was attacked was more shocking than anyone could have imagined

1:12.3

in that moment. And it played out like a real-life soap opera for the next several months,

1:17.8

causing a media sensation. I'm Kathy Kinsora, and this is History of the 90s, a podcast about a decade

1:25.6

that changed the world.

1:32.6

In this episode, we're going back to one of the most outrageous moments in sports history.

1:38.2

This is Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding, the whack herd around the world.

1:55.0

Nancy Kerrigan's main rival at the 1994 U.S. figure skating championship was expected to be a scrappy athletic skater known for her powerful jumps and rough around the edge's personality.

2:00.9

Tanya Harding began figure skating when she was three and a half years old. After seeing skaters on a rink inside a mall in Portland, Oregon,

2:04.9

she became infatuated with the sport.

2:08.3

Tanya begged her parents to let her try it,

2:11.1

and when she did, she liked it so much they bought her a pair of youth skates for Christmas

...

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