Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan on the ice in Norway.
If it comes off, it will undoubtedly be one of the most dramatic confrontations in Olympic history. And perhaps one of the highest-rated TV shows ever.If it doesn't, the glamour event of the Winter Games will lose much of its sizzle.
Right now, it's still on, even though a U.S. Figure Skating Association panel called for a disciplinary hearing against Harding. The panel said Saturday that it found "reasonable grounds" to believe she was involved in the attack on Kerrigan at the national championships in Detroit a month ago.
Rather than boot Harding from the Olympic team, the association passed the decision on to the USOC along with a "black book" containing nearly 400 pages of affidavits, court documents and other evidence gathered independently by the panel.
Virtually all of that information is in the hands of prosecutors in Portland, Ore., who have not charged Harding in a plot that has already brought a guilty plea by her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and confessions by three other men.
Harding met for more than two hours Sunday with her lawyer but neither had any comment on the meeting.
Claire Ferguson, president of the USFSA, carefully followed the rules of the association in not suspending Harding prior to the disciplinary hearing.
"I would prefer to have Tonya have her time with the hearing panel, to follow through and to make sure she's had her chance to speak with the member panel," Ferguson said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Asked whether there were any conditions under which she might suspend Harding before the Olympics, Ferguson replied:
"No, because I believe that the Olympics has a different set of rules that can handle this if they so choose. We are concerned with our world championships as well as the Olympics, which will be held in Japan in the middle of March, and we must have our team there."
Bill Hybl, chairman of the five-member USFSA panel and a former USOC president, acknowledged that the fear of a lawsuit by Harding was a factor in the association's judgment to proceed conservatively.
"I think there's no question," Hybl said. "It's been widely discussed. But this is one issue the panel discussed and the five of us decided that we were going to go forward based on the evidence, based on the rules of the articles in the bylaws of the Figure Skating Association and not really let the fact that there could be litigation be involved in our decision."
The USOC is expected to convene its Games Administrative Board within two weeks in Norway to determine Harding's status, and a decision to throw her off the team would be final - even if Harding refuses to testify at the hearing.
In an interview Sunday with CBS, USOC executive director Harvey Schiller said there were "issues of conduct, sportsmanship and others to be considered."
Among those issues, Schiller said, was Harding's admission that she learned of the plot after Kerrigan was clubbed on the right knee and knocked out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Jan. 6 but did not immediately report the information to police.
"I think there are a range of issues but included amongst them is the issue of what could have been silence and ... the effect of the competition itself that led to the selection at the national championship," Schiller said.
Schiller was touring Winter Olympic venues Sunday and unavailable for independent comment.
USOC president LeRoy Walker, who would convene the inquiry, is not scheduled to arrive in Lillehammer until late in the week. Phone messages left at his Durham, N.C., home were not returned.
The administrative board has the power to take final action on Harding's place on the team. Should it expel her, Harding would be left without appeal in the Olympic community but could seek arbitration or go to court to try to block the USOC from sending a team to Lillehammer without her.
Harding and Kerrigan were among 22 skaters on the team entered by the USOC a week ago. Subsitutions can be made up until Feb. 21, the day of the draw for women's competition.
If Harding were kicked off the team before the deadline, her place would be taken by 13-year-old Michelle Kwan, an alternate who will be brought to Scandinavia to practice in case she is needed.
Harding has 30 days to respond to the USFSA's order. If she does not, the hearing will be set for March 9 - more than a week after the Olympics end. The world championships start March 22.
Harding met for nearly two hours with her attorney, Robert Weaver, but declined to say what the two had discussed. Weaver did not immediately return a telephone call to The Associated Press seeking comment.
Earlier in the day, a grim-faced Harding brushed past waiting news photographers at her suburban apartment without speaking, got into her truck and drove away.
A statement issued Saturday by her lawyers said: "We stress that in its statement USFSA does not conclude that Ms. Harding has in any way been involved in any wrongdoing or in any way violated its code of ethics."
The panel said it found reasonable grounds to believe she "committed an act, made a statement, or engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of figure skating and-or failed to exemplify the highest standards of fairness, ethical behavior and genuine good sportsmanship in her relations with others."
The panel also found reasonable grounds to believe that Harding "committed an act to carry out a plan and-or was involved in a plan to injure Nancy Kerrigan; or knew about a plan to injure Nancy Kerrigan and either failed to oppose it, failed to report it, or made false statements about her knowledge concerning it."