The stunning duel between the world’s two premier female skaters was certainly a triumph for Kerrigan as well. She performed with elegance, power and, above all, a steely consistency-“a little bobble,” she said, in her opening program, one simplified jump in her Friday-night free skate. Kerrigan’s silver medal capped perhaps the most dramatic comeback in the sport’s history. First she had to overcome the memory of a humiliating failure in last year’s world championships in Prague, when, as the favorite, she flopped to fifth. Then Nancy had to rebound from the vicious assault that knocked her out of last month’s national championships. “I was really proud of my self,” said Kerrigan Friday night. “I thought I skated great.” Perhaps greatest of all, she left her nemesis, Tonya Harding, far behind in the spray of her skates.
From now on the names Nancy and Tonya will likely be linked only in courts of law. The national obsession with the attack on Kerrigan obscured the fact that Harding, whose ex-husband has confessed to plotting the assault and has accused Tonya of helping him, long ago ceased to be counted among the world’s elite skaters. She was never a factor in Norway. Tonya’s very first move was one no one recalled from all her years of competitive skating, a conspicuous hand-clasping, eyes-skyward prayer as she stepped on the ice. It apparently wasn’t answered. Less than a minute into her short program Wednesday, she messed up the critical combination jump, then mislanded a simple double flip. The judges didn’t have to weigh moral considerations when they placed her 10th-and out of medal range.
Still, Harding, whose reality often seems at variance with that of the rest of the world, pronounced herself “happy” with her effort. But her most successful maneuver of that day came off the ice. Before the Games even opened, Tonya had announced her desire to hug Kerrigan. Kerrigan had communicated an equally fervent desire never to let that happen. As the competitors gathered in private to draw the starting order for the free skate, Tonya startled Nancy by emerging from a group and hugging her quickly from the side. “Nancy looked stunned and furious,” said a witness.
It was just a precursor to one of Harding’s vintage bizarre performances Friday night. She didn’t appear when her name was announced, making it onto the ice just seconds before she would have been disqualified. Then, after botching her first jump, Tonya stopped and pleaded tearfully-and successfully for a second chance because she had a problem with a lace. Her reskate landed her in eighth place. It may very well be her final competitive performance. FBI sources indicate she may soon be arrested and charged in the conspiracy against Kerrigan (box).
Harding’s attention-grabbing antics couldn’t detract from Baiul’s dazzling turn to a medley of famous American show tunes. Kerrigan’s coach had said earlier that she was glad Nancy wouldn’t be competing when Baiul hit her prime. But Baiul-preprime and requiring an injection of painkillers for severe back pain after an on-ice collision in practice just the day before-was good enough. Blessed with an incandescent smile and a prima ballerina’s dramatic flair, Oksana improvised a last-second combination jump that likely proved her margin of victory. As she waited for her scores, Baiul began weeping uncontrollably from another combination “pain and pent-up emotion.” She explained later that she added the extra jumps because she missed a triple loop earlier in her program and believed “time was running out and so was the gold.”
Baiul could be her sport’s next seminal skater. Her style has evoked comparisons to figure skating’s most hallowed name, Sonja Henie. But while Baiul may someday have Henie’s happy Hollywood ending, her beginnings were anything but bright. Abandoned by her father at 2, she was effectively orphaned by the death of her mother at 13. Then her longtime coach immigrated to Canada. Finally a stroke of good fortune: Galina Zmievskaya, who coached Viktor Petrenko to a gold in Albertville two years ago, agreed to take in the young skater-ultimately as both student and daughter.
She was a virtual unknown when, at 15, she stole the show and the world title-in Prague. “I skate how I feel,” she says simply. “I think it must be a gift from God.” Whatever the source, the effect can be overwhelming. “She puts a spell on judges,” says Paul Wylie, America’s Olympic silver medalist in 1992.
Much will likely be made of the fact that the spell was more effective on the five former Eastern-bloc judges. (The German judge was from the former East Germany.) But that may be more a reflection of stylistic taste than outdated politics. There was some grumbling that Kerrigan’s program-with its triple-jump combination-was more demanding, deserving higher technical marks at the very least. Kerrigan, whose behavior through her recent trials has been even more impeccable than her skating, offered no complaint about the judging. “She’ll have some initial disappointment,” said her agent, Jerry Solomon, “and then be the happiest person alive. What she has accomplished in the last 60 days is remarkable.” Baiul’s agent, Michael Rosenberg, concurs: “[Nancy] is lovely and fabulous.” And he added, “She’s also a silver medalist.”
That Kerrigan didn’t strike gold may soon be forgotten by adoring American audiences-the ladies’ competition played to more than 100 million TV viewers who will see Nancy on a succession of major ad campaigns and entertainment projects. They may get to see a good deal of Oksana too. Baiul, whose coach has been entertaining offers to relocate to the United States, is already committed to a 60-city American tour this spring. Rosenberg insists that Oksana’s extraordinary artistry gives her “the potential to be the biggest ever.” At the very least she will soon have to decide whether to turn pro. The Olympics are indeed over. In the next major competition, all the marks come with dollar signs.
Of the nine judges, four gave Kerrigan highest marks, and four did the same for Baiul. The German judge gave them equal scores-a total of 11.6 for technical and artistic impression. But since artistic impression breaks a tie in the final free skate, Oksana’s 5.9 gave her the edge-and the gold medal.
GBR POL CZE UKR CHN USA JPN CAN GER Nancy Technical 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.8 Artistic 5.9 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.8 Oksana Technical 5.6 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.5 5.7 Artistic 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.9
The showdown between Nancy and Tonya played sixth among TV’s 10 most-watched events.
1 “MAS*H’ (final episode) 6 Winter Olympics Feb. 28, 1983 Feb. 23, 1994 2 “Dallas’ (“Who Shot J.R.?’) 7 Super Bowl XX Nov. 21, 1980 Jan. 26, 1986 3 “Roots’: Part 8 8 “Gone With the Wind’: Part 1 Jan. 30, 1977 Nov. 7, 1976 4 Super Bowl XVI 9 “Gone With the Wind’: Part 2 Jan. 24, 1982 Nov. 8, 1976 5 Super Bowl XVII 10 Super Bowl XII Jan. 30, 1983 Jan. 15, 1978
