Nancy Kerrigan

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- It is out of control.There are four books published, with one on the way.There are payoffs from "Inside Edition" and "Hard Copy," dueling interviews with Connie Chung and Diane Sawyer, live appearances on Court TV and a movie deal with Disney.And you thought the Bobbitts were at the cutting edge of tabloid-mania?"Skategate" is big.It's Michael Jackson, Joey Buttafuoco and the Menendez brothers wrapped into one.It has everything, including sex, lies and videotape.Oh, and there are also FBI transcripts.

She is the most famous assault victim in America.People who've never seen her skate consider her a heroine, a gold-medal contender.But overshadowing all is one question: Can she really skate and win again?This is Nancy Kerrigan, on the eve of the Winter Olympics.Tonight in Boston, Kerrigan appears in a skating exhibition for the first time since being clubbed above her right knee Jan. 6.She will perform with her friends, including 1992 Olympic men's silver medalist Paul Wylie. She will skate in front of her family and her fans.

HAMAR, Norway -- She talked of lace outfits with Nancy Kerrigan and a hair pin with Tonya Harding.She gave her feuding friends plenty of room to maneuver around the ice.And after two of the most-watched practices in Winter Olympic history, Lily Lyoonjung Lee of South Korea found herself providing an analysis of a skating soap opera.As reporters shouted questions to her, Lee yelled up a runway to Kerrigan, "Nancy, Nancy, look what is happening to me."Until this week, Lee, born and raised in Alexandria, Va., was simply known as the women's champion representing her parents' country, South Korea.

The 65th annual Academy Awards ceremony last night was the glitziest evening of the year, with an estimated billion people watching to see what the royals and the renegades of the film industry were wearing.It was, however, glitz without color or flash.The evening was virtually unrelieved by bright color, starting with master of ceremonies Billy Crystal in black tie, black shirt and black tails, which he described as "Armani meets Jiminy Cricket."The anticipated glamour was still there, but considerably toned down.

The violence that nearly redistributed the Olympic Gold Medal in Ladies Figure Skating was the crash in practice Thursday of two 16-year-olds skating backward. But it didn't. Oksana Baiul of Ukraine skated in a bandage and pain, beautifully, last night. The favorite, which she had been all along, won by a narrow margin.Ms. Baiul had stood second after the short program on Wednesday, and Tanja Szewczenko of Germany fifth, when they injured each other. That seemingly opened up the competition, making any outcome possible.

The TV Repairman:You know it's time for the Winter Olympics to end when names like Natalia Mishkutienok and Artur Dmitriev dance confidently off the tongue.* If Nancy Kerrigan is going to become a huge part of our lives via endorsements, commercials, etc., hopefully someone will instruct her to keep her eyes all the way open, stop cleaning her teeth with her tongue and ditch the adolescent shrugs and giggling during interviews.* Tell you one thing, I'd lose a lot of confidence in any sort of athletic pursuit going against a gent with an intimidating name like Vegard Ulvang.

Nancy Kerrigan Got Ripped OffThere seems to be a trend toward Nancy Kerrigan-bashing. Entertainment Tonight may have started it with some very unkind statement about how her popularity is "plummeting," and all of it because she was cautious about granting yet another interview to unbelievably obnoxious, scandal-oriented television programs.Enough already! What we see here is a woman who is thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned. Cut her some slack. Think about how you would feel. Nancy spent nearly all her life working toward the Olympic gold medal.

DETROIT -- There was a wedge of security guards in front of her and a pack of minicams behind her, and Nancy Kerrigan kept walking, out of Joe Louis Arena, out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.She was hurt. And upset. But mostly, a day after an unidentified male assailant bashed her right knee with one swing of a metal bar, she was in a state of disbelief."It's hard to say how long I'll look over my shoulder and see who is behind me," Kerrigan said yesterday.Kerrigan's attacker remained at large and her dream of skating in the 1994 Winter Olympics remained on hold.

ALBERTVILLE, France -- She will sit in front of the television set that is positioned at the edge of the rink. She will listen to the music. She will listen to the crowd.Others will watch her daughter, the skater, and they will see this "Irish Katarina Witt," a charming, graceful performer whose elegance is matched only by her ability to jump with the lightness of a dancer.But Brenda Kerrigan must sit by this television set, must have her face pressed near the screen, and even then, all she will see are black dots, fuzzy images of a skater spinning and jumping.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Todd Eldredge dreamed of being an Olympian the first time he laced up a pair of used hockey skates and performed a few rough and ragged spins on the ice.He was 5 years old then, the son of a Chatham, Mass., fisherman embarking on a long, expensive journey through the world of amateur figure skating. In 1991, by the age of 20, he had won his second U.S. championship and matured into a world champion bronze medalist.But yesterday, he came up against the reality that a lower back injury he sustained two weeks ago could snuff out his Olympic dream.