February 13, 1994

THE regular school day had ended and a group of fifth graders sat in a circle on the floor and talked about what it was like to be the youngest, oldest, middle or only child in their families. Down the hall a group of preschoolers watched a video while they waited for their parents to pick them up, and upstairs in the gymnasium some pupils played basketball, while others took part in arts and crafts in a nearby classroom.

Olympic officials expressed relief today that the furor over whether Tonya Harding would skate in the Olympics has been settled. The matter had engulfed these Winter Games. It may be, though, that one distraction has simply been exchanged for another. Whenever Harding arrives in Norway -- believed to be Wednesday, a week before her first performance -- a new round of frenzied interest will begin. Harding and Kerrigan are scheduled to train together at the two Olympic rinks. News media interest will surge, and so will television ratings. This will almost surely remain the dominant story of the Games. In fact, it's now bigger than ever. And while officials and other athletes may no longer be distracted, Kerrigan is certain to be.

Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa warned the United States today against imposing trade sanctions on Japan after their failed negotiations. His top aides said such action would cause Tokyo to retaliate with sanctions on American products. "I very much hope the U.S. will refrain from such action," Mr. Hosokawa told reporters before leaving Washington, a day after the eight-month-long trade negotiations between the United States and Japan collapsed.

MELISSA LEVINE says she went on 17 blind dates last month, and that's not even counting the guy she met by the bee pollen. "I was in the health food store, and I saw this man looking at the products," said Ms. Levine, a 33-year-old financial planner who lives in Manhattan. "I went up to him and said, 'What are you buying?' and when he told me bee pollen, I said, 'Oh, get it, you'll have a lot of energy.' " He gave her his card on the way out, and they had a date soon after.

There they were, all the members of the Olympic movement, marching into the opening ceremony, holding their banners high, marching together in the spirit of fair play, sponsorship rights and litigation: the old powers, the newest members, the kindly multinationals that underwrite these games in the pure name of sportsmanship. And who was that, proudly waving attache cases instead of flags? Why, they were the other big players in these latter-day Games -- private lawyers, corporate counsels, public prosecutors, maybe even the American Bar Association and the World Court and the Civil Liberties Union, plus that grand old favorite of the Olympic movement, the Clackamas County Judge.