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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News

April 24, 1999 Edition 
(C) 1999 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1190
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With a war in Kosovo, a mass shooting in Colorado and a sex 
scandal in skating, these are depressing times we live in. So 
thank God there's still "The Portlandian" with the latest Tonya 
news to cheer everybody up.


TONYA DRESS ON AUCTION

A rare opportunity has arisen for Tonyaphiles to own a piece of 
skating history.

Mastro Fine Sports Auctions in Chicago is offering the dress that 
Tonya wore at the 1994 Nationals for sale. Hard core fans will 
recognize that this is the controversial purple number with the 
plunging neckline of flesh colored fabric that caused such an 
uproar at the time. Tonya describes it as her most significant 
outfit and certainly we'll be sorry to see her part with it (in 
fact, it was the inspiration for the color scheme we have adopted 
for our Web site). As something connected with one of the 
defining sports moments of the Nineties, it's also a sure bet 
that it will appreciate in value.  

For information on how to take part, see their web site at 
www.mastrofsa.com or go to:

http://ai.wwcd.com/private/mastro/m499/lot0237.html

to see details of the item itself, including a photo. One of our 
subscribers has dealt with these people before and assures us 
that this is a legitimate, professional company. When we visited 
their site, the current bid was $2500. Long time readers of "The 
Portlandian" may recall that back in 1996 we reported on the 
auction of another Tonya skating costume, that from the 
Lillehammer Olympics. On that occasion the dress went for 
$11,500, which means this could be a bargain. Bidding closes on 
the 29th of April, and we are told these can be made by fax or 
phone. 

So if you're a Tonyaphile who wants a piece of sports history, a 
greedy capitalist hoping to make some money, or just have always 
had a bizarre sexual fetish to dress up in Tonya's clothes, this 
is an opportunity not to be missed.


NEW TONYA VIDEO

Tonya has a new video out - and this time there's not a wedding 
dress in sight.

Several days ago, official Tonya web site operator Roy Edwards 
visited George Rogers Park near Portland with Tonya and her 
Godmother Linda Lewis and shot a short videotape of Tonya in 
which she thanks her fans for all their loyal support.

You can view the clip at the official Tonya site at 
www.tonyaharding.com. It goes for about 20 seconds and is 
available as an MPEG file in two sizes; a high quality 2.5 
Megabyte version and a lower quality (but quicker to download) 
1.3 Meg version.

David House now has some E! special scans up, and he hopes to 
have stills from Roseanne, ESPN and Today up soon as well. His 
site can also now be reached at www.tonyaharding.org (not to be 
confused with Roy's .COM Tonya site mentioned above).


ANOTHER SKATING SCANDAL IN DETROIT

Five years ago, Detroit was the scene of the biggest scandal 
skating has ever seen. Now a new scandal has erupted centering on 
the Detroit Figure Skating Club.

For the past two weeks the skating establishment has been 
stunned, shocked and flabbergasted by a major sex scandal. And it 
has nothing to do with bar stools, but rather allegations of 
sexual misconduct leveled at a top skating coach. Richard 
Callaghan, the coach behind World and U.S. National champions 
Todd Eldredge and Tara Lipinski has been accused by one of his 
former pupils, Craig Maurizi, of molesting him. First in an 
article in the New York Times, and later in other interviews with 
ABC's "Good Morning America" and the Detroit Free Press, Maurizi 
has claimed that Callaghan seduced him at age 15, first by 
showing him pornographic magazines, progressing onto a full 
sexual relationship at 18. Maurizi has laid a formal complaint 
with the USFSA and the Professional Skaters Association, and 
claims four female skaters are ready to do likewise. Callaghan 
has vigorously denied the charges.

Who is telling the truth? Is Callaghan some kind of Chester the 
Molester on ice? Or are Maurizi's allegations just part of a 
smear campaign by a rival coach (Maurizi now coaches Lipinski)? 
And if they are true, questions must obviously be raised as to 
how Callaghan could have been allowed to get away with this for 
so long (it appears rumors have been circulating on and off since 
the early '80's at least).

Given that the statute of limitations for criminal charges has 
now apparently expired, it appears unlikely that this will see 
the inside of a courtroom unless Callaghan decides to sue Maurizi 
for defamation. Which means that the closest we'll likely get to 
a proper investigation is if the USFSA decides to conduct a 
disciplinary Hearing. In view of the Association's last bungled 
attempt at such a Hearing, when Tonya was put on "trial" five 
years ago, the odds of true justice being done in this case do 
not appear optimistic. Already there are disturbing signs that 
the USFSA just wants the whole thing to go away, with statements 
by USFSA president Jim Disbrow to the effect that they will only 
investigate if they receive a complaint in "the proper form".

Skating fans must put pressure on the USFSA to ensure proper 
standards of fairness and justice are applied. Neither the 
lynching that occurred with Tonya, nor a sweeping of the problem 
under the ice must be allowed to happen.


SAMMY SAYS "NO THANKS" TO SENATOR'S INVITATION

US IOC member Anita DeFrantz was the subject of a severe grilling 
by a high powered U.S. Senate committee investigating the IOC 
corruption scandal recently. Chaired by Arizona Republican John 
McCain, the committee found it difficult to get a straight answer 
from a poorly prepared DeFrantz, who seemed unable to even answer 
simple questions about the IOC's budget or how much money gets 
spent on American athletes.

The committee has come up with several proposals for reform, 
including publication of IOC minutes (which at present can be 
embargoed for up to 20 years), term limits for members, and 
amending U.S. anti-corruption legislation to include the IOC. To 
date there seems to be little interest from the IOC who are 
balking at most of these proposals. This could be a big mistake 
for the IOC, as it is now obvious that many US politicians have 
woken up to the fact that Olympics-bashing is a good way to get 
attention. Already, some Senators want to go further, such as 
forcing all TV revenues to be paid to the USOC directly, limiting 
tax breaks for Olympic sponsors, or even barring US companies 
from sponsoring the Olympics altogether unless reforms are 
enacted. The latter proposal, from Representatives Henry Waxman 
(D-CA) and Rick Lazio (R-NY), would be absolutely devastating for 
the Olympics as some 60% of Olympic money comes from U.S. 
companies.

Absent from the hearing was IOC president Samaranch, who refused 
to attend, allegedly because "English is only his third 
language". We find it odd that someone who held a senior 
diplomatic post for three years would have such a language 
problem. Given that his first language is Spanish, we wonder what 
his second language is? Could it be perhaps Russian, given that 
he spent three years as ambassador to Moscow? Or maybe it's 
Catalan, the language of his home province of Catalonia, a 
language that his mate Franco tried to exterminate many years 
back by burning down libraries and shutting down newspapers?

Sammy's been busy appointing his own committee to oversee reform. 
Some very influential names have been floated as possible 
members, including Peter Ueberroth and Henry Kissinger amongst 
others, but at this stage it isn't known if either of these two 
have accepted the invitation. On the other hand, two names that 
HAVE been confirmed as on the committee don't give any cause for 
confidence. For a start Samaranch himself will be chairing the 
committee, whilst one U.S. member will be Bill Hybl, who was one 
of the guys who shafted Tonya when the USFSA held it's
disciplinary hearing into the Incident. Hybl's track record with 
that issue indicates a modus operandi of getting rid of 
embarrassing problems as quickly as possible rather than 
attempting to discover the real truth. All of which suggests the
whitewash will be flying thick and fast in Switzerland in the 
coming months.


OLYMPIC HYPOCRISY BALLOONS OUT

Meanwhile, back in Lausanne, Samaranch presented the Olympic 
Order, the Olympic movement's highest award, to balloonists 
Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones for their recent round the world 
ballooning achievement - which is strange really, since last time 
we looked, ballooning wasn't an Olympic sport. But as you'll 
discover, that's not the only thing that's strange about the 
Olympic Order.

Perhaps Jones and Piccard might have been less keen to accept 
this "honor" if they knew who some of the previous recipients of 
the Olympic order actually were, because they're a motley crew 
indeed. Amongst the Olympic Order alumni is former East German 
leader Erich Honecker. There's dictator Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria 
(whose son-in-law, Ivan Slavkov, still represents that country on 
the IOC). And we mustn't forget Nicolae Ceausescu, the notorious 
Romanian vampire who bled his country dry and exploited young 
gymnasts like Nadia Comaneci as tools of his evil Commie regime 
before coming to a very sticky end.

Samaranch also thanked the balloonists for "helping spread the 
spirit of the Olympic Movement" through their "message of peace" 
which they faxed to the National Olympic Committees of the 
countries over which they flew. We wonder how this concern for 
"peace" ties in with the apparently regular practice of awarding 
this title to brutal dictators who, in addition to being complete 
assholes with abysmal human rights records, were also in charge 
of some of the most blatant athletic cheating and doping programs 
ever seen. Indeed, given Sammy's prediliction for giving these 
things out to thugs and butchers, we also have to wonder if old 
Slobbo in Belgrade will be next on the list? Could perhaps a gold 
medal for "peacemaking" through "Ethnic Cleansing" be already on 
the cards?

Maybe Richard Branson should be glad his balloon attempt failed 
after all, given it's saved him from mixing with such dubious 
company.

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VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:

PortIce - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1190
Roy Edwards (formerly Jim Maxey) - http://www.tonyaharding.com
Dave House - http://www.davidhouse.com/tonya/index.html
Charlie Main - http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/tonya.html
Puppetboy - http://www.puppetland.com/mirrortony2.html
Valerie Smith - http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/LilHam.html
Swan Lake - http://members.tripod.com/~TonyaHarding/index.html
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