Nicole Bobek | Golden Skate

Nicole Bobek

password

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
I don't know much about her...I was wondering what exactly she did to get her 'bad girl' rep?
 

SusanBeth

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
She had a brush with the law (edited:She was very young.) that came to light when she became national champion. I think that it was blown out of proportion. Because it happened after the whack, the press was all over it.

She was not known for having consistant training habits. In other words, she slacked off a great deal and just switched coaches when she didn't get good results. She went through a great many coaches, some more than once.

She just frustrated people with her bad choices and lack of consistant effort. She was such a beautiful skater. She had talent in spades, but she kept tripping herself up.

That being said, I have never heard anything to indicate that she was a bad person. I haven't seen or heard of her behaving badly towards other skaters or acting like a poor sport. She just did dumb things and hurt herself.
 
Last edited:

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
She did have a party girl reputation and was not known for the best training habits. In some ways, she's the equivalent of the female Chris Bowman - lots of talent, but not enough work ethic. Unlike Bowman, the bad behavior can be attributed to youth.

She was turned down for a medical bye to World's one year - although I think she was the reigning world champ (could be wrong about this, but it did happen - just not sure of the year). Very surprising, regardless. It was attributed to her touring on Nutcracker On ICe while injured, instead of allowing herself to heal in order to train for competition.
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
heyang said:
She was turned down for a medical bye to World's one year - although I think she was the reigning world champ (could be wrong about this, but it did happen - just not sure of the year). Very surprising, regardless. It was attributed to her touring on Nutcracker On ICe while injured, instead of allowing herself to heal in order to train for competition.

Nicole was the US ladies champion and World bronze medalist in 1995. She had withdrawn from the US ladies final at Nationals in 1996. I believe the medical bye was denied for 1996 Worlds. .
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
In one of Christine Brennan's books, there were some paragraphs describing some irresponsible behavior and some less than flattering quotes from coaches. Those books have longer legs than newspaper articles, for example.

When the USFS refused to give Bobek a medical bye, it was because she had participated in and was injured during the Nutcracker on Ice tour. (Todd Eldredge was also on the tour, but he took USFS criticism to heart, and won the World Championships in Edmonton.) That gave Tara Lipinski her first opportunity to compete at Worlds. Although she barely qualified for the LP after a disastrous SP, she skated the lights out in the LP, ending up 10th in the LP and pulling up to 15th overall. She got the attention of the judges, who were ready to give her the marks to gain the world title the next year (1997) without which she would have been an unlikely Olympic champion in Nagano in 1998.
 
Last edited:

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
The USFSA committee that made the decision as to who to send to Worlds in '96 decided to send Lipinski over Bobek by ONE vote (I think it was 13-12). I've always wondered if Tara being the skater "on the bubble", as it were, may have made the difference in the decision. After all, the USFSA did rather buy into "Taramania", as it was called, even back at the 95 Nats; perhaps if Sydne Vogel (4th at the 96 Nats) or Karen Kwan (5th) had finished 3rd instead of Tara, the decision may have come out differently.

One of the stories going around about Bobek at one point was an alleged tussle/catfight with Oksana Gritshuk over some guy they were both seeing. Gritshuk claims that Bobek slapped her; Bobek claims she didn't, but didn't exactly deny the arguement. Personally, I would have paid good money to see Nicole, or just about anyone for that matter, slap Gritshuk....:laugh:
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Nicole is one of those skaters - much like Emanuel Sandhu of Canada - loads of talent, but lacking discipline when it comes to training. As someone said she frustrated her fans. I have not heard much about her lately. I did see her in a pro skate here in Vancouver, BC a couple of years ago. My husband was quite taken with her!!!! I think Nicole is probably better off in a show than competing.
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Sokolova reminds me of Bobek a lot. Lots of talent, great results occasionally, and then a complete slump.
 

Grgranny

Da' Spellin' Homegirl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I thought it was Usova that got into it with Gritchuk (sp). Or maybe I just never heard about this one too. Or, believe it or not, I may have even forgotten!!! :rofl:
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Anyone who slaps Grishuk is ok in my book!

I think the "brush with the law" was a breaking/entering thing, that was either B/E OR misunderstanding with the parents of her friend who lived there. But of course, Nicole also was a smoker, laxed in her training habits, and as already been said, a party girl...so the flames are fanned.
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Grgranny said:
I thought it was Usova that got into it with Gritchuk (sp). Or maybe I just never heard about this one too. Or, believe it or not, I may have even forgotten!!! :rofl:

Oh, Usova got into it with Gritshuk as well; as we may remember, the Oksana Gritshuk of the mid to late 90s was a bit of a pain in the butt. As I remember the Usova/Gritshuk thing, Gritshuk was sitting at a bar in a restaurant, Usova walked in and saw her and smashed her face into the bar counter. I think they were fighting over a guy, too, like with Gritshuk and Bobek.
 

password

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Anyone know what's she up to now?...I know she used to do champions on ice.
(lol...theres a pic of her, sasha, johnny, and goebel on cohen's website and i swear you can see a little bottle of somethin-somethin in the pic)
 

IDLERACER

Medalist
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
password said:
I don't know much about her...I was wondering what exactly she did to get her 'bad girl' rep?
She has a tattoo on her calf. I'm still not sure of what it is. It looks like a bunch of carrots. Anyhow, it's not nearly as intrusive as Denise Beilmann's body art. As of two years ago, she also has a surgically enhanced upper torso.

:cool: Like Sasha Cohen and Emily Hughes, she's also got a big spiral.

I wonder what ever became of that movie she was supposed to be in where she plays a stripper that Sean Penn takes home. There's no mention of it on the I.M.D.B. :scratch:
 

SusanBeth

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Usova slapped Oksana when she caught her at a bar with Zhulin. Zhulin was Usova's husband and partner at the time. He was having an affair with Oksana. I would have paid to see her slap him.
 
Top