U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : NOTEBOOK : Country Switching Is Not for One Skater

Nicole Bobek of Chicago, who won the gold medal in women’s figure skating Sunday at the Forum, was asked by her former coach if she would be interested in competing for Czechoslovakia, which would be possible under International Skating Union rules because her mother is Czech.

Bobek, 13, who faces long odds of representing the United States in the Winter Olympics next year because of the tremendous depth in women’s figure skating in this country, told him she is not interested. “People keep asking me about that . . .,” Bobek said. “Carlo (Fassi) asked me, ‘Do you want to skate for (Czechoslovakia)?’ And I said, ‘Why should I? I wasn’t born there. I was born here. This is where I’m from. Why should I skate for (Czechoslovakia), where I don’t even know how to speak the language? It’s stupid.’

“Skating for another country is just an easy way out.”

Joanna Ng, 12, of Woodland Hills, bronze medalist in women’s singles, was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and said that she and her coach and parents have discussed the possibility of Ng representing Taiwan internationally.

“I don’t really care,” Ng said. “All I want to do is skate my best, have fun and get better.”