If you were alive in 1994 and were aware of your surroundings, then you certainly remember what Tonya and Nancy did for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer on CBS. The whole circus that started with figure skating Nancy Kerrigan getting whacked on the knee just before the U.S. Figure Skating Championships led to a crazy atmosphere with the media focusing on a potential feud between Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. It didn’t surface, but the tension between both skaters could be cut with a butcher’s knife.
NBC has already announced that it will air a documentary on Tonya-Nancy during the 2014 Winter Olympics in February.
ESPN announces today that a 30 for 30 documentary will be shown a month earlier on January 16, 2014 to mark the 20th anniversary of one of the craziest chapters in sports.
“30 for 30: The Price of Gold” will include interviews with Harding, former CBS anchor Connie Chung who was assigned to follow the entire Harding-Kerrigan mess throughout the Olympics, Pardon the Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser who covered the whole affair for the Washington Post, Jerry Solomon who was and still is Kerrigan’s agent and now her husband and many more.
Here’s the particulars from ESPN.
ESPN Films’ Upcoming The Price of Gold Focuses on Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and the “Whack Heard Around the World” 20 Years Ago
On January 6, 1994, just weeks before the Olympic Games in Norway, Nancy Kerrigan was struck on the knee in a stunning attack and what unfolded was one of the most dramatic controversies in sports history. ESPN Films will debut a new 30 for 30 documentary, The Price of Gold, on Thursday, January 16, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. The documentary is directed by award-winning filmmaker Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture, American Teen, On the Ropes.)The world was mesmerized by two athletes in particular at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer – Nancy Kerrigan, the elegant brunette and Tonya Harding, the feisty blonde engulfed in scandal. Several weeks prior, at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was shockingly clubbed on the right knee by an unknown assailant and left wailing, “Why, why, why?” As the bizarre “why” mystery unraveled, it was revealed that Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had plotted the attack with his friends to eliminate Kerrigan from the competition and increase Harding’s chance at a gold medal. Now two decades later, The Price of Gold takes a fresh look at the worldwide spectacle that ensued with Harding in the center of it all.“This surreal controversy unfolded during a time before the pervasive 24-hour news and tabloid culture that exists today,” said Libby Geist, director of development and producer for ESPN Films. “This film tells the story of how the Tonya/Nancy saga captured the attention of the world and created one of the most bizarre scandals in sports history.”The Price of Gold features interviews with Tonya Harding, Connie Chung, Tony Kornheiser, coaches for both Kerrigan and Harding, Kerrigan’s husband/manager Jerry Solomon, and many others.
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