Controlling Her Spin, On and Off the Ice : Figure skating: Harding follows her tearful admission with further attempts to soften her image. U.S. Figure Skating Assn. expands its investigation.

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.

“I’m really sorry this happened, you know . . . ,” she says.

Downtown at the courthouse is glowering prosecutor Norman Frink, slipping down a hallway, banging shut his door and forging ahead, widening still further the already colossal investigation of Harding and the attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.

“We would be fools to be on an Olympic schedule!” he snaps to those who are growing impatient.

Enter officials of U.S. Figure Skating Assn., enlisting their own Portland attorney to dive into the scandal, asking whether Harding’s half-way mea culpa of a day earlier is enough to to bounce her from the team for violating the Olympic code of conduct.

“The highest standards of ethical behavior and good sportsmanship” are the stated terms for their judgment.

Meanwhile, supporters hoisted a Go-For-The-Gold-Tonya banner at the Portland convention center. Before long, it was vandalized by egg throwers.

The Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games women’s figure skating begins with a draw Feb. 21 for the order of performance. No skater can be replaced after that. It is possible, now, to conceive that the drama of Harding could stretch to then, if she chooses to make it so.

Her public appearances Friday indicated nothing to the contrary. Back on the ice at a suburban mall, she was cheered on by a crowd that has grown in size and enthusiasm. Rather than merely a couple of hundred fans who watched her practice earlier in the week, there were more than 2,000 on hand to shout their approval. A spoilsport who booed was escorted out.

In response to the support, Harding turned in a controlled, relaxed performance.

Portrayed so often lately as a hard-scrabble, self-absorbed woman, Harding tried to show a softer side. She arrived early, mixed and played with younger skaters, and then joined in the traditional birthday hazing of a 9-year-old. After others pulled the boy’s skates off, Harding took hold of his feet and dragged him around on the ice playfully. Supporters by the hundreds applauded.

“She’s really nice,” birthday boy Chance Hamlin said.

And she kept it up in a televised interview with the tabloid newsmagazine Inside Edition. It was taped earlier, but aired Friday. In it, Harding sobbed and then apologized.

Question: “What do you have to say to Kerrigan?”

Harding: “That I’m really sorry that this happened, you know. . . . I just hope that she can some day forgive me . . . and we can go back to being friends and teammates.”

Question: “What would you like America to know about Tonya Harding?”

Harding: “I’m just like everybody else. . . . A lot of people put me down because I drive a truck. . . . Well, I like to drive trucks. . . . Yet, you know, I can still mingle with the best. . . . When I need to act like a lady, I can act like a lady.”

The show declined to say whether Harding was paid for the interview, but agents for such programs have offered less important figures in the case many thousands of dollars for their stories.

This attempt at image softening followed a Thursday appearance before cameras in which Harding confessed that she had withheld knowledge of the crime. Yes, she said, she had learned of the plot against Kerrigan after the fact and did not tell authorities. And yes, contrary to her earlier statements, people around her were involved. But no, she did not hatch the scheme and knew nothing of it beforehand.

As theater, it might have succeeded. It was Harding’s maiden attempt to address the case, she did it with a deep show of emotion. It was also her first personal expressions of sorrow for pain caused Kerrigan.

But the 23-year-old skater might have done more harm than good to her hopes of staying on the Olympic team. Until that moment, the figure skating association and the U.S. Olympic Committee had nothing to hold against Harding except the arrest of her former husband.

Now, they have her own admission that she withheld the truth.

After days of frustration over the pace of the Portland investigation and the utter lack of sympathy by law enforcement officials for Olympic deadlines, the association said it would take its own steps. First, it formed a five-member panel to weigh the case against the broadly worded code of conduct for Olympic athletes.

Then, on Friday, the panel hired Portland attorney John Bennett to gather evidence. He joins at least 10 other lawyers who are actively engaged in the case in one way or another. A first meeting of the panel was scheduled for Tuesday and a second for Friday.

But any action against Harding would be subject to ratification and a possible hearing before the USOC Games Administration Committee, which by then will have control of the team rosters. Any decision unfavorable to the skater can be appealed to a federal court.

Meanwhile, there was a first sign of serious pressure against Harding from the Kerrigan camp. While the Massachusetts skater continued her practice workouts, coach Mary Scotvold suggested Harding quit.

“This has never happened before in figure skating. There’s just no precedent that I can even relate this to. I would probably say she would do herself some good to withdraw,” Scotvold said.

All the while, Portland prosecutors continued to amass evidence. On Friday, the district attorney issued subpoenas, marked secret, asking local television stations to produce videotape of anything broadcast with Harding speaking since Nov. 1.

Kerrigan was struck on the leg and knocked out of the figure skating championships in Detroit on Jan. 6.

When Harding returned from the national competition--which she won--to Portland on Jan. 10, she told one local station she believed her former husband was not involved.

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I mean, why does someone want to discredit me? I just don’t understand.”

In her Thursday statement, Harding did not specify exactly when she learned of the plot, from whom or which of the men around her was involved.

Police have arrested four men, including her former husband, Jeff Gillooly.

Gillooly is widely reported to be bargaining with prosecutors for leniency in exchange for his testimony against Harding.

NBC News reported Friday that Gillooly would plead guilty next week to one count of racketeering and face up to two years in prison.

Today’s New York Times said that Gillooly would face one year less in prison on the racketeering charge than he would face under the original charge of conspiracy to commit assault.

A plea agreement would only become final with a court appearance, the Times said. Gillooly is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Times staff writer Randy Harvey in Los Angeles contributed to this story.