25 years later, Kerrigan says the whole thing is ‘just sad’
COLONIE, N.Y. — Alongside the medals she won as a figure skater at World Championships and Winter Olympics of the early 1990s, Nancy Kerrigan continues to be remembered for one of the darkest moments in her sport’s long history.
Last month marked a quartercentury since Kerrigan was attacked, struck in the right knee with a police baton. The assailant was hired by the ex-husband of skating rival Tonya Harding, and the incident has become the focus of a few movies.
Kerrigan, now 49, was in town to promote the Aurora Games, an international women’s sports festival created by her husband, Jerry Solomon, and scheduled for Aug. 20-25 at Times Union Center.
In a one-hour public interview session, Kerrigan touched on the incident among numerous other topics.
“It is weird, right?” she said. “I like bringing up something years later when it’s good and uplifting and makes you want to do something great, but that’s my opinion. I did not see the movie. I didn’t see any reason for me to see that.
“That whole thing is just sad. Tonya Harding was a really talented athlete. To have that be a part of her life too, it stinks. You hope to move on and learn and grow.”
The Q-and-A with Kerrigan was attended by approximately 140 people.
Kerrigan was asked about Alysa Liu, the 13-year-old from Clovis, Calif., who recently won the U.S. Championships.
“We’ve seen it in figure skating and in gymnastics and other sports, where the kids get to that high level so young,” said Kerrigan, who was 23 when she became U.S. champion.
“It worries me. Just because you can do it, it doesn’t mean you should be doing it. Physically your body’s not ready. The growth plates aren’t closed until they’re 14, 15, sometimes 16 years old.
“Alysa Liu is 13 years old, and she did two triple axels in her program at the national championships to win, but she’s tiny. She’s only like four-foot-eight or something. At 13, her growth plates aren’t closed. The force of coming down, I just get concerned.
“How can you stop a kid from doing something they can do? You can’t, because it’s what they love, but at the same time they could be doing a lot of damage. Coaches need to know, just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should be doing 25 of them a day.”
Many in the audience were parents of young athletes, particularly figure skaters. Kerrigan, the mother of two sons and a daughter, was asked how she approaches competitive athletics with her children.
Her son Brian, 13, is a gymnast, and her daughter Nicole, 10, has taken up ballet.
“First of all, if you want to achieve you have to work hard, but enjoy what you do,” she said. “Remember, today’s tough, but remember what it was like three years ago when you were a little kid and loved this still. If you don’t feel like that ever, you shouldn’t be doing it. At least part of the time you should have that love. It makes it a lot easier to get through those rough days, and you do better because you’re enjoying yourself.”
Kerrigan said she believed it is better for young athletes to do multiple sports for as long as possible rather than focus on just one endeavour.
“It’s better to do more,” Kerrigan said. “Not just mentally, but physically, it’s better for your body to be able to do more sports. You do one, you’re just pounding on the same muscles over and over. If you’re changing it up, it’s healthy.”