Nancy Kerrigan Breaks Down in Tears Talking About Plane Crash Victims

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Nancy Kerrigan.

Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan broke down in tears during a news conference talking about the plane crash victims, some of whom were figure skating coaches and competitors.

“I’m not sure how to process it. I’m sorry,” Kerrigan said, breaking down. She said she thought it was “weird” at first when her agent husband started receiving calls asking her to do interviews. But then she decided, “We just wanted to be here and be part of our community.”

Kerrigan spoke at the Skating Club of Boston’s rink in Norwood, Massachusetts, according to People Magazine. She appeared alongside Olympic skater Tenley Albright.

“I told them, I have to be around you guys,” Kerrigan told People. “I needed the community, the support. It’s okay to ask for help and to be there for one another.” According to People, Kerrigan “represented The Skating Club of Boston throughout her eligible career,” earning silver and bronze Olympic medals.

The Skating Club of Boston named some of the victims on its Facebook page. They are Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, both 16-year-old figure skaters, Lane’s mom Christine Lane, Han’s mom Jin Han, and coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, who are former Russian figure skaters.

Nancy Kerrigan Stressed That People Find Strength Amid Tragedy

Referring to teenage skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, who perished in the plane crash, Kerrigan said, “I’ve never seen anyone love skating as much as these two, and I think that’s why it hurts so much.”

She added, “Tenley’s always here supporting the kids and anytime I’m able to be here and watch them grow.” Kerrigan noted that the “kids here really work hard; their parents work hard to be here.”

“I feel for the athletes and their families anyone on that plane not just skaters,” she added, of the crash between the regional jet arriving from Kansas and a Blackhawk helictoper.

She said Americans have been through “tragedies before.”

“As people we are strong, and I guess it’s how we respond to it. My response is to be with people I care about. I needed support. That’s why I’m here. A little bit at a time. It’s a shock,” Kerrigan said.

Nancy Kerrigan Called It a Big ‘Blow’ to Learn She Knew People on the Fatal Flight

GettyOlympian Nancy Kerrigan

Kerrigan said during the press conference that she was watching the news coverage “all night,” and then discovered that she knew “some of the people on the plane,” calling that “even a bigger blow.”

“We just wish them well,” she said, hoping that the families have “the courage and strength to make the next step.”

“Each one of them are strong enough to get through this somehow,” she added. “Look beside you; there’s someone who cares.”

Of the two coaches from the Boston club who died, Kerrigan said she never worked with them but “we were at the Olympics together in 1994 . . . I’ve seen them a lot of times.”

She added, “Maybe they were a little tough but with a smile on their face. Any time I walked in, they were always welcoming and happy to see one another.”

She said it would be very “strange” for people who frequent the skating club to “walk in here and not see that.”

“I don’t come to the skating club all the time but it was the only place I thought I should be right now,” she added. “We just wanted to be here with each other.”

Albright noted, “There are so many memories, just having seen the skaters competing.”