Nancy Kerrigan should have been famous for her talent on the ice alone, but as we all know, her story doesn’t end with a simple Olympic win or loss. In 1994, the figure skater found herself at the center of one of the biggest sports scandals in history, when she was clubbed in the knee in a Detroit ice rink just two days before the Olympic trials. Her attack, the world later learned, was orchestrated by the ex-husband of Kerrigan's competitor, Tanya Harding, who would go on to live in infamy as the villain of the story. Shortly following “the whack heard round the world,” as it was dubbed by the tabloid press at the time, Kerrigan recovered and returned to the ice, winning an Olympic silver medal that year.
The following year, she married her agent, Jerry Solomon, and retired from competition. The couple now shares three children, Matthew (23), Brian (15), and Nicole Solomon (13)—and Kerrigan says her middle son now has big Olympic dreams of his own! Read on to learn how Brian Solomon is breaking into the world of gymnastics, and how Kerrigan feels about his decision to compete.
RELATED: See Chuck Norris' Son, Who's a NASCAR Champion.
Brian is a teenage gymnast with big dreams and big talent.
Though Solomon is just 15 years old and a high school sophomore, he’s currently ranked as a nationally competitive level 10 gymnast—the highest ranking in the USA Gymnastics (USAG) Junior Olympics Program. According to a recent interview with the website Item Live, Solomon competes in six events: floor, rings, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.
The athlete says he began practicing gymnastics as a young child, and has loved the sport since first stepping on the mat. "I probably realized this was something I wanted to do when I was really little," Solomon told the site in February. "I had just started and I remember every time I learned a new skill it was just a lot of fun. I just wanted to keep learning new things," he recalled.
Now, the rising star is focused on his future within the sport. “My goal is to make it on a college team and hopefully even more beyond that," he said.
RELATED: See Tom Selleck's Daughter, Who's a Model and Pro Athlete.
Kerrigan has shared that her son wants to go to the Olympics.
With a passion for an Olympic sport and a mom like Nancy Kerrigan, it’s no surprise that Solomon hopes to achieve Olympic gold. "Brian already has said, 'I want to go to the Olympics!'” said Kerrigan in a 2016 interview with Us Weekly. “But they're so young," she added, referring to her two younger children. "They don't really realize how hard that is. I think they think, 'How hard could it be? My mom did it!'"
The famed skater says that while her kids have Olympic aspirations of their own, they don’t often discuss her historic wins. "They've seen my medal when I've taken it out or brought it someplace, I think they think it's cool," said Kerrigan, who recently appeared on Dancing With the Stars. "I think they are proud of me, but we never really talk about it! They aren't like, 'Wow, Mom!' They are happier with their own trophies!"
For more entertainment news sent directly to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
The Olympian is a proud mom, but not a “stage mom.”
With bronze and silver Olympic medals under her belt—and some unfinished business on the ice following her legendary injury—it would have been easy for Kerrigan to become a sports “stage mom” to her children. Yet the figure skater says she intentionally refrains from putting pressure on them to perform. "If they don't want to do it anymore, I'll say, 'Then let's not go.' It's a lot of commitment,” she told Us Weekly. “They have to keep it in perspective. So any time they need a break, I say, 'Oh, you don't want to go today? That's OK!'"
The iconic athlete added, “They love it. I'm here to support them as long as they love it. It's my job to just be supportive at this point."
The family has also performed together on the ice.
Though Kerrigan’s kids haven’t followed her footsteps into professional ice skating, she has found ways to share her love of the sport with her family. In 2016, they performed together in Musselman's Apple Sauce Family Skating Tribute, a two-hour skating special that aired on ABC. However, her kids’ busy schedules proved a challenge in rehearsing for the show. "They're so busy—the two younger ones do gymnastics,” she explained to Us Weekly. “My son Brian is at the gym six days a week, so he doesn't have a lot of time to get on the ice and create his number,” said Kerrigan.
Kerrigan squeezed in practices with her family between their other commitments, but acknowledged that even Olympic-hopeful teens are still teenagers at the end of the day. “They just go and do their own thing," she said of their time together on the ice. "I try to teach them but they don’t want to listen,” she joked in an interview with Parade.
RELATED: See Steven Seagal's Daughter, Who's a Model and Aspiring WWE Star.
