Battle of the Sexes

Copyright 1996 the Associated Press. -- All Rights Reserved

The challenge has been issued by some of the world's best figure skaters. The battle of the sexes is taking to the ice.

Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Brian Boitano, Rosalynn Sumners and Kurt Browning triple-jumped at the opportunity to participate in Friday night's ''Battle of the Sexes'' at Nassau Coliseum. While it is a made-for-television event Fox has this one the concept is one that excited the skaters.

''The men vs. the women. Let's get it on,'' Browning said. ''We'll prove the boys are better than the girls.''

Not so, said Yamaguchi, who rearranged her schedule to fit this competition in. She will be the captain of a team featuring Sumners, Liz Manley and Caryn Kadavy.

''I like team competitions, and this one really sounded like a lot of fun,'' said Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion. ''The way skating is today, there are so many events and things you get invited to do and your schedule is so busy, you have to pick and choose.

''But I really liked the idea of a women's team against a men's team. It's different and it's interesting.''

Professional skating has been overrun in the past 2 years by such themed events. Some, such as Fox's rock 'n' roll shows and Ice Wars, which pits country vs. country, have been popular. Others have appeared and disappeared quickly.

But with the kind of names ''Battle of the Sexes'' has drawn, it seems likely to do well.

Overall, Friday's competition has three Olympic gold medalists (Hamilton, Boitano, Yamaguchi), three silver medalists (Sumners, Manley and Paul Wylie) and 13 world championships in the field.

''I did a similar event with Jimmy Connors vs. Martina Navratilova,'' said David Krieff, president of Destiny Productions, which is staging the competition. ''We found we hit a chord of this universal theme, the human theme of man vs. woman.

''This has the crossover appeal. Where skating mostly has been viewed by women throughout the years, this is something that should be watched by both sexes. There are lot of questions to be answered. Are world champion men skaters better than the women? Do they deserve more money?''

Hamilton, who also is serving as executive producer, was the first skater to sign on. He then recruited the other seven entrants.

''Both teams will have a lot of pride on the line,'' Hamilton said. ''We don't want to lose to the women, and I'm sure they don't want us to beat them. As a result, I think you'll see some extraordinary, one-of-a-kind performances.''

Perhaps. But don't expect to see any of the women trying to match the men in triple axels, the toughest triple jump and one that only two women Midori Ito and Tonya Harding have completed in competition.

The rules have been designed to balance out the jumping disparity. And because it is an entertainment-first event rather than a technically oriented competition, overall showmanship will be given the highest value by the five judges.

Browning believes there always will be a market for a skating ''Battle of the Sexes.''

''As long as men and women are on skates, people will like to see them against each other once in a while,'' he said. ''These international team events can become like the Ryder Cup in golf. And anytime they have a 'Battle of the Sexes,' they can call on me.''