Nicole Bobek - 1997 Nationals LP

[YardleySlicker]

I always enjoyed Nicole's skating-her artistry, flair, and athleticism had the potential we saw in Katarina, Janet Lynn and Dorothy. I thought she was very special-so sorry that she was unable to sustain her skating, and that she got sidetracked down some bad alleys. Nicole, if you are reading this, many fans wish you health and most of all peace.

[Jhojsh101]

She like Chistopher Bowman were two of the greatest raw talented skaters ever! Just imagine if those two took their talent seriously and trained. World titles and Olympic gold couldve been theirs... a shame because they had such a gift

[trav16z]

Anyone know her marks?

[fatherfabulous]

As a former figure skater in the '70s, I can't agree with "not "champion" quality. Too many excuses, too lazy, too wasteful of her time". " First, she was a champion. Second, one doesn't get that good by being lazy. Her problem was she was a head case. She could have used a sports psychologist to deal with her ADD.

[metsdudenj]

@fatherfabulous and her drug use early on.

[Shimmeringsmiley]

I remember Nicol's skating.. She looked beautiful on the ice with her tan and blonde hair.. When her skating was on, it was just beautiful. Her spirials and elegance on the ice were like no other .. Watching her mess up her programs was painful to watch though... I wish her the best..

[metsdudenj]

I hate this music

[hongligl]

She's such a talented and lovely skater! Hope she can get her life back on track.

[PecanSandees23]

Love seeing Nicole skate. She had that spiral before anyone else did. Wish we didn't have to listen to the commentary, but.... Glad I could see this again. Thank you.

[sb2069]

My favorite Nicole's program! She is just beautiful and lovely ^3^ ㅎㅎ

[itod47]

one of my favorite freeskates of all time.

[tinymavy]

Such a beautiful skater. I love the landing position on her jumps.

[assplaytoy]

She was much more elegant and gracefull than all the other big skaters but whe was incosistent. So ensecure.. guess thats why shes on meth now. She was the best skater ever, for me...

[skateroffigures]

Wow.

What a lovely skater.

This surely took me by surprise considering I only heard of her because of the drug scandal.

My oh my what elegance she has on the ice.

[nasaltla]

This is my favorite performance of hers. I love the freedom, fun, and elegance in her skating.

[taraLipinskikfan033]

This program was so cute!

[rfillangi]

I was so happy for her. I remember yelling I was so excited...Although it is worth noting she only landed 4 triples and only one of them was a difficult triple...Good job though.

[sbe79]

Getting the bronze medal here was a gift considering her jumping just wasn't up to par (the missed Triple Loop and total omission of the Triple Flip were kind of surprising). I'm surprised she never became extremely popular as a pro -- maybe she never applied herself.

[gayskatingfan]

Watch Michelle Kwans silver medal performance. That was the real gift. This atleast was certainly better then that.

[scootie12]

Nicole actually scored better than Michelle in the freeskate, but since Michelle was in 1st after the SP, and Nicole in 6th, the best Nicole could do was 3rd. She would need help from other skaters to move ahead of Kwan based on the ordinals system in place under 6.0.

[gayskatingfan]

Fine. I still think Michelle was gifted much more for the marks for her performance at this year Nationals then Nicole was. Michelle should have been no higher then 4th in the free skate, and with nothing higher then a 5.4 for technical merit or 5.7 for presentation.

[fong03]

Agreed.

[hilljacknutjob]

She had star quality but not "champion" quality. Too many excuses, too lazy, too wasteful of her time, just a shame.

[coppertop1]

That's an interesting way of putting it, but true. She never had the discipline unfortunately

[espinaca79]

@hilljacknutjob I think she did what she could. She was not a natural, disciplined person. She had to work bery hard to get she earned.

[frostdiamond1]

Wonderful spirals, but another skater who couldn't usually keep it all together. Does anyone have her performances at the 1998 Olympics? I know she didn't do well, but I've never seen either of her skates from then...

[sbe79]

They're posted somewhere on here. I've seen the LP on here, at least. Yeah, it's pretty bad.  It's almost sad that it was broadcast to the world.

[peppe201]

FYI her coach Carlo Fassi died the day before her 1997 World's long.

[metsdudenj]

@frostdiamond1  trust me you dont want to see it, she basically skated the whole thing on her ass.

[pococolo]

She had such artistic flare and when she could put it together, she almost always brought the audience to their feet. I'm kind of surprised that she didn't do a lot more as a pro.

[pococolo]

She moved across the ice as well as anyone. It was not only her speed and spirals, but her foot-work was always so quick and secure.

[gemininer]

Actually I do not think that Nicole was overshadowed by Michelle at all. Michelle's just more consistent in landing her triple jumps than Nicole. If Nicole puts it together and landed those jumps, she would beat Michelle any time.

[soulmuzixercher]

One of the original ladies to have the most fabulous spirals... but I remember she used to say that her spins were like Lucinda Ruh's in slow motion. Great extensions in her skating ability, too bad she was overshadowed by Michelle Kwan... oh, and let's work on the tracking on the vcr.