John Nicks
Full name	John Allen Wisden Nicks
Born	(1929-04-22)22 April 1929 (age 95)
Figure skating career
Country	Great Britain
Retired	1953
Medal record Representing Great Britain Pairs'Figure skating World Championships 1953 Davos Pairs 1951 Milan Pairs 1952 Paris Pairs 1950 London Pairs European Championships 1953 Dortmund Pairs 1952 Vienna Pairs 1950 Oslo Pairs 1951 Zürich Pairs

John Allen Wisden Nicks (born 22 April 1929) is a Britishfigure skating coach and formerpair skater. With his sister,Jennifer Nicks, he is the 1953World champion. As a coach, his skating pupils have includedPeggy Fleming, pairs teamTai Babilonia andRandy Gardner,Kristi Yamaguchi,Paul Wylie,Sasha Cohen,Rory Flack andAshley Wagner.

Nicks, the son of a sporting goods store owner, grew up inBrighton,England.^[1][2] He is the brother ofJennifer Nicks.^[1] Nicks moved to theUnited States in the 1960s with his wife Denise, son Christopher and daughter Carolyn and was briefly an undocumented immigrant but received hisgreen card a few weeks later.^[1] He married American former ice dancerYvonne Littlefield.^[3] He became aU.S. citizen around 2008.^[1]

Nicks began skating at age 10 or 11 after his father – who knew nothing about skating but wanted to sell skating equipment – put him in skates in order to learn more about them.^[1] John and Jennifer competed initially as singles skaters but agreed to train together inpair skating upon the request of the British association, which promised to support them.^[1] They made their first Olympic appearance at the1948 Winter Olympics, where they finished 8th. Recalling the competition in a January 2013 interview, John said, "it was snowing so much they had to stop the skating after every three skaters to clear the snow."^[1] He was impressed by the American skaters at the event, in particularDick Button – this would later influence his decision to come to the United States.^[1]

The Nicks siblings won the first of their four World medals, silver, at the1950 World Championships. They won World bronze the next two seasons and competed at their secondOlympics in 1952, where they finished 4th. The pair won gold at the1953 World Championships inDavos,Switzerland. John said, "We were skating outdoors back then, and the temperature was, like, 28 degrees during a practice. It was so cold that I remember when I was taking off my boots that my laces were frozen."^[1] The siblings retired from competition after the event.

John moved toSouth Africa, where he skated in shows and began coaching, but moved back to England in 1960 and eventually on to Canada, coaching inTrail, British Columbia.^[2] Following the February 1961 crash ofSabena Flight 548, which killed the entire US figure skating team, he received four offers of a coaching job in the United States and agreed to coach at a rink inParamount, California owned byFrank Zamboni.^[1][2] He first appeared at theU.S. Championships as a coach in 1965.^[1]

As of 2012, Nicks coaches inAliso Viejo, California.^[2] He has coached over 1,200 skaters during his career.^[1] In April 2013, he said he would no longer travel but would still coach Ashley Wagner at the Aliso Viejo Ice Palace.^[4] Nicks was inducted into theWorld Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000. He appeared as a judge on the 2006FOX television programSkating with Celebrities.

P.S.A. Hall of Fame,I.S.I.A. Hall of Fame,U.S.F.S. Hall of Fame,I.S.U. World Hall of Fame,Skaters have won 29 National Championships,Coached for U.S. in 31 World Championships,Coached for U.S. in 10 Winter Olympics

His students have included:

• Peggy Fleming
• Angela Nikodinov
• Jo Jo Starbuck /Kenneth Shelley^[1]
• Tai Babilonia /Randy Gardner^[1]
• Tiffany Chin
• Dana Graham /Paul Wylie
• Christopher Bowman
• Natasha Kuchiki
• Jenni Meno /Todd Sand
• Kristi Yamaguchi /Rudy Galindo
• Naomi Nari Nam
• Sasha Cohen
• Ashley Wagner (since June 2011)^[5]
• Michael Christian Martinez
• Michael Novales
• Rory Flack

The John Nicks Pairs Challenge is an annual internationalpair skating competition hosted byU.S. Figure Skating. It is held in September inNew York City, New York. Medals are awarded on the senior and junior levels. Named in honor of British figure skating coach and former pair skater John Nicks, the event was first held in 2021.^[6]

• Brighton and Hove - John and Jennifer Nicks

• 1929 births
• Living people
• American figure skating coaches
• British male pair skaters
• British emigrants to the United States
• European Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Figure skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Great Britain
• Sportspeople from Brighton
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Pages using infobox figure skater with unknown parameters
• Place of birth missing (living people)