The Tonya Harding Files, 20 Years After the Hit

Tonya Harding

As couch-potatoes worldwide prepare for the Sochi winter Olympics, reporters are scurrying to disinter Oregon's most notorious contribution to winter sports: the Tonya Harding scandal.

It was 20 years ago today that a rat-pack of hapless thugs allied with Harding—then and now the best-known figure skater Portland has ever produced—carried out an attack on Harding's rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

At the sports website Deadspin, you can read about Harding's then-boyfriend, Jeff Gillooly (now Jeff Stone) and, Shane Stant, the man who actually thumped Kerrigan. 

And from The Believer, an article by Portland writer Sara Marshall reprises the incident in a poetic defense of Harding.

right
—

WWeek 2015

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.