Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1994 TAG: 9402090098
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LILLEHAMMER, NORWAY LENGTH: Medium
The U.S. Olympic Committee, troubled by Harding's role in the Nancy Kerrigan assault, called a special hearing for Tuesday to decide whether to bar the U.S. champion skater from the Winter Games.
If Harding is banned, her only chance of competing in Lillehammer would be through a court order.
The USOC's decision to convene its Games Administrative Board was supported by a 400-page volume of evidence from a figure skating federation inquiry and Harding's statements.
"It's not a matter of hearing more, it's a matter of giving Tonya Harding a chance to respond, which she has not had a chance to do," USOC president LeRoy Walker said.
He said Harding could submit her case in person or in writing but hoped she would testify. There was no immediate word if she would.
Interviewed on NBC's "Today," Walker said the proceeding was similar to an administrative hearing.
"But we would like to present her, in person, the charges and grounds for charges that have been leveled by the [figure skating] panel to get her response."
"They want to talk to Tonya," USOC executive director Harvey Schiller said. "I think it is a response that is required by the grounds surrounding the attack on Nancy Kerrigan."
The inquiry will deal more with "sportsmanship and fair play aspects rather than criminal culpability," he said.
Schiller, in an interview Tuesday night on ABC's "Nightline," said the board could impose penalties ranging from "dismissal from the team to public apology."
The administrative board is the USOC's ultimate authority at the Games, and its decision is final. Harding could sue if she were removed from the team, but Walker said that possibility would not affect the USOC's decision.
"We do not wish to respond to this in terms of what may eventually come in terms of suits," he said. Olympics update. B5 Gold medal for this U.S. team won't require a miracle. B5 "We want to do what is absolutely fair."
In Portland, Harding's attorney, Bob Weaver, said he was reviewing the USOC's hearing notice.
"They have described kind of a broad spectrum of concerns and issues, much of which, but not all of which, are the same things raised by the United States Figure Skating Association," Weaver said.
He said the Olympic committee had "some different provisions of their own standards and bylaws" that diverge from the figure skating association's rules.
Harding will remain on the team until at least the end of the hearing, Feb. 15, three days after the Winter Games begin and eight days before the start of women's figure skating, its glamour event.
The meeting will be held at the SAS Park Royal Hotel, across the street from Fornebu Airport. Schiller said the USOC wanted to meet out of town to keep from disrupting preparations at the Olympic site. Between nine and 13 people will hear the case. Walker will decide how many votes are needed to decide Harding's fate.
The USOC panel will be the third to investigate Harding's role in the attack on Kerrigan, who was clubbed on the right knee as she left a practice rink at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit Jan. 6.
The U.S. Figure Skating Association is conducting its own investigation of Harding, a process that won't be finished until after the Winter Olympics but which could result in her expulsion from the sport.
Last Saturday, a USFSA panel found "reasonable grounds" to believe Harding was involved in the plot to injure Kerrigan.
In addition, a grand jury in Multnomah County, Ore., is hearing evidence to determine if allegations by Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, are true: That the skater gave the go-ahead to attack Kerrigan, and was involved in the plot and the cover-up.
The deadline for the grand jury to report on its investigation in the Kerrigan attack has been moved back to March 21, and a prosecutor said any indictments are unlikely before then.
Harding says she learned of the plot after the attack but admits withholding information from authorities. She says she feared her former husband and his friends would retaliate.
Her admission on Jan. 27 was accompanied by a plea to have "my last chance" at an Olympic gold medal. The confession and the figure skating panel's findings weighed heavily in the USOC's decision to call its own hearing, Schiller said.
The International Olympic Committee, which has final control over the Games, reiterated that it would not hear any appeal of a Harding dismissal.
by CNB