Skater's Tearful Cry: `Why Me? Why Me?' -- Attack On Kerrigan Evokes Memories Of Seles Stabbing

Editor's note: Dana Scarton, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was interviewing Nancy Kerrigan when she was attacked at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Here is her eyewitness account.

DETROIT - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan let out a horrified scream and collapsed onto the floor about six feet from where I was standing. A man had just slammed something resembling a crowbar into her legs.

In that instant, a newsreel of tennis star Monica Seles being stabbed at courtside last year flashed through my mind.

It had happened again, I thought. This time the victim was Kerrigan, 24, the United States' best female figure skater and a gold-medal favorite for the 1994 Olympics.

For a second I felt paralyzed. I wanted to erase this terrible moment. I wanted Kerrigan to be safe.

Much of the attack is a blur to me. I had arrived at Cobo Arena around 1:40 p.m. yesterday for the ladies singles free-skating practice. I wanted to interview coaches and skaters for a couple of feature stories.

A group of six skaters to which Kerrigan was assigned took the ice at 1:55 p.m. I showed my press credential and was permitted to stand near the edge of the rink and watch.

At 2:40 p.m., an announcer said the session was finished and asked the skaters to leave the ice.

I moved into a short hallway leading from the rink to the women's locker room. I stood several feet from a blue curtain separating the hallway from the rink, and directly across from the women's locker room.

She had no chance to reply

As Kerrigan, who was one of the first skaters off the ice, passed through the curtain, I took a step forward, introduced myself and requested to speak with her briefly.

She didn't have a chance to reply.

A man charged Kerrigan from behind. He came from the direction of the blue curtain. He was big - about 6 feet 2, 200 pounds.

For a split second, I wondered who he was and whether Kerrigan knew him. Then he crouched down momentarily alongside Kerrigan and swung something that looked like a crowbar.

The bar seemed to flex as the man swung it powerfully. It struck Kerrigan in the legs - exactly where, I'm not sure. He swung it again, and again it hit her in the legs. Then he fled without saying a word.

"Why me? Why me?" Kerrigan screamed through tears as she dropped onto a red carpet. Her skates were still on her feet.

A shaking experience

Within seconds coaches, rink officials and medical people were huddled over the Olympic star.

While speaking with her coach, Evy Scotvold, I wondered aloud whether Kerrigan would have made it into the locker room had I not spoken to her. He said it wasn't my fault. I knew that, but it didn't ease the pain or horror.

In my 10 years of journalism, I have never felt so shaken.