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<\/a>In 1995, figure skating was soaring in popularity in the United States. The sport was on the heels of the dramatic Lillehammer Olympics, and its athletes were all over the airwaves and magazine covers. That February, 17-year-old Nicole Bobek – from Chicago – claimed her sole national championship.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was very nerve racking,\u201d Bobek said in a Zoom call. \u201cThat Nationals, in particular, I really wasn\u2019t set to win. My focus was to make the world team, and that is what I set out to do, and I won, and it was very unexpected. It was amazing, your life just changes in those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a little more pressure,\u201d she said. \u201cYou want to do well, since you are representing your country, and you want to stay at that top level that won Nationals, but better than that. Those four minutes out there, can make or break you in a second.\u201d<\/p>\n The wave from the Providence Nationals carried Bobek into the lead after the short program in Birmingham. She ended up with a bronze medal behind China\u2019s Lu Chen and France\u2019s Surya Bonaly.<\/p>\n Following an ankle injury in 1996, Bobek won the bronze medal at the 1997 U.S. Championships and her third\u00a0-and-final World Championships brought her to Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1997. Although she finished in 13th<\/sup><\/span> place, the event became tragic when her coach, Carlo Fassi, died of a heart attack while at the event. The much-revered Italian figure skater turned coach was 67.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so unexpected,\u201d Bobek said of Fassi. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t function. There have been skaters, when someone passes away, they are able to pull it together. When that happened, something just kind of broke in me, and I couldn\u2019t pull it together. He\u2019s always in my heart, and I was very lucky for him to be in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you finally do make that Olympic team,\u201d Bobek said, \u201cit\u2019s like what you worked for your whole life, and you\u2019re at that moment. You try to be chill and cool and still be focused. When you represent the United States, it\u2019s a huge thing. It\u2019s an honor to even make the team. I wish I could have skated better there, but I was dealing with an injury.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Her hip injury sidelined her from the rest of the season, but Bobek did return in the autumn to win the silver medal at the Grand Prix Trophee Lalique in Paris, behind Russia’s Maria Butyrskaya and finished 4th at Skate America. Those would end up being Bobek’s final competitive events. Bobek toured with\u00a0Champions on Ice for several years and appeared in numerous other shows and professional competitions across the globe.<\/p>\n However, when asked of a moment that stuck out to her, it was her senior debut at the 1990 Olympic Festival as a 12-year-old. The Olympic Festival was an event held in the summer during the 1980s and early 1990s that brought together U.S. athletes from several different sports.<\/p>\n “I went and was just going on the senior level, and people were like,\u00a0\u2018Who\u2019s this little girl?\u2019 I went and just skated so freely, and it was like 14,000 people stood on their feet,” Bobek recalled. “I remember that feeling like \u2018Oh, My Gosh! I can\u2019t believe this just happened.\u2019 That\u2019s the youthfulness of skating without pressure. Your adrenaline just goes through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n Nancy Kerrigan won that competition in Minneapolis, with Bobek coming in seventh. One year later, 13-year-old Bobek won the gold medal at the event in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cI work with anybody who wants to enhance their skating a little bit,\u201d said Bobek, who turns 48 in late August. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I am a fully-committed coach. I am not there from five in the morning until six at night. I love to work with adult skaters. I think when you work with adults, it\u2019s so different. The atmosphere and energy level is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n The music is a big part of why she loves skating, and she noted that was a big part of why she began at age three.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have that ability to express that on the ice,\u201d she added, \u201cit\u2019s so great. You have that freedom to be out there, and to be able to project that on the audience is a powerful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Bobek’s five-year-old son, Alejandro, is beginning to skate, as well. While Bobek said she isn\u2019t pushing it, she would like him to know how. His upcoming first-year of kindergarten might limit his ice time, however. Bobek\u2019s Czech-born mother, Jana, who settled in Florida in 1997, lives 25 minutes away from Bobek. When Bobek was five, she and her mother visited Prague on a family trip, back when it was still Czechoslovakia. Bobek noted that it maybe time for another visit.<\/p>\n \u201cI am hoping to do a trip with her,\u201d Bobek said. \u201cShe can show me where she grew up and what street she walked on. Things like that would be very special, and it is on the to-do list.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was approached years ago to write a book,\u201d Bobek said, \u201cand I didn\u2019t think it was the right time. People write books for different areas of their lives. You might write a book when you are 20, and it will be completely different when you are 40. I felt that it was time for me to release things that I have been dealing with for a long time in my life. I wanted to give insight to how the media portrays me or the things I have done and why they happened, and me taking responsibility for so many things in my life. I felt it could be a good channel for people who go through different types of things. (They) can relate through this book.\u201d<\/p>\n The trials and tribulations of Bobek\u2019s personal life, including her battle with drug addiction to her legal problems, have been documented in the mainstream media. Now, she has reached a level of confidence where she can express her side of the story.<\/p>\n \u201cMy superpower in this book is being able to write it and being a mom because it changes your perspective on so many things,\u201d she said. \u201c(There was) what I thought before I had a child, and I totally get it now. That\u2019s a really powerful thing. I want to move forward and give back to the skating world. It\u2019s my duty to make myself present after all of these years. I hope to help some kids or adults and whatever is in store.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n You can pre-order Bobek’s book at https:\/\/nicole-bobek.square.site\/.\u00a0<\/a>You can listen to Nicole talk more about her book on This Week in Skating here.<\/a><\/p>\n To read Scott\u2019s other interviews in his catching up with former World and Olympic competitors series:<\/p>\n Catching up with former pairs champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>After Tonia Kwiatkowski won the short program, Bobek electrified the Providence Civic Center crowd to her Dr. Zhivago <\/i>free skate to win gold. At the previous year’s World Championships in Chiba, Japan, Bobek placed 25th<\/sup><\/span>. The post-Olympic season would culminate with the World Championships in Birmingham, England, and the American champion had a target on her back.<\/p>\n<\/a>Bobek continued skating with Christa Fassi, Carlo\u2019s widow, going into the highly-anticipated 1998 Olympic season. Most eyes were on Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski, who were the past two World champions and finished one-two at the Lausanne Worlds. A third Olympic spot was up for grabs, and at the 1998 Nationals in Philadelphia, Bobek emerged to win her third U.S. bronze medal (joining ones from 1994 and 1997) to punch her ticket to Olympics in Nagano. There, she finished in 17th<\/sup><\/span> place.<\/p>\nSouth Florida Mom<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Currently, Bobek lives in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., which is three hours north of Miami. She recently moved from Hope Sound, reducing her commute to the rink where she coaches from one hour away to 10 minutes.<\/p>\nBobek: The Wild One<\/h3>\n
<\/a>But right now, Bobek is focused on October 8. That’s when the world will be introduced to Bobek\u2019s full story in her book Bobek: The Wild One<\/i>. She co-wrote the memoir with writer Todd Fischer, working two nights per week for two hours during a six-month span.<\/p>\n