Harding Strategy on Track : Figure skating: Butch Reynolds’ successful suit against IAAF is a model for part of her action against USOC.

OREGON CITY, Ore. —  The legal strategies of Tonya Harding and the U.S. Olympic Committee became clearer Thursday as debate over the figure skater’s participation in the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, intensified.

In more than 90 pages of documents filed Thursday in Clackamas County Circuit Court, Harding’s attorneys appear to have modeled their challenge in part on Butch Reynolds’ successful 1992 litigation against the International Amateur Athletics Federation. Reynolds, world record-holder in the 400 meters, won a $27-million judgment against the IAAF after he challenged a suspension for a positive drug test.

Reynolds’ case was a success, his attorneys say, because IAAF administrative hearings could not withstand the scrutiny of the American judicial system.

Because of the legal obstacles, USOC officials have concentrated on the acknowledged lie Harding told FBI agents after she was named to the U.S. Olympic team.

Harding admitted that she lied to the FBI during the first part of her 10-hour interrogation on Jan. 18--”a mere nine days after promising to conduct herself in conformity with the traditions of the Olympic Games,” the USOC contended in an answer to the complaint filed just before the court closed Thursday.

Harding’s legal team will argue before Circuit Judge Patrick D. Gilroy today that the USOC’s disciplinary hearing is unfair, and that if Harding is not permitted to compete at Lillehammer she would suffer irreparable harm.

In an affidavit filed with the court, Harding, the U.S. national champion and 1992 Olympian, said she had done nothing to warrant her expulsion from the U.S. Olympic team.

Harding came under scrutiny after the Jan. 6 attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan. Although she acknowledged she had learned afterward that her ex-husband was involved in planning the assault, Harding denies any involvement.

However, Jeff Gillooly, Harding’s ex-husband who has pleaded guilty to racketeering, has implicated her. So has alleged conspirator Shawn Eckardt, Gillooly’s boyhood friend.

Harding also said in the affidavit that she does not have time to prepare for the USOC’s Games Administrative Board hearing, scheduled for Tuesday in Oslo.

“I cannot afford to pay the expenses of attorneys and witnesses to appear . . . and as a result will not have the opportunity to be assisted in the presentation of my case,” she said in the sworn testimony.

Harvey Schiller, USOC executive director, said U.S. officials were not surprised by the suit.

“We had been making some preparations in case of that,” he said, adding that the USOC has spent $200,000 in legal fees thus far.

In filing more than 100 pages of documents Thursday, the USOC contended a court order--Harding has requested a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the USOC--would require the court to exercise a far-reaching power.

“Certainly there are enough facts available to call into question whether Harding has conducted herself as befits a member of the Olympic team,” the USOC said.

It also contended that the Supreme Court has held that the USOC is not subject to constitutional guarantees of due process in determining eligibility matters.

The USOC disputed Harding’s claim that she was not given enough time to defend herself at next week’s hearing. It said she was given “reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard.”

The committee further contended that selection to the U.S. team “is an honor and a privilege” and not a right enforceable by the courts.

If Harding is barred from the Games, the suit seeks $20 million in punitive damages and at least $5 million in compensatory damages.

In a memorandum filed with the court, Harding’s attorneys contended that the USOC administrative board would not conduct an impartial hearing. The attorneys cited a comment by USOC President LeRoy Walker that appeared in Sports Illustrated.

“We have to make a decision without the consideration of whether or not her rights have been abridged,” Walker was quoting as saying.

In a related matter, Gillooly’s lawyer, Ron Hoevet, withdrew a motion in Portland court Thursday that sought permission for his client to travel to Norway to appear before the USOC panel. Gillooly is free while awaiting an April sentence hearing. The USOC had requested that Gillooly testify at next week’s Oslo hearing, but said Thursday that no witnesses were needed because of the pared-down focus of its case.

“They apparently have trouble speaking with one voice,” Norm Frink, deputy district attorney in Multnomah County, said at the hearing.

Later, Frink told The Times: “I can only hope this show will move on to Norway.”

Almond reported from Oregon City, Ore., Harvey from Lillehammer, Norway.