THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

It could happen, and wouldn’t it be rich if it did? An ice princess who has her own pool cue – Harding’s the name, nine ball’s the game – an interloper in the realm of pixies and queens who’s as at home doing a brake job as she is performing an arabesque. Aspirant to the throne of some of the most elegant women in the sport – Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Katarina Witt – who can curse like a sailor, bench-presses more than her weight and drag races in the summer for kicks.

Harding shatters all stereotypes of the pampered and sheltered figure skater who has spent his or her youth bottled in an ice rink, training. At 21, she has seen a lot of life, and she is unapologetic if the experience has left her just a little rough around the edges. “I don’t regret anything that I had to go through,” she says. “The way I am today must be the way God wanted it.”

Sports Illustrated, Jan 13 1992