Kerrigan Had to Return Quickly : Attacks: Olympic deadline gave the skater’s comeback a much greater sense of urgency than Seles’.

As bizarre as the stabbing of Monica Seles was, it was not the only attack on a well-known female athlete in recent memory.

The clubbing of figure skater Nancy Kerrigan’s knee at the U.S. championships on Jan. 6, 1994, offers a very different example of how one athlete and her advisers dealt with a frightening and debilitating public attack.

Kerrigan’s accelerated return to competition and her aggressively proactive approach regarding the media and public appearances stand in contrast to Seles’ self-imposed two-year hibernation.

Although each was deliberately injured so that another athlete might prevail, the circumstances were markedly different.

Kerrigan desperately wanted to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics and thus faced an inescapable deadline to return. She had only six weeks to repair herself mentally and physically. The strategy in the Kerrigan camp after the attack was to dictate the rules of the game, not let the situation control her.

“Our collective thinking was, ‘She’s got to get back out there,’ ” said Jerry Solomon, Kerrigan’s agent and fiance. “We wanted her to get back on her feet and skating as soon as she could so she could get over her fear of being in public and [possibly] being attacked. I didn’t want her first experience with performing in public to be at the Olympics.”

To that end, Solomon organized a skating event before the Games in Norway.

Although Kerrigan was counseled by a sports psychologist, Solomon said the factor that enabled her to overcome the incident was her fundamental strength.

“It never occurred to Nancy Kerrigan that she would not skate in the Olympics,” he said. “You are talking about a person who was determined not to let this incident affect her life.”

Kerrigan skated well in Norway and won the silver medal.

A positive element since in Kerrigan’s case was the fact that the perpetrators of the crime were convicted and imprisoned, allowing a closure not available to Seles. Solomon said Kerrigan began to relax after the trial of her attacker and the co-conspirators.

The lasting effect on Kerrigan has been to make her more cautious and concerned about security precautions.

“Nancy was not at all fearful before the attack,” Solomon said. “I’d say that today she’s much more concerned about her safety. It’s ongoing. She’s been stalked. Some things do tend to make her more nervous today than she would have been a year ago. But it’s not going to prevent her from being in public or skating.”

Solomon said that at the time of Kerrigan’s attack, there were constant comparisons made to Seles’ stabbing.

“They happened so close in time, you couldn’t help but think about the connection,” he said. “But what’s happened since . . . it’s been obviously different. They are different people. Nancy and I talk about it from time to time. It’s hard to know what’s going through Monica’s mind. Impossible.”