IOC Tries to Stay Out of Harding Decision

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.

“It has been discussed often, but the more it is discussed the more we have determined it is a matter for the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. and the U.S. Olympic Committee to decide,” one IOC official who did not want to be identified said Thursday.

That process will continue today in Colorado Springs, Colo., where a five-member panel appointed by the USFSA will resume hearings regarding Harding’s status.

Although she has not been charged with a crime, she admitted last week that she learned after the national championships that persons close to her were involved in the Jan. 6 assault on rival Nancy Kerrigan but did not immediately report it to law enforcement authorities.

The USFSA panel’s chairman, William Hybl, said before the first meeting Tuesday that initial discussions would focus on whether Harding’s admission constitutes a violation of the skating association’s code of conduct.

If so, the association could recommend to the USOC that Harding be required to forfeit her berth as one of two female figure skaters selected to compete for the United States in the Winter Games. The panel, one member said, could be prepared to report to the USOC as soon as Saturday.

“We have a provision regarding fair play in our charter, and those seem to be the words that keep coming up in this case,” the IOC official said.

Harding could not be removed from the team without a hearing before the USOC’s Games administrative board, which, according to one USOC executive committee member, would meet with her in Norway before the Feb. 21 deadline for submitting final women’s figure skating entries. If she cannot compete here, she would be replaced by 13-year-old Michelle Kwan of Torrance, the first alternate who was told Wednesday by the USFSA to travel to Norway to train in case she is called upon.

As the final arbiter of who competes in the Olympics, the IOC could ultimately be forced to rule. But executive committee members, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they prefer to remain above the fray in case she decides to take her case to court. With the 1996 Summer Olympics scheduled for Atlanta, they said the IOC does not want to be involved in litigation in the United States.

“The IOC will not jump over the USOC to get into this situation,” one member said. “The USOC might try to hand it off to us, but we’ll fight that attempt.”