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U.S. skater Bobek returns to the ice
Posted: Thursday November 25, 1999 11:36 AM
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) -- U.S. figure skater Nicole Bobek will be back on the ice Sunday after medical tests showed no serious disease was responsible for her high white blood cell count, her coach said Wednesday. The 1995 U.S. champion and world bronze medalist, who has been plagued by injuries and illness in recent years, fell ill while skating an exhibition performance in early November in New Jersey. Initial tests revealed the problematic white cell count. The 22-year-old athlete spent the next few weeks undergoing further tests which ruled out meningitis, multiple sclerosis and leukemia as the cause. "It was an internal infection. Then to complicate it was a reaction to some of the prescription drugs she'd been taking. So they've adjusted the medication she takes for female-type situations and the doctors think she's going to be fine," said Bobek's coach Kerry Leitch from his skating center in Bradenton, Fla. Bobek has been training there with the veteran Canadian coach since August. The health scare forced the Chicago-born skater to withdraw from two ISU Grand Prix competitions held this month in Germany and France. "It's too bad because she's been skating very well and working well," said Leitch, noting that early in the season Bobek finished second to world champion Maria Butyrskaya in the Grand Slam pro-am event. Leitch reported that Bobek will compete in two upcoming pro-am competitions -- the Improv on Dec. 2 in Worcester, Mass., and the Sears Open in Toronto two days later. Leitch, the ninth coach to train Bobek during her career, also said he expects her to compete at the U.S. Nationals in Cleveland in February. A healthy Bobek could prove to be reigning champ Michelle Kwan's toughest challenger. But first, Bobek must qualify for a national berth at the sectional competition in mid-December in California. Bobek made the move to Florida, where her mother and grandmother live, to train with Leitch and former world ice dance champions Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay. Last season she was in Michigan with Richard Callaghan.
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