ers to use her photograph and her name in an effort
to help rape victims to feel more comfortable talking
about their victimization.
Further Reading
Matoesian, Gregory M.Law and the Language of Iden-
tity: Discourse in the William Kennedy Smith Rape
Trial.New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Sanday, Peggy Reeves.A Woman Scorned: Acquain-
tance Rape on Trial.New York: Doubleday, 1996.
Rachel Bandy
See also Crime; Scandals.
Kerrigan, Nancy
Identification Two-time American Olympic figure
skating medal winner
Born October 13, 1969; Stoneham, Massachusetts
Kerrigan’s struggle to achieve an Olympic gold medal in
1992 and then in 1994 after becoming the 1993 United
States champion was both a sports stor y and a dramatic
sensation.
Nancy Kerrigan grew up in suburban Boston, Massa-
chusetts, where she often played ice hockey with her
family of two brothers. She showed talent on skates
and was competing in figure skating by the age of
nine. She was coached by the well known team of Evy
and Mary Scotvald, and she placed third in 1991 at
the World Figure Skating Championships. As part of
a United States team, which swept the medals at that
championship, she was one of the favorites for a
medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics, where she won a
bronze medal. Her subsequent career was marked
by a number of high and low points. She earned a sil-
ver medal at the 1992 World Championships. In the
following year, she became the United States Cham-
pion but fell short of her medal hopes in the long
program after a strong beginning at the World
Championships in 1993.
Known primarily as an elegant, athletic skater,
Nancy Kerrigan gained wider attention in the news
media after an incident in Detroit, Michigan, at the
Olympic trials in January, 1994. She was clubbed in
the knee after a practice session by a man who was
hired by the husband of one of her primary competi-
tors, Tonya Harding. After the attack, Kerrigan was
filmed holding her knee in pain and screaming
“Why?” This clip became famous, appearing in many
collections of important sports moments of the
twentieth century. Even though she was unable to
finish the competition, the United States Olympic
Committee gave her a spot on the 1994 U.S. Olympic
team, for the Winter Games in Lillehammer, Nor-
way. She won a silver medal and later earned multi-
million-dollar endorsements from corporations such
as Disney.
After the 1994 Olympics, Kerrigan retired from
competition and married her agent, Jerry Solomon,
in 1995. They settled in Massachusetts and raised
three children. Kerrigan appears in ice skating
shows, and she is active with the Nancy Kerrigan
Foundation, which she formed to raise awareness
for the vision-impaired in honor of her mother,
Brenda.480 Kerrigan, Nancy The Nineties in America
Nancy Kerrigan practices on February 11, 1994, in Norway, one
day before the opening ceremony of the Olympics and one month af-
ter she was clubbed in the knee by a man linked to competitor Tonya
Harding.(AP/Wide World Photos)