The attack on Nancy Kerrigan came Thursday as she paused after practice to speak with Dana Scarton, a reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
While they were talking, the man ran up to Kerrigan and struck her with the instrument.
Scarton said it could have been a wooden club or a crowbar.
"He definitely blindsided her," said Scarton.
The assailant escaped by using the instrument to smash a Plexiglas door, which was chained shut, and disappeared into a crowd of hundreds of people in the area for the International Auto Show next door.
Police are looking for "a 6-foot white male wearing a black hat, black jacket, black shirt, white or tan pants," according to Cliff Russell, press secretary for Detroit mayor Dennis Archer.
Family members were stunned.
"It's just horrifying," said Kerrigan's sister-in-law, Tammy Moscaritolo, interviewed at Boston's Logan Airport. "Why would anyone want to hurt Nancy?"
Kerrigan's brother, Michael, who was at the airport on his way to Detroit, said Nancy had never been harassed by anyone.
The questions late Thursday: Is she physically capable of overcoming the injury?
"There is a chance," Dr. Steven Plomaritis said. "The discomfort could preclude her from participating at her capacity."
Can she overcome the emotional damage?
"The only thing I can say," said Kerrigan's agent, Jerry Solomon, "is that she is mentally tough, and she doesn't like what has happened. You have to factor that into this somewhere."
U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Moran said, "Nancy's tough. We're all pulling for her and are hopeful she can overcome this."
