United States Figure Skating Association

The U.S. Figure Skating Assn., saying it feels compelled to "redeem the reputation of this great sport" in the wake of the Salt Lake City judging controversy, said Thursday it will propose a three-pronged reform initiative at the International Skating Union Congress in Japan in early June. The proposal, as announced by USFSA President Phyllis Howard, would address the current judging system, the selection of international judges and the sanctioning of judges.

More to express indignation than with an expectation of immediate change, the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.'s executive committee passed a resolution Wednesday opposing the sport's interim judging system and requesting clarification of when the computer-reliant system endorsed by International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta will take effect.

More to express indignation than with an expectation of immediate change, the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.'s executive committee passed a resolution Wednesday opposing the sport's interim judging system and requesting clarification of when the computer-reliant system endorsed by International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta will take effect.

The U.S. Figure Skating Assn., saying it feels compelled to "redeem the reputation of this great sport" in the wake of the Salt Lake City judging controversy, said Thursday it will propose a three-pronged reform initiative at the International Skating Union Congress in Japan in early June. The proposal, as announced by USFSA President Phyllis Howard, would address the current judging system, the selection of international judges and the sanctioning of judges.

International Olympic Committee executive board members are following the Tonya Harding affair from a distance of about 5,000 miles, which, as far as they are concerned, is close enough. While acknowledging that they have had numerous informal discussions about whether the U.S. figure skater should be allowed to participate in the fast-approaching Winter Olympics, the topic is not on the agenda for the three-day executive board meeting that begins here today.

Michelle Kwan of Torrance has been notified by U.S. Figure Skating Assn. officials that they will send her a plane ticket. They have not, however, told her when or where she is going. Although the association announced Wednesday that Kwan will travel to Norway to train for the Feb. 12-27 Winter Olympics, officials acknowledged that they have to work out numerous details, including her exact destination.

Seeking a repeat of their legal victory that enabled figure skater Tonya Harding to compete in the Winter Olympics, her lawyers returned to court Monday in an attempt to assure her a berth in this month's World Championships. They filed papers in Oregon's Multnomah County Circuit Court, requesting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would prevent the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.

While Tonya Harding observed, U.S. District Judge Owen Panner said Tuesday that he would rule today on whether to grant a temporary restraining order that would delay possible disciplinary action against her by the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. After listening to arguments for almost two hours in a Portland, Ore., court, Panner called for a recess. A five-member USFSA panel is scheduled to begin a hearing Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Now, at week's end, perhaps a forthright comparison to a three-ring circus is in order--call it the spectacle of American women's figure skating, under the Portland Big Top. Out in the suburbs is Tonya Harding, for everyone to see, in an all-out public relations press to save her place on the U.S. Olympic figure skating team. On Friday she's smiling, she's playing, she's telling the country she's just ordinary folk, but can be a lady when she needs to be.

When 25 members of the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.'s international committee met after the women's championship Saturday night at the San Jose Arena, the discussion was about whether 1995 national champion and world bronze-medalist Nicole Bobek should be granted an injury waiver into this year's world championships. But that was not the issue. If it had been, based on recent precedents involving national champions, the decision would have been a slam dunk for Bobek.

The moment the last triple salchow was landed and the last quadruple loop was looped at this week's U.S. figure skating championships, preparations intensified for next year's competition, to be held at Staples Center and the Sports Arena Jan. 6-13. Although a year seems ample time to get ready, preliminary planning has long been underway for the first U.S. championships in Los Angeles since 1954 and first in Southern California since San Diego hosted the event in 1981.

Most people have heard horror stories of children barely out of diapers being pushed onto the ice by overbearing coaches and desperate parents seeking Olympic gold. Julie Gidlow once fit that stereotype, rising to skate at dawn, practicing her camel spins and double lutzes while classmates did the "moonwalk" at school dances. So at the ripe old age of 18 (practically elderly in the professional skating world), Gidlow quit the rink. "I went to college," she said.

In an intriguing prospect for figure skating fans but the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.'s worst nightmare, Tonya Harding is considering avenues that would allow her to return to competition. She was handed a lifetime ban from USFSA events in 1994 for her role in the cover-up of an attack on Nancy Kerrigan, but sources said Tuesday that she is preparing to apply next month for reinstatement.

When 25 members of the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.'s international committee met after the women's championship Saturday night at the San Jose Arena, the discussion was about whether 1995 national champion and world bronze-medalist Nicole Bobek should be granted an injury waiver into this year's world championships. But that was not the issue. If it had been, based on recent precedents involving national champions, the decision would have been a slam dunk for Bobek.

The U.S. Figure Skating Assn. said Thursday that it will not pursue legal action that would prevent Tonya Harding from competing in the March 20-27 World Championships in Chiba, Japan. Responding to a decision by a federal judge Wednesday in Portland, Ore., which granted Harding a temporary restraining order preventing immediate action against her, the association said in a statement that it is "deeply concerned with the court's ruling and its impact on the USFSA's ability to govern the sport .

Flushed with success from a victory in the courtroom Wednesday, figure skater Tonya Harding predicted that her next one will come on the ice. "Cool. Cool," Harding said upon learning that she apparently will be allowed to represent the United States in the March 20-27 World Championships in Chiba, Japan. "I'm going to win this time." Harding was eighth in the recent Winter Olympics, but she might not even have been there if her lawyers had not reached a settlement with the U.S.

Tears welling in her eyes and her lips quivering, Tonya Harding confessed Thursday that she knew about the plot to attack rival Nancy Kerrigan after the fact and did not report it to police. But Harding steadfastly said she was not involved and knew nothing of the assault beforehand. She pleaded, all but begged to remain on the U.S. Olympic team. "I have devoted my entire life to one objective: winning an Olympic gold medal for my country. This is my last chance.

Members of Tonya Harding's camp came forward Sunday to say the young ice skater "categorically denies" accusations that she was involved in an assault on one of her rivals and that she would not quit in her quest for the Olympic gold. Meanwhile, U.S. Olympic Committee officials, who appeared Saturday to be moving toward a decision to remove Harding from the U.S. team for the Feb. 12-27 Winter Games in Norway, decided during a meeting Sunday in Durham, N.C.

While Tonya Harding observed, U.S. District Judge Owen Panner said Tuesday that he would rule today on whether to grant a temporary restraining order that would delay possible disciplinary action against her by the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. After listening to arguments for almost two hours in a Portland, Ore., court, Panner called for a recess. A five-member USFSA panel is scheduled to begin a hearing Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Seeking a repeat of their legal victory that enabled figure skater Tonya Harding to compete in the Winter Olympics, her lawyers returned to court Monday in an attempt to assure her a berth in this month's World Championships. They filed papers in Oregon's Multnomah County Circuit Court, requesting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would prevent the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.