March 30, 2000 12:43 PM Sportsticker

By Brooke Edwards SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NICE, France (Ticker) -- French pairs skater Stephane Bernadis said today he had received death threats in Paris three weeks before his attack at knife-point during the Figure Skating World Championships.

Less than 24 hours after winning the bronze medal in the pairs event, Bernadis held a private press conference to recount the incident and dispel rumors of a setup.

Bernadis said he had found a scrap of paper on the windshield of his car in front of his home in Paris last month, with the words "You will die soon," in handwriting.

He said he dismissed the note because he thought it was just a bad joke.

The French skater said he had also received two anonymous phone calls.

"Whoever it was didn't say anything but I knew there was someone there because I could hear them breathing," he said. "Again, I didn't panic because I thought it might be a wrong number or a joke."

Tuesday it was no joke but a nightmare when Bernadis answered a knock at his hotel room door at the Sofitel at around 15:20 local time. Bernadis said upon opening the door, he was surprised by his attacker, who sliced his left arm before the skater was able to slam the door shut.

"I saw him swipe down with something yellow in his hand," Bernadis said. "It must have been a cutter.

"I felt an electric shock down my left arm and I had the good reflex to shove the door," he said. "I didn't realize what happened. I felt my left arm with my other hand and saw blood everywhere. My first thought was that I wouldn't be able to skate in the free program."

Bernadis said he sat on the floor before calling for help.

"I stayed by the phone and I cried and panicked," Bernadis said. "I was calling "help, help, help me. Nino, my body guard, called me through the door. But the door was locked and I didn't want to open it. I was afraid. He called me several times through the door saying '"It's okay, it's Nino.'"

Bernadis said he thought his attacker had shoulder length hair, wore a cap or a hat, jeans, a black bomber jacket and heavy shoes "like Doc Martins."

"I hope it wasn't a skater who did this," said Bernadis. "I don't think so. I don't know who could have done this. I don't have any enemies that I know of."

The skater also tried to dispel rumors the incident had been a setup to gain sympathy and attention ahead of the pairs final.

Bernadis said he had not even heard the rumors until after his long program Wednesday evening, when French team leader Gilles Beyer told him to take off his bandage in front of TV cameras to prove he was actually hurt.

"He was worried and upset," said Bernadis. "I had been concentrating on my program so I hadn't heard the rumors. It's a good thing. It was difficult enough as it was."

The attack was a grim reminder of those on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan just before the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics and tennis player Monica Seles during a match in Hamburg in 1993.

The injury was not enough to prevent Bernadis and partner Sarah Abitbol from winning France's first medal in the pairs since 1932, behind Russia's Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov and runners-up Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China.

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