When Nancy Kerrigan breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after her technical program at the Winter Olympics, so did a nation of viewers. Dena Yeagley was a part of that collective sigh.

A skating instructor who heads the professional figure skating staff at the Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex, Yeagley said the whole incident surrounding Kerrigan and Tonya Harding surprisingly hasn't hurt the sport.

"At first, I thought it was negative," she said. "In its own sort of inadvertent way, I think it has brought more popularity to the sport."

And especially to State College. Yeagley said group lessons and the sign-up for the annual ice show have been booming.

"We have more and more people interested in taking lessons, we have more spectators coming in," she said. "People who normally haven't watched figure skating are watching it because of this."

She has also talked with a number of coaches across the country who have had large crowds turn out for practice sessions at their rinks.

"I think people see it as an isolated incident," Yeagley said. "I don't think its made all that much of a connection to the sport itself. It reflects negatively on Tonya."

But while the Harding-Kerrigan conflict may have finally boiled over, the United States figure skating community now finds one more obstacle to overcome -- a medal drought.

If Kerrigan fails to medal, the U.S. skaters will be shutout of the Games. At the World Championships last year, that's exactly what happened.

Kerigan led entering the free skate but tumbled to a ninth-place finish in that portion, fifth overall. Historically, the free program has given her trouble. When she skates today, she will carry the entire U.S. team on her shoulders.

Yeagley said her staff leans toward Oksana Baiul to win it all. But the world champion may have hurt her chances after colliding with another skater in practice and getting stitches in her shin yesterday.

Phyllis Kuo, president of the Penn State Student Skating Club, said one reason the U.S. may be having problems is that amateur skaters can now receive funds from endorsements, a luxury previously unavailable to them.

"They get overwhelmed," she said. "They spend less time practicing . . . I know that's what happened to Nancy."

But Yeagley doesn't see anything wrong with U.S. skating. She said this was a period every nation should expect to go through at least once.

"It's just a lull of a season these last couple of seasons, as far as having the strong skaters," she said. "But Nancy Kerrigan -- here she is in first place so far. So I wouldn't say the U.S. is down in terms of its turnout."