Fire on Ice

by Oregonian Staff

  “Tonya wants us to pass along her best wishes to Nancy. We all hope Nancy’s recovery is quick and complete.”

  But the press releases did little to divert interest away from the story or to quell demands that Harding herself talk about the matter.

  Then, Thursday morning, Oregonian reporters Dave Hogan and Jim Long were ready to report the basics of what Harding had said to the FBI during her marathon interview session—that she knew about the plot and changed her story when talking to federal agents. A few hours before this story was to go to press, Harding’s lawyers had called a press conference. At the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Harding read a brief statement her lawyers had prepared for her. She stood on a chair above the bouquet of microphones and read slowly and with emotion.

  “I would like to begin by saying how sorry I am about what happened to Nancy Kerrigan. I am embarrassed and ashamed to think that anyone close to me could be involved. I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to compete against Nancy at the nationals.

  “I have great respect for Nancy.

  “My victory at nationals was unfulfilling without the challenge of skating against Nancy.

  “I had no prior knowledge about the assault against Nancy Kerrigan.

  “I am responsible, however, for failing to report things I learned about the assault when I returned home from nationals. Many of you will be unable to forgive me for that. It will be difficult to forgive myself.

  “When I returned home Monday, January 10, 1994, I was exhausted but still focused on the national championships. Within the next few days, I learned that some persons that were close to me may have been involved in the assault.

  “My first reaction was one of disbelief and the disbelief was followed by shock and fear.

  “I have since reported this information to the authorities. Although my lawyers tell me that my failure to immediately report this information is not a crime, I know that I have let you down. I have also let myself down. But I still want to represent my country in Lillehammer, Norway, next month.

  “Despite my mistakes and my rough edges, I have done nothing to violate the standards of excellence in sportsmanship that are expected in an Olympic athlete.

  “Nancy Kerrigan and I can show the world two different types of figure skating. I look forward to being on the team with her.

  “I have devoted my entire life to one objective: winning an Olympic gold medal for my country. This is my last chance. I ask only for your understanding and the opportunity to represent my country with the best figure skating performance of my life.

  “Thank you.”

  She stumbled on some words—including the word “sportsmanship”—but it was an impressive performance. Harding did not answer questions, and the entire press “conference” lasted only minutes. Video of the skater reading this statement was broadcast live in Portland and led all national newscasts.

  After Harding’s statement, what had seemed nearly impossible happened — the story became even bigger. Newspapers across the country devoted whole pages to comments and columns about Tonya Harding’s situation.

  Everyone, anyone, it seemed, who had ever had any connection with Harding was interviewed. Every television talk show had at least one show devoted to the Harding-Kerrigan case. Harding’s old friends, lovers, and roommates debated whether she was the type of person who could do such a dastardly crime. Every television newsmagazine devoted a segment or an entire show to the story. It was almost impossible to turn on television or talk radio and not hear the words “Harding” or “Kerrigan.”

  Reporters and camera crews from all over the world stayed in Portland for more than a month, providing local hotels and restaurants with an unexpected boost in revenue. The Tonya Harding Fan Club almost doubled in membership. T-shirts, both supporting and deriding Harding, were produced in a hurry.

  Kerrigan’s handlers were deluged with offers to buy movie rights; “instant books” were written, The Oregonian’s circulation jumped. Everyone, it seemed, was cashing in on the story of the skater who saw dollar signs when she thought of Olympic gold. But sports agents all seemed to agree: no matter what happened, Harding’s value as an endorser was nil.

  Clearly, this was more than just a story about a bruise on a knee, more than just a story about competitive zeal. At odds were two cherished, fundamental American principles that, at least on the surface, would seem not to be in conflict at all—the presumption of innocence and the sense of fair play.

  With the Winter Games so close at hand, and with a case involving so many venues and so many people, it was clearly impossible for the criminal justice system to work quickly enough to provide Harding with genuine due process before the women’s competition began on February 23. Figure skating’s governing body, and the Olympic governing bodies, were justifiably afraid of multi-million dollar lawsuits that Harding’s lawyers would surely bring if she were prevented from competing before telling her side of the story.

  Her lawyers also seemed to want to drag out the investigation, as long as they could keep their client from speaking publicly. Their goals were to get Harding to the Olympic Games and defend her against any possible criminal charges, and both objectives would be helped by Harding’s continued silence.

  But the evidence against her seemed to grow and grow. When Jeff Gillooly pleaded guilty to racketeering on February 2, and the district attorney’s office released the FBI files with Harding’s statements and those of her ex-husband and the hit men, all on top of Shawn Eckardt’s public confessions, it seemed impossible for the skater to distance herself from the attack on her chief rival.

  And yet she did.

  Polls showed that while most Americans believed she had something to do with the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, a considerable number of people thought Harding should be allowed to skate in the Olympics anyway, because nothing had been proved. There was a great deal of talk about the apparent abuse Harding had endured as a child and in her marriage. “Tonya is as much a victim as Nancy” was an oft-heard phrase in Portland and elsewhere.

  When Gillooly confessed and said Harding had been part of the plot from the start, he was widely seen as a complete rat. (“Did you hear the headline they wouldn’t let me use?” said an Oregonian copy editor. “Gillooly the Stoolie.”) Some of Harding’s fans advanced other scenarios: that Nancy Kerrigan’s camp orchestrated the whole thing or that Gillooly had planned and executed it all — the attack, bungled coverup and the confessions — just to get back at Harding. These were dubbed “the grassy knoll theories” in the Oregonian newsroom.

  Phil Knight, the founder and head of Nike, the shoe company, made a grandstand play of his own. Nike had refused to have Harding as an athlete-endorser years before; now, Knight said, he would contribute $25,000 to pay for Harding’s defense of her “right” to compete. Knight, the most powerful shoe salesman in the world, was outraged that sports bureaucrats would even think about suspending an athlete who hadn’t been proven guilty in criminal courts. Even President Clinton said he thought Harding should be given the benefit of the doubt.

  The climax of the story was all pointing toward Harding on center ice in Lillehammer, dress sparkling in the lights, Olympic rings in the background, waiting for her music to start, ready to skate the performance of her life.

  It would be the most-anticipated, most-watched, most-talked about event in sports. It would be the culmination of what Harding has said, repeatedly, is her life’s goal. And it would be, without question, one of the most depressing moments the sports world has ever witnessed.

  As this book goes to press, the question of whether Tonya Harding will skate in the Olympics is unanswered, but that looks to be the most likely outcome. If she takes the ice in Lillehammer, or marches in opening ceremonies she will be there not because she is the best figure skater in the world, although she is. And she will not be there because she trained hard and performed well and earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, although she did.


  Tonya Harding will be there because the man she married, and loved, and lived with paid money to thugs so they would whack the current national champion in the leg. Harding will be there because her lawyers threatened to sue to the hilt anyone who tried to prevent her from going.

  But most of all she will be there because she doesn’t know any better, because she doesn’t know what else to do. Tonya Harding learned very early that life is unfair and she has been told, over and over, that life has been particularly unfair to her. She learned that winning is all-important, that it brings love and respect and, especially, money. She learned that violence is a way to solve problems.

  For Harding there is nothing else but skating and winning. Of course she wants to win the Olympics, by all means, at any cost. There is no bigger prize. When she wins, then, at last, all things will be put right.

  In preparing for that moment, during her public skating sessions at the Clackamas Town Center, Harding drew big crowds of fans, onlookers, and reporters. The shops in the mall’s food court did a brisk business.

  Harding still refused to talk to reporters about the case, merely offering fleeting comments about skating. She continued to practice her triple jumps and spin control at the same time. And she skated remarkably well.

  “She has had two weeks of incredible practices,” her coach said. “Right now she is skating better than she has ever skated in her life.”

  When skaters fall in a heap they must immediately pick themselves up and move their arms to the music and smile and go on as if nothing happened. Everything is fine. If you act as if nothing happened, the judges may forgive or forget the slip.

  After the most spectacular fall in her life, Harding was going on as if nothing had happened. She was simply doing what she was trained to do, what she has always done, all her life. She falls down; she gets up.

  Her close friend and surrogate father, David Webber, watched her practice for the Olympics and talked about the young woman he knew:

  “I’ve seen both sides of her,” Webber said, “and I don’t think I have ever seen her as happy as she is now.”

  Appendix

  Statements by Harding and Others

  Excerpts of statements given to law enforcement officials by the principals involved in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. They were released to the public on February 3, 1994, the day Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering in a Portland court. He faced a sentence of 24 months in prison and a $100,000 fine. It was expected Gillooly would serve 19 months for his role in the Kerrigan attack.

  TONYA HARDING

  On Jan. 18, FBI Special Agent James E. Russell, Detective John Berg of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and Norman Frink, chief deputy Multnomah County district attorney, interviewed Tonya Harding in Portland with her attorney, Robert Weaver.

  Tonya Harding began by discussing her on-again, off-again relationship with Jeff Gillooly, whom she divorced in the summer of 1993.

  “…Harding stated she and Gillooly got back together during the end of September 1993. She stated they are together now, and she said she considers him her husband. Harding was asked whether Gillooly had ever threatened her, and she stated he had not….”

  “…Agent Russell asked Harding if she knows Derrick Brian Smith, and Harding said, ‘No, I do not.’

  “…Agent Russell asked Harding if she knows Shane Stant, and she stated she did not know him….

  “…Harding was asked about several telephone calls, which were listed on telephone records….

  “At this time, Agent Russell asked Harding…whether she had been to Eckardt’s house at any time on Tuesday night, Jan. 11, 1994. Harding stated she had definitely not been at Eckardt’s house during that evening….

  “At this time, Agent Russell told Harding that he was sure she had discussed this with her attorney, but Agent Russell asked Harding if she knew the meaning of conspiracy….Agent Russell asked Harding if she understood, and she said she did.

  “Agent Russell then asked Harding if she knew the meaning of hindering prosecution, and she said she did not….Agent Russell advised Harding that by Oregon law, if she had knowledge that a crime had been committed and did not report that crime to appropriate law enforcement authorities, that was not a violation of Oregon law. However, if she subsequently lied to law enforcement authorities regarding her knowledge of a crime that had been committed, that would be hindering prosecution….Agent Russell then asked Harding if she was aware that even if she had not committed any crime, that if she lied to an FBI agent, that would be a violation of federal law. Harding stated that she did understand that.

  “At this time, Agent Russell told Harding that he knew she had lied to him. He also told Harding that he would tell her exactly how she had lied to him, and at this point, Mr. Weaver stated he wanted to speak privately with Harding….

  Frink, Berg and Agent Russell left the interview room so that Harding could confer with her attorneys and later returned.

  “…At that time, Mr. Weaver stated Harding had not been totally truthful. He stated he believed Harding honestly had misunderstood some questions, but again said that she had not been totally truthful. Mr. Weaver stated the reason Harding had not been totally truthful was that she is fearful of Jeff Gillooly and his family….

  “Mr. Weaver stated Harding was not involved in the planning of the attack. He said that after Harding returned from Detroit, she believed Gillooly was involved in planning the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. Mr. Weaver stated Gillooly never told Harding that he was involved….”

  Harding then gave a revised version of the events she had described earlier:

  “Harding said that…on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 1993…she dropped Gillooly off at Eckardt’s house. Harding said that approximately one hour later, Gillooly called Harding at Gillooly’s mother’s house to ask Harding to come to get him at Eckardt’s house. Harding stated she was driving Gillooly’s truck, and Harding recalled that there was a black Porsche…parked in Eckardt’s driveway.

  “Mr. Frink asked Harding if her statement regarding calling the U.S. Figure Skating Association to obtain the telephone number of Kerrigan’s skating rink was true, and Harding replied that it was not true. Mr. Frink asked if Harding had made the telephone calls to the rink, and Harding stated that she had not….”

  The interview continued with detailed discussion of payments made to Shawn Eckardt and telephone calls made between the subjects of the FBI investigation. The interview ended with this comment from Harding:

  “‘I just want to say I’m sorry. I hope everyone understands. I’m telling on someone I really care about. I know now he is involved. I’m sorry.’”

  VERA MARANO

  On Jan. 22, 1994, the FBI interviewed Vera Marano, a free-lance writer who has sold stories to a variety of skating magazines. Marano told agents she had written about Harding and, over time, had become a friend who traded regular phone calls with her.

  “Marano did state that…Harding…contacted her about two days after Christmas and made the following request. Marano stated that Harding told her that Harding had a ‘bet’ with someone regarding Nancy Kerrigan and needed the following information: Harding asked Marano if Marano could obtain the name of the facility where Nancy Kerrigan currently trained. She also stated that she wanted to know if Kerrigan owned property in Cape Cod….”

  JEFF GILLOOLY

  On Jan. 26, 1994, FBI Special Agent James E. Russell and Detective John Berg of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Jeffery Scott Gillooly.

  “…Agent Russell asked Gillooly how the idea of doing anything to Nancy Kerrigan first originated and asked whose idea it was. Gillooly stated Shawn Eckardt first came up with the idea….

  “…Gillooly explained that during the competition in Japan during December 1993, Harding finished seventh in the technical program and placed fourth at the end of the competition. Gillooly stated Harding was very upset because she thought she skated ve
ry well…Gillooly said his discussion with Eckardt prompted Eckardt to say something like ‘What if Nancy were to receive some type of threat? Gillooly stated he told Eckardt that it was a good idea. Eckardt stated Tonya should not have knowledge of the plan to do this because she might tell someone. Gillooly said…that if Tonya was not told, a threat to Nancy would psychologically affect Tonya too. Gillooly stated Eckardt did not like the idea of telling Harding, but Gillooly told Eckardt that Tonya would have to be told.

  “…Gillooly stated he asked Harding if it would not be to their benefit if a threat was made against Nancy Kerrigan. Gillooly stated Harding replied that she thought that would be a good idea….

  “Gillooly stated Eckardt also told him that Nancy Kerrigan could be taken out of the competition….Eckardt told Gillooly that Kerrigan’s Achilles’ tendon could be cut. Eckardt also stated he would do a cost projection.

  “…Gillooly told Harding what personal information regarding Nancy Kerrigan that they needed….Gillooly believes he suggested that Harding call Vera Marano…to determine Nancy Kerrigan’s home address and the skating rink where she trains.

  “Gillooly said that on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 1993…he drove Harding to Eckardt’s house in Gillooly’s pickup, arriving at about 11 a.m. Gillooly stated he got out of the pickup, and Harding left in the pickup.”

  Gillooly told his interviewers that he then went into the house, where he met with Shawn Eckardt, Shane Stant and Derrick Smith:

  “…Gillooly told them about Kerrigan’s landing leg being her right leg. Eckardt said they would cut her Achilles’ tendon, but Gillooly asked if that would not be difficult to do. Derrick said he had a guy in mind, and the guy was a martial arts expert. Derrick said this guy could break Kerrigan’s leg with a ‘short kick to the long bone’ so she would never skate again….