was in Phoenix, where the young woman once known as Tonya Triple had made a singular mess of her free skate at the 1993 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Overweight and out of shape, she finished fourth, complaining of asthma as she failed to It was in Phoenix, where the young woman once known as Tonya Triple had made a singular mess of her free skate at the 1993 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Overweight and out of shape, she finished fourth, complaining of asthma as she failed to It was in Phoenix, where the young woman once known as Tonya Triple had made a singular mess of her free skate at the 1993 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Overweight and out of shape, she finished fourth, complaining of asthma as she failed to It It was in Phoenix, where the young woman once known as Tonya Triple had made a singular mess of her free skate at the 1993 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Overweight and out of shape, she finished fourth, complaining of asthma as she failed to ding, 22, comes to the Skate America International, which opens Wednesday in Dallas, after a summer when she had to explain why an asthmatic would be smoking cigarettes. And how she was apparently divorced and then reconciled with her husband, Harding, 22, comes to the Skate America International, which opens Wednesday in Dallas, after a summer when she had to explain why an asthmatic would be smoking cigarettes. And how she was apparently divorced and then reconciled with her husband, Harding, 22, comes to the Skate America International, which o Harding, 22, comes to the Skate America International, which opens Wednesday in Dallas, after a summer when she had to explain why an asthmatic would be smoking cigarettes. And how she was apparently divorced and then reconciled with her husband, gainst whom she had a restraining order issued for the second time in two
years. And what happened to keep her from going to a Norwegian training camp
sponsored by the U.S. Figure Skating Association.
gave it the best shot I could at the time, and I didn't make it," she said in a recent interview by phone. "I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to do it again. I've got this (an Olympic medal) on my fingertips, and I'm not going to "I gave it the best shot I could at the time, and I didn't make it," she said in a recent interview by phone. "I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to do it again. I've got this (an Olympic medal) on my fingertips, and I'm not going to "I gave it the best shot I could at the time, and I didn't make it," s "I gave it the best shot I could at the time, and I didn't make it," she said in a recent interview by phone. "I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to do it again. I've got this (an Olympic medal) on my fingertips, and I'm not going to et it slip away."
Harding remains the most talented of the U.S. woman skaters and, if fit, the best bet to win a medal. Yet even making the 1994 Olympic team is going to be difficult, since the U.S. debacle at last year's world meet earned the country only two wom
n's places in the upcoming Winter Games.
There may also be as many judges loath to give Harding the benefit of the doubt as there were before 1991, when she was seen as the wayward kid from the wrong side of the tracks. She needed a stunning free skate, complete with landmark-becoming-t
ademark triple Axel, to convince the naysayers then, and she may need
something similar this season. Harding has not landed a triple Axel since
1991.
"I was great in 1991, I really believe it, but I know I can be better," Harding said. "I realize it is going to be hard for me to prove worthy because I didn't do anything last year.
"I'm definitely going to prove people wrong. I'm not going to let people say I (wasted) this talent."
It is important for Harding to provide a significant measure of that proof at Skate America, where the field includes the top two finishers in the 1993 world championships, Oksana Baiul of Ukraine and Surya Bonaly of France.
Also entered are Michelle Kwan, 13, the new darling of U.S. skating, who won the U.S. Olympic Festival in July, and Lisa Ervin, 16, a world team member this year.
"I challenge them to do the best program they can," Harding said. "I'll do my best program, and let's see who will win."
There is great uncertainty over what Harding's best might be, given the results of the last two seasons and her scratch from the training camp at the 1994 Olympic rink in Hamar, Norway.
Rawlinson was on her way to the airport for the trip to Norway when her car phone rang. The caller was Harding, saying she would not go to Norway because she was being treated for an ovarian cyst at a Portland hospital.
"I was disappointed she didn't go, because she was skating great and would have showed it," Rawlinson said.
The lateness of that cancellation, combined with Harding's appearance at a paid exhibition in Cleveland eight days later, made USFSA officials consider asking her for proof of the illness.
"Tonya has talent, and we want to help her along, but she has to try to help herself," said USFSA Executive Director Jerry Lace.
Harding certainly did not seem to be doing that when she was seen smoking at a bowling alley in a Portland suburb. Cigarettes and asthma are less than a salubrious mix.
"It was a stupid thing I was out doing," Harding said. "But I have stress. I'm a normal person like everyone else."
The stress she referred to was partly from divorce proceedings with Jeff Gillooly, her husband of three years, from whom she had also been separated in 1991. Both times, she filed for divorce; this time, Harding said, the divorce decree went thro
gh before they agreed to reconcile.
"There was miscommunication involved," she said.
It was not the first such misunderstanding to batter Harding's image. Sheriff's deputies had to be called in 1992, when she threatened another motorist with a bat. That was shortly after Harding dumped her previous coach, Dody Teachman, without
he courtesy of an explanation to Teachman.
And now, a week after the untimely medical emergency that kept her from Norway, Harding skated the exhibition, which benefitted the Mentor Figure Skating Club of Cleveland.
"Tonya's skating was excellent, and she couldn't have been nicer or more pleasant," said club treasurer Linda Brown.
Dr. Jekyll, we presume.
"The better and revised Tonya," she said.
SKATE AMERICA INTERNATIONAL - Where: Reunion Arena, Dallas. - When: Wednesday-Saturday. - TV: "Wide World of Sports," ABC-Ch. 7, Nov. 7 and Nov. 21. - Top women: 1993 world champion Oksana Baiul of Ukraine; runner-up Surya B
naly of France; 1991 U.S. champion Tonya Harding; 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival
champion Michelle Kwan. - Top men: 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano of
U.S.; 1992 Olympic champion Viktor Petrenko of Ukraine; 1993 world bronze
medalist Alexi Urmanov of Russia. - Top pairs team: 1993 world bronze
medalists Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia. - Top dance team: 1993
U.S. champions Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur; 1991 U.S. champions Elizabeth
Punsalan and Jerod Swallow; 1993 world fourth-place finishers Susanna Rahkamo
and Petri Kokko of Finland.
PHOTO (color): Tonya Harding: ``I'm going to prove people wrong.'' AP file photo.
