Figure skating coach John Nicks, who won a world pairs title, dies at 97
The gist
British-born coach John Nicks, who won a 1953 world pairs title with his sister, died at 97.
He coached Olympic champions Peggy Fleming and Kristi Yamaguchi across a decades-long career.
How it unfolded
- Apr 22, 1929John Allen Wisden Nicks was born in Brighton, England.
- 1953He and his sister Jennifer won gold in the pairs competition at the World Championships.
- 1961After the Sabena Flight 548 crash killed the U.S. team, Nicks accepted a coaching job at the Iceland Arena in Paramount, California.
Key terms
- pairs
- A figure skating discipline in which two skaters, one woman and one man, perform movements in unison.
- Sabena Flight 548 crash
- A 1961 plane crash near Brussels that killed all aboard, including the entire U.S. figure skating team.
- U.S. Figure Skating
- The national governing body for figure skating in the United States, founded in 1921.
Source: Wikipedia