LILLEHAMMER / ’94 WINTER OLYMPICS : After Harding Stumbles, Baiul, Bonaly Contend

The woman who seven weeks ago screamed, “Why me?” shouted to the world Wednesday night, “Why not me?’

To the question of who will win the women’s figure skating in the Winter Olympics, resilient Nancy Kerrigan, mugged 49 days ago by a man with a blunt instrument and left bruised and crying, has picked herself up, dusted herself off and come back good as new. Flawless on opening night, Kerrigan left the arena in first place and laughing, while leaving America’s other skater, Tonya Harding, in 10th place and gagging.

Kerrigan’s principal opposition in Friday’s freestyle program for the gold medal will come from Oksana Baiul of Ukraine and Surya Bonaly of France--not from Harding, who even with her acrobatic freestyling is too far behind.

The civil war between Nancy and Tonya?

That one’s over.

Coughing from asthma and sneezing from an allergic reaction to flowers presented to her after her performance, Harding departed the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre with virtually no chance of winning any medal--gold, silver, bronze or good-conduct.

Kerrigan, in contrast, could hardly have felt any better after the shower of flowers that descended toward her. With spectators clapping along in encouragement throughout her 2-minute 40-second technical program, and with an estimated 70 to 80 million Americans expected to view a delayed telecast of it back home, the willowy Kerrigan skated as carefree and naturally as though out on a frozen pond by herself.

Even Harding applauded.

Kerrigan’s reaction: “I’m really proud of myself.”

Both women actually competed with admirable composure considering the goldfish bowl that had become their world. Kerrigan, in particular, was in rare form, earning no score lower than 5.6 (of a possible 6) from the panel of nine judges and even four 5.9s on her presentation.

It was a performance worth waiting for, one Harding herself viewed from a private, glass-shielded box. Kerrigan skated nearly 2 1/2 hours later than Harding, who landed awkwardly enough on a double flip that she received no score higher than 5.6--with even a couple in the 4’s.

Harding nonetheless pronounced herself satisfied, saying: “It went good. I was ready. I went out and did it. I’m happy with my performance.”

Nine other performances were superior to Harding’s, however, including one by Germany’s 28-year-old Katarina Witt, winner of two gold medals during the 1980s who was thought to be over the hill. Witt returned strictly as a lark and placed sixth for the evening, in spite of being petrified beforehand.

One would have thought that Kerrigan, 24, of Stoneham, Mass., had more reason to feel fearful, but she is leader of the pack with Friday’s telltale freestyle program yet to come. The 1992 bronze medalist’s principal opposition for a gold this time will be Baiul, 16, and Bonaly, 20, of France, each of whom is eminently capable of winning her country’s first gold medal in this event.

Baiul, dressed like a ballerina, skated to “Swan Lake” and occupied first place until Kerrigan came on, next-to-last among the 27 skaters on the bill.

Nervous?

Kerrigan said afterward: “It would be weird if I wasn’t a little nervous.”

From the first stride, though, her knees were steady and ice water coarsed through her veins. To a tune called, “Desperate Love,” Kerrigan demonstrated the grace and almost double-jointed agility that had been her signature before the Jan. 6 assault that was meant to sabotage her career. Seven of the nine judges graded her in first place by the time she glided to a stop, and 5.9s for presentation were hers from judges representing Poland, China, Japan and the United States.

Kerrigan’s costume was cute and conservative--black at the neck and shoulders with an apron of white. She looked like a carhop.

Harding came dressed like a Las Vegas cocktail waitress. No shrinking violet, right to the end, Harding wore an outfit that was scarlet and sleeveless, with a bright red bow in her hair and brighter red rouge on her cheeks. For the 23-year-old skater from Portland, Ore., innocence is an appearance she is not wont to convey, although Harding did begin her program with hands folded in prayer and concluded it with a curtsy.

Apparently the only human being in Norway who still believes she has a chance, Harding, when asked at what point she would feel successful, said afterward: “When I have a gold medal around my neck. That’s when I’ll feel like I’ve achieved what I came here for.”

While waiting for her scores, seated beside Diane Rawlinson, her coach, Harding was presented a bouquet of flowers. She promptly had a sneezing fit.

“She’s allergic to flowers,” Rawlinson said.

Harding began to leave, to light applause from a mostly polite audience that had acknowledged her original introduction with a smattering of whistles and jeers. Then, adding illness to insult, Harding began crouping from an asthma attack.

She granted an interview only to a U.S. Olympic Committee official, and spoke as though she were in second place, not 10th. Never once did Harding give even the slightest hint of concession that her gold-medal chances were nil.

Then she took a seat and did what everybody else did.

She watched Nancy Kerrigan skate as though nothing had ever happened.

* FIRST TEST: Nancy Kerrigan has chance for a gold medal while Tonya Harding is all but out. A1.