From the rink to the ring

TEN years ago Tonya Harding found herself the unlikely cover girl of Time magazine. She was not a complete unknown but her newly-won status as US National Figure Skating champion hardly warranted the attention she was getting, even in the build-up to the following month’s Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

Her image had been catapulted around the world thanks to a sporting rivalry that had found prominence not just beyond figure skating but sport as a whole. This was a rivalry so intense it captured the imagination of millions across the world and nearly landed Harding in prison.

Eighteen days before her picture appeared on the cover of the January 24, 1994, issue of Time, fellow Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was preparing to defend her US title in Detroit. With competition due to begin the following day, she had stopped to talk with journalists at the ice rink when her world was turned upside down. An unknown attacker ran past the 24-year-old skater and delivered a devastating blow to her knee with a metal baton.