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SkateFan4Life
Guest
And Nicole Bobek never really had such a golden opportunity again. The next year, she failed to make the US World team, as she withdrew from the US Nationals just prior to the long program, and that's the year (1996) that Michelle Kwan won her first US and World title, and Tara Lipinski finished 3rd at Nationals and made her World debut.
In 1997, Bobek was devastated over the sudden death of her coach, Carlo Fassi, and she competed at Worlds with a heavy heart. At the 1998 Nationals, she finished third, behind Kwan and Lipinski, and then skated one of the most horrendous short programs of her life at the Olympics. She skated a very tentative long program at Nagano and finished 17th overall - hardly the finish she would have wanted.
Who knows what might have happened had Bobek skated a clean long at the 1995 Worlds and won the title? Perhaps she would have turned pro immediately, but perhaps that victory would have propelled and inspired her to train hard and be well prepared for the next two seasons. Of course, this is just speculation, because that's not what happened.
In 1997, Bobek was devastated over the sudden death of her coach, Carlo Fassi, and she competed at Worlds with a heavy heart. At the 1998 Nationals, she finished third, behind Kwan and Lipinski, and then skated one of the most horrendous short programs of her life at the Olympics. She skated a very tentative long program at Nagano and finished 17th overall - hardly the finish she would have wanted.
Who knows what might have happened had Bobek skated a clean long at the 1995 Worlds and won the title? Perhaps she would have turned pro immediately, but perhaps that victory would have propelled and inspired her to train hard and be well prepared for the next two seasons. Of course, this is just speculation, because that's not what happened.