Troubles Aside, Bobek Qualifies For World Figures
U.S. champion Nicole Bobek shrugged off her troubles with a solid performance Monday to qualify for the World Figure Skating Championships.
Bobek, performing for the first time since word of her run-in with the law was leaked to the press, smiled her way through her “Doctor Zhivago” routine and placed ahead of expected medal-contender and Olympic bronzemedalist Lu Chen to win her qualifying group.
“I’d like to start by saying the last two weeks have been very difficult for me,” the 17-year-old skater from Chicago said in a prepared statement. “I have grown a lot as a result. All of you are aware of the things that have been brought up in the media. I’d like to say that there is nothing new.
“(Coach Richard) Callaghan and I have been able to put this behind me and focus my efforts on training for the World Championships. With the support of my fellow U.S. team members, I continue to feel positive about representing the U.S. in these championships.”
After she won the U.S. nationals last month, it was leaked to the press that Bobek, who already had a wildgirl reputation on the skating circuit, had pleaded guilty in January to unlawfully entering another skater’s home.
The charges were dropped after the case was made public - one of the conditions of her plea was that it be kept confidential - and her lawyer said he believes a rival camp or former coach was behind the leak.
Reporters laid siege to Bobek’s training rink at the Detroit Skating Club, hampering not only her training, but that of U.S. men’s champion Todd Eldredge, who also works with Callaghan.
While the self-described free spirit Bobek was reluctant - no doubt at the insistence of her coach and U.S. team management - to discuss the matter on Monday, she was more than happy to talk about a performance that included only two major mistakes: a touchdown on a triple axel and a stumble going into her final spin.
“I went through the hard things OK,” said Bobek, who will skate again in the short program on Friday. “But on some of the easier things I had a little trouble with. This next week we’re going to work on that and I still have a few days to get even stronger.”
Bobek, placed first by eight of nine judges, overshadowed a surprisingly lackluster effort from Chen, who appeared to be saving everything for later in the week.
Dressed in red, Chen skated a nicely-choreographed routine to music from “The Last Emperor,” but she performed no combination jumps and was very conservative with her footwork. She hit two triple jumps, but stepped out of a triple lutz.