Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 7, 1994 TAG: 9401070170
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
For the second time in eight months a major athlete was attacked in the arena in which she performs.
Nancy Kerrigan, the 1993 U.S. figure skating champion and 1992 Olympic bronze medalist, was injured after practice Thursday by a man who hit her on the right leg with a club or metal bar, then fled Cobo Arena.
The blow severely bruised her knee and bruised her quadriceps tendon, an injury that could impede her jumping and landing ability.
"I'm not going to lose faith in all people or anything like that," Kerrigan told ABC-TV from her hotel. "It was one bad guy. I'm sure there's others and this kind of thing has happened before in other sports, but not everybody is like that.
"The people who were worried about me, wondering what happened, those are the people that I want to tell that I'm OK. It's not the most important thing - skating - so if I can't [compete], I'll have to deal with it. . . . It could have been a lot worse."
Dr. Steven Plomaritis, who examined Kerrigan, said there was no fracture, but "the discomfort could preclude her from participating at her capacity."
Kerrigan, 24, is scheduled to compete in the technical program today and the free skate Saturday at the U.S Figure Skating Championships. She is one of the favorites for the gold medal in February at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
She skipped her practice scheduled for Thursday night but said she planned to practice today.
"She sustained quite a blow, not only physically but mentally," said Kerrigan's agent, Jerry Solomon.
Tennis player Monica Seles, who was stabbed in the back April 30 when a fanatical supporter of Steffi Graf reached from the stands during a match in Hamburg, Germany, still cannot compete. Her agents, International Management Group, announced Thursday that Seles would not be ready for this month's Australian Open.
"I was hoping we would not have one of these Monica Seles-type attacks on athletes, so this is horrifying," said LeRoy Walker, the U.S. Olympic Committee President. "We are very concerned about it."
Kerrigan was attacked as she paused after practice to speak with Dana Scarton, a reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While they were talking, the man ran up to Kerrigan and struck her. Scarton said the object the man struck her with could have been a wooden club or a crowbar.
The assailant escaped by using the object to smash a Plexiglas door, which was chained shut, and fleeing into a crowd of hundreds of people in the area for the International Auto Show.
by CNB