Nicole Bobek was a beautiful skater and a beautiful woman.UPH remembers watching her outskate Michelle Kwan at the 1995 Nationals, winning bronze at world’s that year.  She choreographed her own routines, even improvising in competition.  Her devastating fall at the 1998 Olympics reduced viewers to tears, and she finished 18th.  The world may have thought that was the end of Bobek’s story, but this summer she was arrested for dealing methamphetamine, part of a sophisticated and well-organized ring that sold up to $10,00o worth of product a week.

Bobek’s mugshot makes her unrecognizable.  Once often compared to a Barbie doll, she’s now bloated.  When George Steinbrenner paid for her training in middle school, she was beautiful: now she looks…well…like a meth dealer, actually.

Much like those who come out of the millitary after going in early in life, athletes in sports that begin intensive training at a young age come out of their sport’s work with no life-skills.  Maybe the professional organizations have a responsibillity to young athletes, just as colleges do to their athletes to at least make an effort to prepare people like Bobek for life, not life in prison.