What Happened To Tonya Harding And Nancy Kerrigan After Their Famous Olympics Drama?
Even though they competed in the Olympics over three decades ago, you probably recognize the names Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. While there are plenty of Olympic moments that will make you cry, when it comes to the drama surrounding Kerrigan and Harding, the emotions are less heartwarming, more chaotic and stressful. Here's a quick recap: In the mid 1990s, the superstar figure skaters were rivals and from completely different backgrounds with dissimilar skating styles — Harding was from a lower-class family and emphasized her athletic ability on the ice, while Kerrigan was from a far more well-off family and was a more elegant, classical figure skater.
On January 6, 1994, Kerrigan was leaving a practice before the U.S. Championships when she was clubbed in the right knee by a man who later turned out to have been hired to do so by Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and his friend. The goal had been to try and prevent Kerrigan from competing at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in February 1994. The immediate aftermath of the attack was caught by TV cameras with Kerrigan crying out in pain, asking, "Why?" She managed to recover and went on to compete at the Olympics, winning the silver medal. Harding also skated in Lillehammer, but she finished 8th.
The women have since joined the ranks of U.S. Olympic figure skaters you wouldn't recognize today, and they went on to lead very different (very separate) lives.
Tonya Harding has perservered
Margot Robbie transformed into Tonya Harding to play her in the 2017 movie "I, Tonya," which goes over a loosely biographical telling of the Harding and Nancy Kerrigan drama. The film ends by showing some of the consequences that Harding faced in connection to the Kerrigan attack, including a lifetime ban by the U.S. Figure Skating Association, which was quite the blow to the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel in competition.
The movie also showed one of Harding's career pivots: boxing. In 2002, she won against Paula Jones, which aired on the short-lived Fox show "Celebrity Boxing." The match was later satirized on "Saturday Night Live." After that match, she went pro for a bit — she ended up with a three win and three loss record over 2003-2004. Beyond boxing, she's held a variety of jobs, many connected to her affinity for fixing things.
In 2010, she married Joseph Jens Price of Yacolt, Washington. Price and Harding have one child together. "My family, we are a loving family," she told ABC News in 2018. "I get my second chance at life to be loved and be happy." That same year, Harding was a contestant on Season 26 of "Dancing with the Stars." Dancing with professional Sasha Farber, she made it all the way to the finals, finishing second. One of the lessons she learned from the show was "that you don't ever give up on yourself. Always keep going, no matter what it is," per People.
Nancy Kerrigan still skates and has several promo partnerships
Nancy Kerrigan married Jerry Solomon, who'd been her manager, in 1995. The couple now has three children, and Kerrigan has been open about the struggles she had with fertility and miscarriages after having her first child. Their next two children were conceived via IVF.
Kerrigan's last competitive skate was at the 1994 Olympics, and she was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004. Despite retiring, she's continued to be involved in the skating world. She was on the first (and only) season of Fox's "Skating with Celebrities," where she was paired with Dave Coulier from "Full House." She's worked as a correspondent at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Winter Olympics, giving a unique insight on the world of competitive figure skating.
Beyond skating, Kerrigan was on "Dancing with the Stars" for Season 24. She danced with Artem Chigvintsev, and they were eliminated in week 6. Kerrigan also worked as a special correspondent for the 2018 Super Bowl for "Inside Edition." She occasionally posts on Instagram, where she promotes a range of partnerships, including The Experience Adult Skate Camp, LinkedIn, and fitness app iFIT. In 2023, Kerrigan wrote a children's book called "Stronger Than She Thinks." It's about her start in the skating world as she overcame challenges and worked hard to make it to her first big competition. And in case you're wondering, Kerrigan claimed she hasn't received an apology from Harding, but has moved past it.