By Scott Mammoser, Team FSO contributing writer
Photos from Getty Images and Nicole Bobek

Team FSO staff writer Scott Mammoser caught up with Nicole Bobek, the 1995 U.S. Champion and 1995 World bronze medalist. She also competed 1998 Winter Olympics. This is Scott’s third article in his 2025 off-season series catching up with former World and Olympic competitors. 

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.

“It was very nerve racking,” Bobek said in a Zoom call. “That Nationals, in particular, I really wasn’t 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.”

After Tonia Kwiatkowski won the short program, Bobek electrified the Providence Civic Center crowd to her Dr. Zhivago free skate to win gold. At the previous year’s World Championships in Chiba, Japan, Bobek placed 25^th. The post-Olympic season would culminate with the World Championships in Birmingham, England, and the American champion had a target on her back.

“You have a little more pressure,” she said. “You 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.”

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’s Lu Chen and France’s Surya Bonaly.

Following an ankle injury in 1996, Bobek won the bronze medal at the 1997 U.S. Championships and her third -and-final World Championships brought her to Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1997. Although she finished in 13^th 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.

“It was so unexpected,” Bobek said of Fassi. “I just couldn’t 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’t pull it together. He’s always in my heart, and I was very lucky for him to be in my life.”

Bobek continued skating with Christa Fassi, Carlo’s 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 17^th place.

“When you finally do make that Olympic team,” Bobek said, “it’s like what you worked for your whole life, and you’re at that moment. You try to be chill and cool and still be focused. When you represent the United States, it’s a huge thing. It’s an honor to even make the team. I wish I could have skated better there, but I was dealing with an injury.”

 Her 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 Champions on Ice for several years and appeared in numerous other shows and professional competitions across the globe.

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.

“I went and was just going on the senior level, and people were like, ‘Who’s this little girl?’ 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 ‘Oh, My Gosh! I can’t believe this just happened.’ That’s the youthfulness of skating without pressure. Your adrenaline just goes through the roof.”

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.

South Florida Mom

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.

“I work with anybody who wants to enhance their skating a little bit,” said Bobek, who turns 48 in late August. “I wouldn’t 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’s so different. The atmosphere and energy level is fun.”

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.

“To have that ability to express that on the ice,” she added, “it’s so great. You have that freedom to be out there, and to be able to project that on the audience is a powerful thing.”

Bobek’s five-year-old son, Alejandro, is beginning to skate, as well. While Bobek said she isn’t pushing it, she would like him to know how. His upcoming first-year of kindergarten might limit his ice time, however. Bobek’s 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.

“I am hoping to do a trip with her,” Bobek said. “She 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.”

Bobek: The Wild One

But right now, Bobek is focused on October 8. That’s when the world will be introduced to Bobek’s full story in her book Bobek: The Wild One. She co-wrote the memoir with writer Todd Fischer, working two nights per week for two hours during a six-month span.

“I was approached years ago to write a book,” Bobek said, “and I didn’t 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.”

The trials and tribulations of Bobek’s 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.

“My superpower in this book is being able to write it and being a mom because it changes your perspective on so many things,” she said. “(There was) what I thought before I had a child, and I totally get it now. That’s a really powerful thing. I want to move forward and give back to the skating world. It’s my duty to make myself present after all of these years. I hope to help some kids or adults and whatever is in store.”

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You can pre-order Bobek’s book at https://nicole-bobek.square.site/. You can listen to Nicole talk more about her book on This Week in Skating here.

To read Scott’s first interview in his catching up with former World and Olympic competitors series:

Catching up with former pairs champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner

Catching up with former world champion Elaine Zayak