If I’ve drawn one conclusion after interviewing Nancy Kerrigan it’s this: you don’t ask her about Tonya Harding. Not if you want answers anyway. Actually If I’m being completely transparent here I’ll go a step further: I reckon that if she’s reading this there’ll be a fervent rolling of the eyes before the first paragraph’s out.
But let me tell you something: I have nothing but admiration for the two-time Olympic medal winner’s stance on the subject of Tonya Harding, a stance which I believe (correctly or not) manifests itself as a staunchly disinterested shrug. I wanted to know how she’d risen above the drama that two decades ago dominated the Lillehammer Olympics. How Nancy Kerrigan’s own life story broke loose of the media’s shackles. And I confess now to a sense of minor shame, because let’s be honest, those events transpired more than twenty years ago; Nancy was attacked. She got over it. I was interested to know her thoughts I suppose because of the recent release of the film I, Tonya, but the more I think about it the more obvious it becomes that she has nothing to add. Her response – if it is a response at all – is to redirect any interested party to what she knows and loves, and that is skating. By not discussing it, Nancy has said in precisely zero words what it took me to say in the last 239. (Go on, count them..!)
To wit, shortly after retiring from amateur skating Nancy narrated an autobiography, In My Own Words, an engaging and enlightening chronicle of her life as a competing figure skater.
“I felt that my story might be inspiring to kids,” she explains when I ask what led her to write and record In My Own Words. “It is important to me to try to give back and I hope this does so in some small way.”
Nancy slips into the role of narrator comfortably and I won’t go into the audiobook because that’s a job for the reviewers, but I will say she has that way of relating a story that puts you in her world. You’ll listen and think her spoken words might be nice to go to bed to, but it’d be futile. Five minutes in and you’ll be bolt upright reaching for a pen and notepad. Such is the stealthy way in which Nancy’s capacity to inspire sneaks up on you.
And that’s appropriate because she’s well placed as a role model for aspiring skaters and would-be athletes in general, having won bronze and silver at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics respectively, and previously earned a haul of the same colours at World Championship level. By the age of 9 she had won her first competition, The Boston Open.
“The rink was just down the street from my house,” she says when I ask what first sowed the skating seed, “and my brothers played hockey there. I would go along with them. I loved the speed of skating.”
It was a love that would reward Nancy well over the coming years as she clinched some of the top prizes in her sport. But it’s not just her skating prowess that places Nancy as a monument to inspiration. Now a parent and businesswoman, she is well versed in the art of multitasking.
“As a mom of three I spend most of my time trying to make sure that their lives are taken care of,” she says. “That involves a lot of driving! But there is homework and after school activities and other obligations. I love being a mom but it doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things. I try to work out and devote time to the companies that I work with along with some other projects so it’s a pretty full schedule.”
Nancy’s story, while rare, is not uncommon to successful athletes, many of whom received support from parent figures willing to sacrifice everything for their child’s sporting future. Nancy’s own father worked multiple jobs to ensure his daughter had access to the best coaching facilities, even driving the ice resurfacer at the Kerrigans’ local rink in exchange for Nancy’s lessons. Perhaps because of that upbringing, perhaps because of a lifetime spent working towards different goals, she seems to understand the need to take each challenge head on, as it comes. At least, it’s a mantra she appears to be living to this day.
“I am not really looking too far down the road,” she says when I ask what’s next in the life of Nancy Kerrigan, “as two of our kids are still young, but I am serving on the advisory board of the Aurora Games which is a new, all women’s sports and entertainment event that will start in 2019. It is a very exciting project that my husband’s company, StarGames, is producing.”
In fact she’s seen little in the way of inactivity before, during and after her skating career. Since retiring from amateur competition in 1994 Nancy has performed in multiple ice shows, appeared in several films and been a sports correspondent for the likes of Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Fox Sports and NBC. But despite the many-faceted roles in which she appears to have excelled, the skating thread – or at the very least top flight sport – runs through all of them. If you’re going to make a go of something, after all, it had better be something you get a kick out of.
“For me,” she says, “success is doing something that you love.” And when you find that something: “Put a great team around yourself and set reasonable goals which you can evaluate regularly to see how you are progressing.”
In addition to the support of her parents, coaches and the nation as a whole, Nancy’s team includes another prominent member, one who takes care of her interests to this day. Husband Jerry Solomon is also her manager (he also looks after Tennis legend Ivan Lendl and Four Continents Championships and Sochi 2014 medal winning figure skater Jason Brown) and seems to have guided his wife’s career effectively and expertly for 20 years. But none of that support would have amounted to a hill of beans without the central ingredient; if her people are her fuel, Nancy is every component the engine. Hence the trove of national and international medals, including her 1992 Olympic bronze and 1994 silver. More highlights than any sports star could wish for. Too many, in fact, to pick out a favourite
“I have been fortunate to have had many exciting moments in my life,” she says. “Not sure I can pick just one.”
Perhaps, having got to know Nancy just a little bit, having gained just a slice of insight into her achievements – values too – I am qualified to say that her proudest moment might be yet to come.
You can follow Nancy on Twitter at: @NancyAKerrigan
Or at the StarGames website: stargamesinc.com
If you’re interested in what makes an Olympic medal winning ice skater tick, Nancy’s audiobook In Her Own Words is available below:
