Students watch skating saga unfold

Tonya vs. Nancy -- part one -- has ended, and the 'good girl' seems to have won. Wednesday night's showdown between United States women's' figure skating champion Tonya Harding and fellow U.S. skater Nancy Kerrigan left Kerrigan in a comfortable first place and Harding in an unexpected tenth. With the technical program complete, Kerrigan must skate a clean free program today in order to clinch the gold. The many University students who viewed the much-hyped showdown on Wednesday night were definitely not alone. The prime-time coverage of the event received higher Nielsen ratings than all but five television programs ever. Both fans and non-fans of figure skating at the University have opinions on Wednesday's developments -- the latest in a saga that began last month at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. There, an assailant, allegedly hired by Harding's ex-husband, hit Kerrigan below her knee. "Based on what Nancy Kerrigan did, I think she deserved to win that portion of the competition," said College sophomore Jeff Jin. "Tonya Harding did not skate well at all." College freshman Glenn Aduana agreed that Kerrigan's success was "an indication of what an excellent athlete she is." He said Harding's shaky performance is due in part to the media hype surrounding the competition. "Tonya may have been focused on other things at the time," Aduana said. If Harding is found to have been a conspirator in the attack on Kerrigan, she could face a courthouse instead of Olympic glory upon her return to the U.S. Students disagreed on whether the scores given by the skating judges were biased because of the publicity surrounding the attack. "I thought the judges were kind of biased," said College freshman Sarika Garg. "I think her scores should have been higher." College freshman Jessica Cray disagreed. "I don't believe the competition was judged in any way that was preconceived," Cray said. "I believe whatever happened was going to happen no matter what." And one student said the whole situation was just a bunch of "media hype." "This really ranks up there with the Lorena Bobbitt thing and the Menendez trial," said College senior Rob Berger. "Are there no better stories to cover out there?"

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