‘94 WINTER OLYMPICS / LILLEHAMMER : Harding Still Has Some Loose Ends

Calling herself a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Tonya Harding placed a distant eighth in the Winter Olympic women’s figure skating competition here Friday night, with one last flair for the dramatic.

Her shoelace came untied.

Frantically trying to repair or replace it, Harding reported tardy to the ice, missing her introduction. She then began skating to music from the film “Jurassic Park” but stopped, 45 seconds into her four-minute freestyle program, bursting into tears and skating off.

Harding was permitted to begin anew 32 minutes later. She skated satisfactorily for the most part, but brushed a wall at one point and did not do her trademark triple axel.

Nevertheless, Harding said: “I think I did quite well under all the circumstances, because I think I was ready to have a nervous breakdown before I went out the first time.”

After a shoelace snapped during her warm-up, Harding said, a replacement lace was too small. She said: “I tried to go out and skate anyway. I didn’t have all the holes laced up. I skipped three on the outside and two on the inside, then laced it toward my ankle on one side and on the top of the other, just trying to tighten it. I only had two minutes to get out there before I would be disqualified.”

Fearing she would break her ankle, Harding attempted her opening moves and then quit. She has a history of similar equipment mishaps, interrupting two competitions in 1993 with problems with a loose skate blade and an unfastened costume snap.

Such occurrences are uncommon but not unprecedented. A skater in the men’s competition here last week repeated his routine after difficulty with a blade.

Harding ultimately rose from 10th place after Wednesday night’s technical program to eighth in the standings and was upbeat afterward.

Asked, though, whether she would skate competitively again, Harding said, “I don’t know. I haven’t decided.”

Of Nancy Kerrigan, who placed second, Harding was complimentary after being reminded that in January she had expressed a desire to “kick her butt.”

Harding said, “A lot of people misconceived what I said. What I mean by that . . . that’s my competitive spirit. It’s not in a mean way. I’m really glad Nancy skated great. I hope she did it not only for herself but for the country and for our team.”

Jeered at the outset for being late but generally cheered upon conclusion of her second try, Harding waved to the audience and pronounced herself pleased.

“I react best under pressure, but it all depends on the kind of pressure you put yourself under or what other people put you under. But the Lord works in mysterious ways and everything is done for a reason. So He must have His reasons for this. Maybe He wants me to come back later.”

Harding’s hearing before the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. regarding possible disciplinary action against her is scheduled to begin March 10. A grand jury in Oregon also is weighing whether to indict Harding in the case concerning a Jan. 6 assault on Kerrigan.

Asked if pressure from the investigations had any effect on her outcome here, Harding replied: “I’m not going to talk to you about that.”