European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 03, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday february 1994 olympic drama the stars and stripes Page 5 Harding officials Portland Ore. A Tonya Harding s lawyer urged officials not to throw her off the . Olympic team de spite her sex husband s claim that she approved the attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan. Harding again denied involvement. All Tonya is asking for is her measure of fairness and jurisprudence that is rep resented by every one of the team Mem Bers who will be wearing the United states Flag on their uniforms Robert c. Weaver or. Said tuesday. Weaver made the Appeal after har Ding s sex husband Jeff Gillooly pleaded guilty to racketeering and agreed to testify that Harding approved the Jan. 6 at tack that knocked Kerrigan out of . Figure skating championships the qualify ing Competition for the olympics this month in Lillehammer Norway Harding won the nationals automatically securing a spot on the olympic team. In Exchange for Gillooly s guilty plea prosecutors agreed to recommend two years in prison and a $100,000 Fine. In Gillooly s statement to the Fri re leased tuesday he said Harding wanted Kerrigan out of the Way because Kerri Gan was the favorite of the . Figure skating association of let s do it Gillooly quoted har Ding As saying of the plot. A special committee began meeting tills week to look into whether Harding or urges not to drop . Team violated the association s ethics code and forfeited her place on the olympic team. The panel expects to make a recommendation by week s end. Gillooly s attorney Ron Hoevet said he expected Harding to be charged. He urged the . Olympic committee to drop Harding from the team and added his own advice to the skater. Denial is no longer plausible he said. The truth about this bizarre crime has now been  Harding again denied involvement in the attack in which Kerrigan was clubbed in the knee. Last week Harding said she did t learn until four Days afterwards that people close to her were involved. She has not been charged Gillooly s accusations appear to Evi Dence a continued practice of abusive conduct intended to disrupt Tonya har Ding s life and destroy her career har Ding s lawyers said in a statement. Weaver also said he is certain figure skating and olympic officials Are going to follow their Constitution regulations and guidelines and Are not going to embrace this notion of or. Gillooly s attorney that they can be some kind of Rump committee and bump her off the team a position on which she has worked very hard to put herself on and which she richly  Kerrigan was preparing to show a Spe Cial committee wednesday that she can perform in the olympics and her doctor figure skater Tonya Harding leans Over the rail at a Portland Ore., rink tuesday to Tell photographers not to use Strobe lights during her practice. Said she should have no problem that closed session for her to perform her Short and Long programs was scheduled for wednesday afternoon at the rink in Dennis mass., where she practices. She s proven to everyone that she Safe to compete said or. Mahlon Brad Ley the orthopaedic specialist who has monitored her recovery. Medically she s ready to go. She has full Range of motion in the knee and full  and Harding divorced last year then reconciled and lived together until Harding s Jan. 18 meeting with the Fri when she announced that they were splitting so she could concentrate on skating. She has accused him of hitting her. -. The major characters in figure skating drama by the associated press key players in the attack and investigation of figure skater Nancy Kerrigan " Nancy Kerrigan the 24-year-old Kerrigan the daughter of Brenda and Daniel Kerrigan of Stone Ham mass., was the 1992 olympic figure skating Bronze medallist and 1992 world figure skating Silver medallist. She was the 1993 . Figure skating Cham Pion. On Jan. 6, she was clubbed above the right knee by an assailant after a practice session for the 1994 . Figure skating championships in Detroit. The next Day she withdrew from the 1994 . Nationals. On Jan. 9, Kerrigan was named with 1994 . Cham son Tonya Harding to the 1994 . Olympic team. N Jan. 16, Kerrigan returned to practice for the firs time since the attack. Questioning Jan. 18. On Jan. 28, she said she had no prior knowledge of the attack but admitted with holding information from authorities for several Days that she knew that some persons that were close Tome were involved. Eckardt was. Arrested Jan. 13,1994, and charged with conspiracy to commit assault in the second degree for conspiring in the attack on Kerrigan. Eckard allegedly conspired with Gillooly to plan the assault and recruited Derrick Smith and Shane Stant to carry it out. Tonya Harding age 23, daughter of Lavona and Al Harding of Portland Ore. At age 4, Harding won her first skating Competition. Five years later she landed her first triple Loop on the ice. She began dating Jeff Gillooly at age 15, the same year her Mother left her father. She married Gillooly in 1990, but filed for divorce by june 1991. Their divorce was not final until August 1993. In 1989, Harding finished third in the . Figure skating championships. In february 1991, she became the first . Woman to perform a triple Axel in Competition winning the . Title. The next month she finished second m her first world championship Competition. In september 1991, she beat defending world Champion Kristi Yamaguchi placing first in skate America International but finished a disappointing fourth at the 1992 olympics in Albertville France be Hind Kerrigan. On Jan. 9, 1994, Harding placed first in the . Fig ure skating championships in Detroit and was named along with Kerrigan to the . Team for the Lillehammer olympics that begin next week. Following the arrest of Gillooly her bodyguard Shawn Eckardt and two other men in the attack on Kerrigan Harding underwent More than 10 hours of Jeff Gillooly age 26, began dating Harding in 1985, the same year he graduated from Portland s David Douglas High school they married in march1990. Gillooly was a warehouse worker from 1989 to 1992 for the Oregon liquor control commission. He quit to devote his time to Harding s skating career. In july 1993, a court ordered Gillooly to stay away from Harding after she alleged he physically abused her. They divorced aug. 28, 1993, but later reconciled according to Harding s coach Diane Rawlinson. Gillooly was charged Jan. 18 by the mul Tomah county District attorney s office with conspiracy to commit assault in the second degree for planning the attack on Kerrigan. That night Harding announced she was separating from Gillooly. The next Day Gilk Sty was arrested released on Bailand arraigned. On tuesday he pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in the assault on Kerrigan. Under the agreement he will receive a sentence of two years in Federal prison and pay a $100,000 in Exchange for his testimony in the Case.  Shawn Eckardt age 26, a childhood Friend of Gillooly s. Described As Harding s bodyguard he apparently was employed Only once in that capacity. Eck Ardt who lives with his parents weighs 350 pounds but according to his resume enjoys sky diving and Power lifting As hobbies. In 1988, Eckardt pleaded no contest to a prostitution charge. The next year he enrolled in a mail order associate of criminal Justice program at executive Security International in Aspen colo., and attended a two week residency in 1990. He began the second half of program in 1992, but was terminated in 1993 for failing to main Tain adequate Progress. Shane Stant age 22. The alleged Hitman in the Kerrigan attack he is a bodybuilder and former member of a now defunct Portland professional foot Ball team. The former Portland resident most recently lived in Chandler Ariz. Slant is the Nephew of Smith the alleged Driver of the getaway car. Derrick Smith age 29. The alleged Driver of the getaway car in Kerrigan attack he is a former port land resident most recently living in Phoenix. Smith formerly worked with the developmentally disabled. On Jan. 13, Smith was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit assault in the second degree for conspiring in the attack on Kerrigan. � Eugene Saunders the 24-year-old Saunders is the minister of a Small fundamentalist Christian congregation that meets at a Holiday inn in suburban Gre Sham. Sau Flers went to private investigator Gary Crowe with a Story of How Eckardt a classmate in a paralegal course at Pioneer Pacific College in Wilson Ville had played a tape recording purported to be of a planning meeting at which the plot to disable Kerriga was discussed. Diane Rawlinson married to Dennis Rawlin son a Portland attorney who is among those represent ing Harding she is a former ice Capanes soloist who was forced by a traffic Accident to Stop skating. Rawlinson teaches Early morning skating classes at Clackamas town Center ice chalet Harding s Home rink. She coached Harding from the time Harding was 3 until 1989, when they parted. She resumed coaching Harding in 1991, then parted ways again after just one month. She was reunited with Harding after the 1992 Winter olympics and now co coaches Harding with choreographer Erika Bakacs