Tonya Harding (USA) - 1994 Lillehammer, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skate, 1st Attempt

A gold medal to be determined this evening in the ladies' freeskate. World champion Oksana Bayul in second place going into tonight's competition. Arriving with a smile. Nancy Kerrigan in first place after the technical program. She seems reasonably relaxed. And Katarina Witt, a two-time gold medalist who will be the last to skate. Right now it is Tanya Harding's turn to skate, but this tortured pass she's taken to the Olympics continues here. This is backstage. And Tanya Harding, after the warm-up, had a problem with her laces. It is her turn to be on the ice right now. This is a young lady who had a problem with her costume at the U.S. Nationals a year ago. She had a skate blade break at a Skate America competition in October. And now the public address is announcing Tanya Harding's name, and she's still lacing up her boots. And this is every skater's recurring nightmare. This is one that you wake up screaming from every morning. Her father Al is here. He is bewildered by what has happened to his daughter. Diane Rawlinson on the left. And the crowd totally unaware of where the problem was. Now if a skater starts to panic, this can really get them flustered. It can throw off their timing once they get on the ice. Even if you're late for practice sometimes, you get on, you try to rush to get ready, you try to rush to get your thoughts in order, and it can really throw you off. I think they just gave her a two-minute warning, a two-minute call, and she's trying to get the lace going there. This can really throw a skater off. Well, this bizarre real-life movie continues. On the scoreboard, they're running a clock. It's up to one minute and seven seconds. If she's not out here in 45 seconds, I think they're going to disqualify her. I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like this before at any competition. She's got to hurry. It's not going to hold me. Well, she's still obviously worried about the lace. She should be more worried about the performance, but I guess you can't worry about the performance unless your equipment is ready. Amazing. The free skate ladies competition, four minutes in length. It accounts for two-thirds of the final score. Tanya Harding after that mistake-filled technical program is in tenth place. And the last jump she took in warm-up was a triple axel, and she fell. She escaped the music of Jurassic Park. In a situation like this, I'm sure her heart rate's up over 180. She's going to have to calm down because the first minute of her program, three huge jumping passes. The first one, triple lutz. She had problems with this in the technical program. Reaches back with the right foot, single. She looked down at her skate. It looked like she was uncomfortable, and I think she's going to quit. How devastating. It's so difficult to compose yourself when you're late. Name has been introduced. Whenever a skater has a problem, whether it's a costume or a hook or a lace, they have to go right to the referee, report the problem, and then the referee makes a ruling. Diane Rawlinson to the left, her coach. I'm sure what she's telling them right now is that she tried her best to get out here on time. She threw the lace on. She threw it together, and she did the best she could to get out here. In a situation like this, the referee, the judging panel, will give her every opportunity to put out her best performance. That's her father, Al. I would think, Scott, though, no announcement has been made. They've obviously given her a set amount of time. Things like this just don't happen. Again, it's so important that the skate is tied properly. It's important that it's comfortable on your foot. When I get my skate on during competition, even if it's a little uncomfortable, I don't retie it. I'll just get used to it because any change in the comfort, if they're tied too tight, your feet fall asleep. Everything has to be just perfect, especially in Olympic competition. The announcement has been made in Norwegian. Now it is being made in English. Well, I think they're allowing Tanya to fix her skate, but they're asking Jose Swinard to come to the ice. I'm sure Jose's not even prepared. This is a difficult call because it's really not fair to Jose. She was expecting to skate after Tanya Harding, and while the previous skater is on, a skater collects their thoughts and gets mentally prepared, and this could throw Jose way off.