TTTTT H   H  EEEEE
  T   H   H  E
  T   HHHHH  EEEEE
  T   H   H  E
  T   H   H  EEEEE

PPPP   OOOO  RRRR  TTTTT L       A   N   N DDDD  I   A   N   N TM
P   P O    O R   R   T   L      A A  NN  N D   D I  A A  NN  N
PPPP  O    O RRRR    T   L     AAAAA N N N D   D I AAAAA N N N
P     O    O R   R   T   L     A   A N  NN D   D I A   A N  NN
P      OOOO  R   R   T   LLLLL A   A N   N DDDD  I A   A N   N

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

September 25, 1999 Edition - THE BOYCOTT IS BROKEN!!
(C) 1999 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1190
*****************************************************************

TONYA TO SKATE IN PRO COMPETITION

This is it, folks! Yes, the major breakthrough we've been 
awaiting for over five years. We have just received word that 
Tonya will be skating for the first time in a professional 
competition alongside others!

Details are sketchy at present, but the at present un-named event 
will take place in Huntington, West Virginia, on October 18th and 
19th and will be televised on ESPN. Note that some sources say 
19th and 20th - these may be the air dates.

Most importantly, Tonya will not be skating alone. In fact, our 
source confirms that at least three other top-rank skaters from 
Michael Rosenberg's stable WILL BE SKATING AT THE EVENT WITH 
TONYA! Names that we have obtained so far include the following:

- Surya Bonaly: 9 times French National champion, 5 time European 
  champion and 3 times world silver medalist, Surya has never had 
  time for the skating establishment. Best known for her trade-
  mark backflips - prohibited in eligible competition - though 
  that didn't stop her doing one in front of the judges at the 
  Nagano Olympics last year.

- Elizabeth Manley: Olympic & World Silver Medallist. A three 
  time Canadian champion, Liz dominated Canadian ladies skating 
  throughout the 1980's.  

- Tonia Kwiatkowski: Tonia has placed highly in many U.S. 
  nationals competitions and narrowly missed going to the Nagano 
  Olympics. One of the few top skaters with a college education, 
  Tonia has two degrees and finished first in the 1991 and 1995 
  University games. U.S. silver medalist.

Others listed as competing include Alexei Urmanov (1994 Olympic 
gold medalist, 5-time Russian champion), Rudy Galindo (1996 U.S. 
Men's champion), Jozef Sabovcik (6-times champion of 
Czechoslovakia), Viacheslav Zagorudniuk (1996 European champ), 
Mandy Woetzel & Ingo Steuer (1995 European champs, 1993 & 96 
World silver medalists), Anita Hartshorn & Frank Sweiding (gold 
medalists in numerous pro contests), Elizabeth Punsalan & Jerod 
Swallow (4-times U.S. national dance champions), and Irina 
Romanova & Igor Yaroshenko.

As you can see, not only does this prove that many skaters will 
skate with Tonya, but top level skaters to boot. Needless to say, 
this is a major breakthrough that completely shatters the anti-
Tonya blacklisting that elitist skaters have managed to maintain 
for the past five years. It marks the end of Tonya's time in the 
skating wilderness and the first step on the road to acceptance 
by the skating community. And of course the Internet's premier 
source of Tonya news, "The Portlandian", will be keeping you 
up to date on all details as they come to hand in coming weeks.


RERUN OF TONYA E! SPECIAL

Just a reminder to those of you with access to the E! cable 
channel that they will be running a repeat screening of their E! 
True Hollywood Story episode on Tonya on the following dates (all 
times Eastern):

Day          Date          Time     

Thursday     Sept. 30      9-11 (not sure if this is am or pm)

Friday       Oct. 1        10a-12p  

Friday       Oct. 1        4-6  (pm, one assumes)  


IT'S YAHOO! FOR "THE PORTLANDIAN"

Another piece of good news is the fact that we're now listed in 
two major Web directories: Yahoo! and Excite. Please note that 
you will have to paste these URL's piece by piece to get them to 
work:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Sports/Skating/Ice_Skating/
Skaters/Women/Harding__Tonya/

http://www.excite.com/sports/winter_sports/ice_skating/figure_ska
ting/skaters/ladies/harding_tonya/?first=1&websites=1&
tabs=y:no:no

Hopefully this may get more publicity for Tonya's cause. 


NEW TONYA PHOTOS

We are pleased to announce that four new autographed photos of 
Tonya are now available. Showing Tonya in several skating poses, 
they can be viewed at:

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1190/poses.htm

Prices are $25 for 8x10 color, or $15 for B&W, the same as for 
the others (which we understand are still available). If you want 
a personalized autograph there is no extra charge. Note that this 
price now includes shipping charges.


ANOTHER TONYA SITE

They're popping up all over the place...

http://www.angelfire.com/tn/tohar/index.html


AT THE BOOKSTORE

Recently we came across a new book that will be of interest to 
our readers as it reveals more dirt on a senior member of the 
International Olympic Committee.

David Yallop is a prominent British investgative writer who has 
written eight books on various controversial subjects ranging 
from a plot to murder the Pope to miscarriages of justice. At 
least two of his books have been filmed and one dealt with a 
notorious New Zealand murder case and resulted in an innocent man 
being freed.

The target of his latest book, "How They Stole The Game", 
however, is Brazilian IOC member and former soccer supremo Joao 
Havelange. Amongst the stunning revelations are that Havelange is 
an arms dealer who sold weapons to the Brazilian military junta.

Havelange's reaction to the book was what we've come to learn is 
typical of IOC members when confronted with unpleasant publicity 
about themselves: he tried to have the book banned. The only 
country he was successful in doing so was - you guessed it - the 
IOC's home country of Switzerland. Given their shabby treatment 
by the IOC recently over their 2006 Olympic bid, this is a bit 
surprising, but hey, what do you expect from an outfit that were 
money launderers for a certain German dictator? 

Fortunately other some other countries have better protection for 
free speech, and you can order it from Amazon UK, located at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0953571009/591/026-
4576811-7747800


TONYA BANNED AGAIN!

And on much the same topic, whilst Tonya gets set for her long-
overdue return to the ice with her colleagues, in another forum 
she's been banned again (though this time it appears we can't 
blame the USFSA). Adrian Chew, the operator of the Figure Skating 
World chat forum last month banned all discussion of Tonya from 
his site.

This time, however, Tonya is in good company. This is not the 
first time Mr. Chew has banned discussion of particular skaters 
from his system:

- on June 19 discussion of Tara Lipinski was also banned.

- on April 1, he banned all new registrations from Web TV users 
  because one guy was being a pain in the ass and he couldn't 
  figure out how to shut out just that particular person.

- recently banned some user with the handle of "Yuri"

- Pasha Grishuk is also reportedly on thin ice - will she be the 
  next to get the heave-ho?

While as we don't deny that Mr. Chew has the right to run his 
forum how he wishes, we do have to wonder whether maybe he ought 
to consider changing the name of his board to perhaps "Censorship 
World" in light of his apparent intolerance for any point of view 
that doesn't match his own? Certainly it's getting difficult to 
call it a "figure skating" board given that so many top level 
skaters now seem to be taboo. At this rate, will there be any 
skaters left to discuss by Christmas?

*****************************************************************
VISIT THESE GREAT TONYA WEB SITES:

PortIce - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1190
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
Blades of Gold - http://members.tripod.com/tmhfan/index.html
*****************************************************************

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page