Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994 TAG: 9401090134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
Both skaters were chosen for the U.S. team that will compete at the Lillehammer Olympics in February.
Kerrigan was forced to withdraw from the national championships, which she won in 1993, after being attacked Thursday by an unidentified man. She suffered a severe knee bruise and doctors told her not to compete.
After Harding, skating last in the free program, hit four triple 13-year-old just misses Olympic bid. C11 jumps and skated intelligently to win the title, the U.S. Figure Skating Association's international committee said Kerrigan would join her in Norway.
The vote to send Kerrigan was unanimous.
"I'm on my way," Harding said.
Michelle Kwan, a 13-year-old rising star from Torrance, Calif., finished second but was bumped from the Olympic team for Kerrigan, the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist.
"I tried to do my best and whatever comes out of it, I'll be happy," Kwan said. "I think it's fine that Nancy goes to the Olympics. What I got is pretty incredible, anyway."
The USFSA said Kwan might accompany the team to Lillehammer in case Kerrigan can't compete.
Kerrigan has been told by doctors that she can resume skating next week and begin jumping in two weeks. The women's Olympic competition is the last weekend in February.
A USFSA review panel will watch Kerrigan skate Feb. 6, then decide if Kerrigan is ready to compete in the Olympics.
Harvey Schiller, executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, praised the decision to send Kerrigan.
"She has been the victim of a senseless and brutal act," Schiller said, "but she has demonstrated toughness and the competitive spirit that only an Olympian would have."
Two years ago, the USFSA placed two-time defending national champion Todd Eldredge on the Olympic team for the Games in Albertville, France, even though Eldredge withdrew from the U.S. championships with a back injury.
Harding nailed a triple lutz at the outset of her program, then passed on a triple axel. She is the only American woman to complete one in competition. But Harding had a big smile on her face when she did only a single axel, as if to say, "Well, I tried."
She also hit a triple flip, a triple loop and a triple salchow and landed on two feet on a triple toe loop.
When she saw her marks and knew she had added the title to her 1991 crown, Harding turned to her coaches and said, "I won," and began crying.
Kwan was second Saturday night after finishing third in the technical program. That gave her the silver medal, ahead of Nicole Bobek, who had a rough performance. While Kwan hit four of her six triple jumps, Bobek fell once, touched a hand on the ice once and stepped out of another jump.
Elaine Zayak, the 1982 world champion back from a decade of professional shows and competition, clearly was the crowd favorite. Zayak got a big ovation even before she began to skate and covered her face with her hands when she finished a solid routine.
"I couldn't believe it when they were cheering me and I hadn't done anything yet," Zayak said.
Bobek hugged Zayak as the 28-year-old former national champion (1981) left the ice. Zayak hit three triple jumps in an entertaining routine that earned her respect, if not top marks.
Lisa Ervin, the 1993 runner-up, was seventh.
Kerrigan said on ABC-TV, "I'm pretty upset. I wish I could go out there.
"I feel I've never skated any better than I'm skating now."
Kerrigan said she began physical therapy Friday.
"It's better than it was yesterday," she said of her knee, "but it's still pretty swollen."
Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, the favorites, won the pairs competition Saturday. Meno and Sand each skated in the 1992 Olympics, but with different partners.
Joining them on the Olympic team were the pairs of Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen and Karen Courtland and Todd Reynolds.
\ NOTE: Detroit police handed out two composite drawings Saturday of the man who assaulted Kerrigan.
While both drawings are similar, one shows a white male and the other a black male with a light complexion. Several eyewitness thought the man was black and others believed he was white.
A police officer at Joe Louis Arena said the composite sketches had been shown on television and would be printed by Detroit-area newspapers today. He said copies of the sketches were not distributed to the fans at the arena for Saturday night's free skate, the concluding event of the national championships.
by CNB