Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502140082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DATELINE: PROVIDENCE, R. I. LENGTH: Medium
She has already been through eight coaches in her skating life, as well as her sport's rumor mill.
The nasty backstage whispers about Nicole Bobek have suggested that she's scatterbrained, lazy, rebellious, bawdy, neglectful of her talent.
But the skating establishment embraced her like a prodigal daughter Saturday night as she won the ladies' singles title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
``I had to show everyone I've been training hard and that I'm able to succeed even with all the rumors,'' said Bobek, 17, who hadn't won a skating title of any kind in three years.
She was first on the cards of seven of Saturday's nine judges.
Michelle Kwan, 14, finished second overall, while Tonia Kwiatkowski,soon to turn 24, ended up third. If Kwan had won, she would have been the youngest U.S. champion in history. If Kwiatkowski had won, she'd have been the oldest since Maribel Vinson in 1937.
After Bobek finished fourth at last year's nationals, then was14th at the World Championships - where she took Tonya Harding's forfeited spot - Bobek knew she had to make some changes if her career was ever going to get going.
So last June, she jettisoned Evy and Mary Scotvold, Nancy Kerrigan's coaches, and hooked up with veteran coach Richard Callaghan in Detroit. Her mother Jana, who defected from Czechoslovakia in 1968, even sold her EuroTan salon in Colorado Springs, Colo., and moved to Troy, Mich., to be with her daughter.
Callaghan put Nicole right to work - hard, physical training - and this time it stuck.
``It goes to show that all the hard work, the suffering and the pain is all worth it,'' the 5-4, 118-pound skater said. ``Mr. Callaghan made us. We couldn't have done it without him.''
Bobek was speaking in the plural because Saturday was a doubly big day for Callaghan: In the men's free skate earlier in the afternoon, longtime pupil Todd Eldredge won his third national title.
It has been 45 years since the same coach has had both U.S. singles champions. In 1950, Gus Lussi coached Dick Button and Yvonne Sherman.
While the balance of power in women's skating is still shaking itself out, a nice little rivalry is developing on the men's side: Eldredge vs. Scott Davis, both two-time national champions, both Olympic washouts.
Certainly another Olympics will define their rivalry - the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
``I'm looking forward to the next three years, and I'm sure he is, too,'' Eldredge said., who won all nine judges in Saturday afternoon's free skate.
He won these championships in 1990 and '91, but hasn't been in a major medal ceremony since. So even though he's but 23 years old, he's definitely in the throes of a comeback.
Eldredge almost quit the sport when he started to struggle in 1992. He finished 10th at the Olympics that year, then was seventh at the World Championships. Then Eldredge caught the flu at last year's nationals and missed the Olympic team.
Those difficulties made the '95 championships all the more important, perhaps even critical to Eldredge's skating future.
``I can't think of anything that I've wanted as much,'' Eldredge said.
Davis, who finished with four clean triple jumps and two bungled ones, is himself making something of a comeback. He won the '93 and '94 national titles, but performed poorly at the Lillehammer Olympics (eighth place) and then again at the '94 Worlds (seventh).
``Scott's had a hard year,'' said his coach, Kathy Casey. ``He has had trouble shaking off the bad performances.''
He'll soon have a chance to expunge his record: He and Eldredge and Bobek and Kwan will represent the United States at the World Championships next month in Birmingham, England.
by CNB