Gillooly Resented System : Figure skating: Suspicion of favoritism toward Kerrigan by the sport’s establishment may have spawned attack.

Brooding suspicions about the objectivity of judges and the fairness of scoring in women’s figure skating may have motivated the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

Tonya Harding’s ex-husband is scheduled to appear in county court today amid signs he will plead guilty in the assault and, perhaps, flesh out for the first time his version of exactlywhat gave cause to the violent attempt to rig the 1994 national women’s figure skating championships.

Sources say that Jeff Gillooly believed that his on-again, off-again spouse had been given a raw deal by skating judges, and that rival Kerrigan was plainly the favorite of the U.S. skating establishment.

Two events in particular were cited:

--Resentment over what he and his ex-wife believed was unfair scoring of Harding’s performances at an international competition in Japan last December.

--Cover-story treatment of Kerrigan in U.S. Figure Skating Assn. publications leading up to the Detroit national championships in January.

This account of investigators was published Monday in the Oregonian. The newspaper indicated it received the information from two days of interrogation Gillooly underwent at the FBI office in Portland last week. It was not verified by officials willing to speak publicly, or by court documents. Moreover, Gillooly’s statements are sure to be subject of doubt and challenge in this strange case.

Gillooly’s attorney said a statement would be made today after Gillooly’s court appearance.

Gillooly is believed to be seeking a reduced sentence by cooperating with the investigation. He is understood to have told authorities he discussed his planning of the attack with Harding.

Monday’s more detailed account of Gillooly’s story added this: Harding’s fourth-place finish in Japan so angered him that he began planning the assault on his own, and then discussed it with her. The skater’s first reaction was to question whether Gillooly’s associate and her acquaintance, Shawn Eckardt, was the right man for the job. Gillooly explained that Eckardt was only a go-between.

Harding has denied knowing of the plot beforehand. But she has admitted learning of events afterward and not reporting this to authorities.

A five-member committee of the U.S. Figure Staking Assn. is to meet in Colorado today and begin deliberations on whether Harding should be disqualified from the Olympic competition Feb. 23 and 25 in Lillehammer, Norway. A decision is not expected until the end of the week, at the soonest. For now, she and Kerrigan are the U.S. team’s two entries.

Meanwhile, Phillip Knight, chief executive officer of Nike, said that the company would donate $25,000 to Harding to defend herself, should she be taken off the Olympic team. Harding is not affiliated with Nike, but the company is based near Portland.

Twice in the last year, Harding has finished fourth in skating competitions and complained about the judging.

After the January 1993 U.S. championships in Phoenix, she told a Portland journalist that she got a raw deal. Kerrigan won that competition.

Then again, after the NHK international competition in Japan Dec. 9-12, Harding returned unhappy with her scores--particularly her low marks in the mandatory technical program. Harding did not fall but was scored lower than skaters who did. Kerrigan did not enter that event.

According to the account published Monday, Gillooly said he and Harding brooded over what they believed was favoritism toward Kerrigan by the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. Mentioned was the cover story on Kerrigan in the association’s monthly magazine in December. Also mentioned was a “brochure” that highlighted Kerrigan. This might have been the media guide for the Detroit competition, which featured Kerrigan and other 1993 U.S. champions on the cover.

Knowledgeable skating enthusiasts noted, however, that Harding has been on the cover ofthe association magazine and was on the cover of at least one of the organization’s brochures.

As an event that depends entirely on the opinion of a specialized clique of judges, and where style and presentation are hugely subjective, grumbling about scoring and favoritism in figure skating is fairly widespread, although usually discreet.

USFSA officials responded to the investigation in Portland by saying they did not want to be dragged into the discussion.