Verdict on Ice? : Skating Judge Says Focus on Performance

Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan.

In the minds of many, it’s villainess vs. victim.

But what about the minds of the only people who really matter, those who will judge them on the ice in the figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics.

Can the judges totally block out the constant barrage of information about the attack on Kerrigan, which has bombarded them from every media outlet, and fairly assess these two skaters and the other competitors solely on the basis of their performances?

Absolutely without reservation, according to Margaret Anne Wier of Park City, Utah, who will be the lone U.S. judge in the women’s figure skating competition starting next Wednesday at Lillehammer, Norway.

“When I’m judging, I’m focusing in on the skater,” Wier said. “I cannot think of the publicity or where they placed before. I have to focus in on what they did that day. Judges are very open-minded.”

They can’t afford not to be.

“We can’t be out of line and be too high or too low,” Wier said, “or we’ll be called on the carpet.”

The result of biased judging could be probation or outright expulsion.

Wier, who skated on three world teams in the 1950s and was a substitute judge in the 1992 Winter Games at Albertville, France, will depart for Norway today.

“I have to do my job,” she said. “I can’t let anything affect me. I have heard everything everybody else has heard, but I will have to put it all out of my mind.

“We’re used to pressure, just like the skaters. It’s not always easy, but we’ll do our job.”