So much for friendly competition. The violent 1994 attack on Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is reenacted on the Scandal Made Me Famous: Tonya Harding special airing Saturday, December 10, as seen in Us Weekly‘s exclusive sneak peek.
The Reelz episode’s preview clip revisits the lead-up to the infamous moment when Shane Stant struck Kerrigan’s knee with a baton on January 6, 1994. Stant had been hired by Tonya Harding‘s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard Shawn Eckardt to break the athlete’s leg in an effort to keep her out of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
As actors portray the key figures involved in the crime, a narrator describes the scene: “Shane Stant’s uncle Derrick Smith has joined him in Detroit. The two men go over the attack and how they’ll get away.”
“By disabling Tonya’s chief competitor, they all believe they’ll benefit financially in different ways,” the voiceover continues.
Senior crime reporter Steve Helling adds, “Meanwhile, Tonya is in her hotel room in Detroit, and Jeff is across the country at home in Portland. Both are anxiously awaiting the news.”
Ann Schatz, a sports journalist who covered Harding, remembers her reaction to the crime as, “This is nuts! How is this happening?”
The attack bruised but didn’t break Kerrigan’s leg, and she went on to win the silver medal at the Olympics in February of that year.
Harding took a plea deal and did not serve jail time but was banned for life from the U.S. Figure Skating Association. (Gillooly, Stant, Eckardt and Smith all served prison time for their roles in the attack.)
Watch the clip above to see the portrayal of Stant striking Kerrigan. Scandal Made Me Famous: Tonya Harding airs on Reelz at 9 p.m. ET.
