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Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET
Athlete notes `I feel like this is my time, my year. A lot of people say I'm the oldest now. I look at is an advantage. I'm more mature, I give the judges a different look' -- Nicole Bobek. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Athlete notes
In her star-crossed young life, Bobek has been the target of almost every emotion: amazement, ridicule, envy and scorn...but the 20-year-old enters the Olympic year branded with an emotion heretofore unbeknownst to her: sympathy...after a somewhat lost youth, Bobek seemingly found herself early last winter under the tutelage of coach Carlo Fassi...Fassi had coached Olympic champions Peggy Fleming (1968), Dorothy Hamill (1976), John Curry (1976) and Robin Cousins (1980)...Fassi had been her coach nearly a decade ago before they split when Fassi took a job in Milan, Italy...Fassi rejuvenated Bobek, whose image had been tarnished by a series of events and confidence shattered by a series of injuries...and after placing a strong third at the US Championships (moving up from sixth after a stunning free skate) Bobek seemed poised to join Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan on an American podium at the Worlds in Lausanne...but in Lausanne, Fassi collapsed and died of a heart attack -- he was 67 years old...distraught, Bobek counselled Christa Fassi, Carlo's widow and co-coach, and they agreed she should skate...but Nicole staggered to only a 13th-place finish..."It was terrible,"she says several months later. "It was really terrible. I look back and I'm actually amazed that I even did it. But I think if I wouldn't have done it, I would have felt worse. I was a total blank. I go out there. I had a good warmup. That was OK. And right before they called my name, I looked at Christa and I could see the pain in her eyes. She just kind of touched my face and I lost it right there. I couldn't do it. I totally lost it. I got out there and I was just crying. I was a zombie. It was so hard to get through. It was so hard"...for Bobek, who at one point went through nine coaches in nine years; for Bobek, who grew up fatherless; for Bobek, who, off-the-record, coaches have called "unmanageable," Carlo Fassi was a father figure...."I would have stayed with him if he hadn't gone to Italy," she says. "We always kept in touch. He was basically a father to me. He really, really loved me. He was always there for me"...it is the slightest thing that triggers a tear in Bobek..."I know it probably sounds weird, but like anytime someone's smoking a cigar, I always think of him, because he'd always have a cigar at the end of the day and I can almost remember the smell," she says. "And I hated the smell of it. And, now, I actually like it because it reminds me of him and it almost makes me feel very good"...Bobek is continuing under the tutelage of Christa Fassi, who understands the bond Nicole shared with Carlo..."He'd never yell at me," recalls Nicole. "He'd always talk to me. Never yelled at me. And he'd really listen to me when I had an idea about something. I think a lot of coaches think because they're your coach that they can just run ad decide everything for you. And I totally disagree with that"...Nicole started skating early, and many felt that by the time she reunited with Fassi her flame was already extiguished...her mother, Jana (YAH-nah), fled Czechoslovakia when she was 21 and Soviet tanks rolled into Prague...soon after Nicole was born, her father abandoned Jana and her...Nicole has been raised by Jana and a friend, Joyce Barron, whom Jana told a young Nicole was a "live-in aunt""...Jana and Joyce have moved every time Nicole has uprooted to skate for another coach...Jana had skated in minor competitions as a youth in Czechoslovakia and put Nicole on skates at age 3 ½...Bobek's strength on the ice has long been her connection to the audience and music, and Jana traces the origins of that to her youth..."Nicole is very musical," says her mother. "As a little girl, she could hear a note of music and pick up a tune right away. Her athleticism and coodination were just a bonus. But I think Nicole really got her talent from my mother, who was a fabulous skater"...Nicole first skated in a competition at age five, and Jana worked in odd jobs -- at a tanning salon, as an ice cream vendor, and a hot dog concessionaire - to defray costs...as a young teenager, Bobek charmed New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner at a performance, and the Boss instantly cut a $15,000 check to help in training costs...but the Boss stopped his assistance when Bobek hit a slump...there were other reasons to count Bobek out -- she was notorious for lackadaisical training, sneaking cigarettes, and skating from man to man (as a teenager she went out with a 28-year-old divorcee)...looking back Bobek says, "I've always been a free spirit, and I always will be, but it was kind of like I was going out too much with it. I was a little Dennis Rodman or something"...and things seemed to happen to her...in 1992 she was rushed into the operating room for an emergency appendectomy and nearly died when her lungs collapsed...at the 1993 world junior championships, Bobek cut herself with her skate blade landing a jump and finished the program with blood oozing from her right thigh...and of all things, in 1994, she arrived at a competition in Philadelphia sporting bite marks on her neck -- she had been savagely bitten by a friend's Labrador retriever...that year she changed coaches three times...she settled on Richard Callaghan, coach of Todd Eldredge and now Lipinski...in his Michigan rink, Callaghan put Bobek through endless repetitions to gain consistency on her jumps...Bobek was allowed to choreograph her own routines, but could no longer improvise in mid-program...she hoped 1995 would help her regain legitimacy -- she not only did that but won the US crown delaying the ascent of Kwan...even in her moment of triumph, controversy hounded Bobek...in November 1994, Bobek had been found alone in a Bloomfield, Michigan home of a skating friend...the friend's father contends he found Bobek in the house by herself with a large sum of money that had been missing from the house...Bobek countered that the home was a well-known "party house" among her friends; that it could be entered with an electronically coded password and that she and others knew the password...she denied taking the money but entered with her lawyer a guilty plea of unlawful entry...she was given two years' probation, a nightly curfew, and assigned 50 hours of community service...one condition of the plea was confidentiality, as once a juvenile offender in Michigan completes probations, charges are dropped and records are sealed...but after Bobek upset Kwan at the Nationals, news of the plea leaked -- Bobek was cleared of the charges and released from probation...of course the 1995 Worlds were in Birmingham, England and Fleet Street had a field day with Bobek...some headlines: "Bad Girl Bobek To Take Centre Stage"; "Golden Girl Who Slipped Up On Thin Ice"; "Herald of the Tonya Effect"...or as a profile in the Observer began: "Nicole Bobek, America's newest ice princess, is a self-styled `free-spirit,'a cigarette-smoking, drinking, bed-swapping, long-legged 17-year-old Madonna who was arrested last November for `house invasion' and has been discarded by a series of the US's top coaches as `unmanageable.' And she's headed this way"...despite the microscope, Bobek led after the short program and finished third overall...seemingly stable, Bobek cited physical and emotional stresses and left Callaghan in December 1995 for Barbara Roles Williams, who coached her between the ages of 10 and 12..."Strange things happen in this sport, and they will continue to happen," says Callaghan in recalling the episode...at the time, Bobek had an injured right ankle, but instead of returning home to rehabiltate, she accepted a reported $90,000 as a headliner in a 16-day, 20-show Nutcracker on Ice tour...she arrived at the Nationals to defend her title with a new coach and an inflamed ankle...after placing third in the short program, her ankle ballooned and she had to withdraw...Bobek asked for a wild card to the 1996 Worlds, but the US skating establishment had "Brass Knuckles" -- her nickname for wearing a ring on each finger while off the ice -- backed in a corner...the United States Figure Skating Association refused Bobek's request, instead sending a precocious 13-year-old named Lipinski to her first Worlds...at a crossroads, Bobek turned back to Fassi...a sciatic nerve in her back sidelined her much of the autumn of 1996...but in a couple of months she went from walking with a cane to the podium at Nationals... says Frank Carroll, coach of Michelle Kwan, "Never, ever count Nicole out"...Carla Fassi is getting help coaching Nicole from the great Soviet pairs skater Irina Rodnina...and the Fassis' former gold medalist, Robin Cousins, choreographs her programs..."It's a great group package and a support system,"says Bobek, who adds, "I feel great skating pain-free"...asked if she can break into the Kwan-Lipinski rivalry, Bobek said, "I think it's kind of funny. It's almost perfect for me. Let those two battle it out and it's a perfect opportunity for me to slip right through"...
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