Sasha Cohen is a very gifted skater. Most compare her flexibility and her presence on the ice to that of a prima ballerina. She has gorgeous line and extension as figure skating commentator Peggy Flemming mentions every time Sasha skates.
She has been among the top in the world for the last several years...
among the top...
but never at the top.
It's the biggest mystery ever: how can someone who is seemingly perfect, never manage to actually be perfect? To the untrained figure skating eye, most would assume that Sasha has won all kinds of national and world championships.
They would think that she is the most successful skater to ever step on the ice. But those that have watched Sasha since 2000 know that that is not the case. Sasha has been near the top numerous times.
..but she has never made it to the top.
Sasha could be the best skater in the world. She can do things on ice that barely any other skater can do. Her programs play out like dramatic plays; unfortunately, most of them are tragedies.
Sasha has never managed to put together two clean programs to win the top prize. It doesn't matter how talented you are if you can't do what's expected during major competitions. Spectacular spirals and amazing artistry are not enough to win gold; jumps are a necessity.
If Sasha could skate cleanly, she would win the majority of the time, hands down. Judges are looking for skaters that have Sasha's qualities as well as those that skaters like Michelle Kwan and Shizuka Arakawa have. Michelle is renown for her artistic qualities as well performing under pressure and delivering flawless performances.
Shizuka does many of the same fantastic moves that Sasha does but she is able to land her jumps cleanly when it counts.
The short program is all about the elements: two minutes and fourty seconds consisting of only three jumps, spins and spiral step sequences. The long however, is about the bigger picture: four minutes and anywhere from five to seven triple jumps and the over all artistry and presentation.
Several times after the short program (which she usually excels in) Sasha's been in position to capture gold. Unfortunately, her inability to maintain her focus and skate well always cost her the gold medal.
Sasha did manage to win the US National Championships this past January.
Although she did win fair and square, most would argue that the only reason she managed to capture this title was because the then current and nine-time national champ, Michelle Kwan, did not compete and, thus, she had no real competition. Had she won with a flawless performance, she may have been able to downplay this claim. However, both her short and long programs were emotionally flat and cautious.
She didn't skate with fire and passion; she held back, simply going through the motions. It was evident she was concentrating on not falling. Sasha managed to clear the program without a fall; however, her track record of flawed performances was upheld after she stepped out of two triple jumps in a row.
Nonetheless, flawed jumps and no Michelle still equaled gold. Now Sasha was the US National Champion. Finally she shed the silver and donned the gold.
But with the national title came immense pressure. Heading into the Olympics, she was the overwhelming favorite. Even though Michelle Kwan received a medical bye and was granted a spot on the team, everyone was still uncertain as to how she would perform.
Sasha was dubbed America's best hope for gold .
After Michelle withdrew, the weight shifted completely to Sasha. It appeared as though she would finally be able to handle the pressure after she skated a clean short program and ended up in first place going into the long.
However, a skipped day of practice followed by a disastrous warm-up resulted in history repeating itself. Sasha skated second in the final group. She didn't have a lot of time to gather her thoughts and compose herself after falling several times in the warm-up.
Sasha began and within 20 seconds, it was all over. She fell on her first jump and had to put two hands on the ice to keep from going down completely on the second.
Oddly enough, after her two misses she seemed to focus and finished the rest of the program cleanly.
However, the damage had been done. In the end, she was surprised to see that her disappointing performance actually held up for an Olympic silver medal.
Sasha had an opportunity to redeem herself: the World Championships in Calgary, Canada on March 24.
In the last two Olympics, the Olympic silver medalists have gone on to win the world championships (Michelle Kwan in 1998 and Irina Slutskaya in 2002). If she could get a win at worlds, she would be able to finally erase the stigma of never being good enough for gold. All of her major competition would be absent: no Olympic champ, Shizuka Arakawa; no two-time world champ, Irina Slutskaya; and no five-time world champ, Michelle Kwan.
Basically no one to really challenge her for gold. No one in the ladies field could match up to Sasha if she skated cleanly. Once again, she came in as the favorite.
Sasha began her bid on a bad note. She performed horribly in the qualifying round, falling twice and ending up in fifth place heading into the short. Despite a two-footed landing on her jump combination, Sasha won the short program and jumped from fifth to first, with a 5.
58 lead over fellow American, Kimmie Meissner. Once again, the gold was within reach.
Sasha's first jump was a little wobbly.
No doubt the miss on her first jump at the Olympics was haunting her. But she pulled it together and recovered nicely on her next two jumps. It appeared as though she was getting stronger as the program went on.
The next jump changed the story. She had a rough step out on a triple-flip, followed by a hand down on her triple-toe/triple-salchow sequence (she omitted the triple-salchow altogether). Sasha's program continued to go downhill.
She badly two-footed her double-axel, and even slightly loss her balance on her trademark spiral. Sasha went up for her last jump, a triple-salchow, and finally came down hard, falling just 22 seconds before the end of her program.
Sasha had done it again.
Again she had failed to skate cleanly. But 16 year-old Kimmie Meissner was about to bring the home gold for the US. Meissner had the skate of her young life landing not one, but two triple-triple combinations.
Kimmie's scores put her ahead of Sasha by more than ten points.
Next came Japan's Fumie Suguri. Suguri had a few minor mistakes, but nothing big enough to damage her score significantly.
Suguri's score was not enough to touch Meissner's, but it was enough to bump Sasha out of second place. Sasha came in to Calgary expecting gold, and instead walked away with bronze.
It's not fair to downplay everything Sasha has done.
She has been among the top in the sport for the last six years. She has defeated some of the best, including Michelle Kwan who has been beaten by an amazingly small number of skaters. She has won about a dozen titles.
..but only one has been a major title, and even that has been discounted.
Sasha has left a mark on the sport. Her spirals and dramatic interpretation of music will be remembered; unfortunately, her inability to grab the gold when it was within her reach will be what follows her forever.
It's sad to see a skater with so much potential never fully reach it.
It was obvious in her interviews during the world championships that the constant negative media her skating receives is finally wearing her down. The media hypes her up before competitions and then have a field day tearing her apart when fails time after time. Sasha often tries to put things into perspective, but how many more disappointments like this can she handle?
Mentally, it must be draining. There seems to be something mentally wrong with her when she skates. It used to be a question of stamina, but now it appears that it's something much deeper than that.
Sasha seems to be unable to turn off that negative voice in her head and just lose herself in the music and the moment. Whatever her underlying problem is, it has caused her to make mistakes in every major competition she has ever entered and has cost her several national, world and even Olympic titles.
Sasha has said that she was very tempted to leave figure skating and pursue an acting career.
She enjoys the limelight, premieres, parties and being a part of the Hollywood scene. Her repeated failures this season may be what compel her to quit skating and venture out into the world of acting. If she stays with the sport, she'll have the opportunity to shed her always a bridesmaid, never a bride image.
But if she does retire, she will be leaving the sport as the skater that had the potential to be the best...
but never was.
Anyone who medals in the Olympics, or gets a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal for a competition in my eyes is a winner, everyone can't win the gold medal there is only one Gold medal. Look at Nicole Bobeck there were quite a few times when she lost, but she still enjoys the rewards of her skating. Granted they have won World or National Championships but I think Sasha will too, if she could only not listen to people making negative remarks.
Whatever Sasha decides to do, I wish her all the best. If she decides to continue with skating, I would sugest that she practice her long programe more, and try to put all negative thoughts out of her mind before she does her long programe. One day soon I hope she realises that she can do it, and goes on to win win win.
Sasha, YOU ARE A WINNER, no matter what anyone say's
Sasha is by far the most beautiful skater to ever grace the ice. Yes, I am disappointed that she fell apart at worlds and the olympics ,but I thnk that she had mentally set herself up for failure. As soon as I heard she was talking about leaving the sport for acting I knew this was a bad sign.
All of her focus should have been on thinking positive. Sasha, if you read this, please never give up skating. You do not have to have the gold medal for people to enjoy your skating.
I was never impressed with the last two olympic gold medalist, Lapinkski and Hughes. Neither one of them headlining a show would peak my interest. However, you are WONDERFUL and such a joy to watch.
STAY IN THE SPORT FOR THOSE OF US WHO LOVE FIGURE SKATING FOR ITS BEAUTY!!!
she had a groin pull in Torino, and the excuse about wanting to sleep in was so the press didn't make an even bigger issue out of things. I love how everyone is so quick to jump all over her for "failing". I wonder if anyone on this board does something in their life that comes even close to the achievements this young lady has had?
?? Do any of you have an Olympic medal and will you be appearing on t.
v. shows and movies? Quit projecting your OWN failures onto
Anyone who has the guts to buzz Michelle Kwan during a warm-up clearly has no fear. She is ambitious and has determination. I believe Sasha fails at skating cleanly because she has poor basic skating skills.
By that I mean, she has poor edge quality and lacks mastery of her blades. She slips of edges on jumps, in footwork, in spins, on crossovers, you name it. She makes mistakes that we excuse because we think she is so talented.
Firstly, she has no lutz jump. Her "lutz" has the same takeoff as her flip. If, at the very least, the entry was steady she would be able to hold the jump, albeit flawed.
But Sasha wobbles all over the ice before the pick goes in and next thing you know, you have a step out, hand down, or a fall. An scary takeoff usually results in a scary landing. Sasha has plenty.
Secondly, Sasha almost always lands on an inside edge. She distracts you with a little ta-da! hand moves when she lands a jump, but if you watch her feet, you will see sqiggly lines and hooks on the ice.
If it isn't an inside edge, it is a two-foot, which means lack of height, lack or rotation, or not checking out of the jump in the air. You rarely see a "Swish" landing with lots of runout from Sasha. Thirdly, if you have never seen Sasha live, you wil be surprised to find how s--l--o--w--l--y she skates.
Not only does she lack speed, she lacks ice coverage. The spirals, beaufiful as they are, don't cover a lot of ice. At nationals, the fan spiral covered only about 15 feet of ice.
Sasha is beautiful to watch but I hope that if she turns pro, she will develop her own style. Everything about her is derivative. From her costumes (short program dark eyes same as Tanith Belbin's peasant dress), to her programs, (ribbon program after Katerina Gordeeva did ribbon program) to the spirals, (Kwan change-of-edge and Charlotte spirals.
) Instead of having moves and programs that are simply hers, Sasha has only one-upsmanship. That takes a lot of energy to maintain. In spite of my criticism, I like Sasha.
I just don't think eligible competitive skating is the right place for her. She'd be better off in SOI.
In the Short Program, they perform 4 jumps, not 3. That jump combo is 2 jumps, then an axel and a triple of their choice from footwork. Other than that, I think you told the absolute truth.
She's been hyped and overhyped and not lived up to the expectations. Even she said her Olympic Silver was a "gift", and I think she was correct. I do think Sasha would do well in the pro world, with her amazing flexibility and extensions.
I just don't think she has that competitive fire we are accustomed to in our 9 time National Champ. It's okay not to have it. Just don't expect to win, or why bother to compete, if you don't.
The judges have dubbed her the chosen one despite having mediocre basic skating skills, low jumps, and 'artistry' that basically conists of looking like a deer in the headlights or pouting. I don't care if the girl is flexible, the rest of her skating is just plain 'okay.' She has been dubbed 'silver Sasha,' but a great number of those silver medals are in question and speak of the poor judging in figure skating.
2004 world silver medal? Should have been bronze. 2006 Olympic silver medal?
Should not have received a medal. 2006 World bronze medal? Fifth at highest.
Sasha's accomplishments speak of the great flaws in skating judging if anything. She's a choker, and she's getting rewarded for it. Please, get out of the sport while you can.
I'll take Kimmie and Emily any day over you. At least they seem to enjoy what they do. And we can all just sit here and hope that Michelle, THE most beautiful artist ever to grace the ice returns for at least a year or two more.
That alone will likely send Sasha home trembling in her skate boots.
Why didn't they make millions of headlines saying Sasha wants to quit skating to COOK. A lot of ice skaters dont just do that as their career, they go to school or take on other interests. News =b.
s.
That's why i think it's odd that it is an Olympic sport, with the sequins and everything. BUT, that is part of the skating. She is the best at performing for the people.
So why should anyone be thrilled about skating for a half empty arena. AND, saying she likes the attention? What is wrong with that.
Did anyone ever give you attention? Did you hate it or something? Don't be bitter.
Saying that she just skates for attention is ridiculous. Then why is she the best skater around? That's not a person who is just skating for attention.
That would be true if Paris Hilton was saying she was serious in acting, when we all know she does it for attention. Sasha isn't some lazy skater, she is the most determined and hard working. And if you look at her schedule of events, she's done a WHOLE lot this year and i'm sure she's worn out, especially after Olympics, so I think she does deserve a break and an opportunity to get noticed by celebrities, because she is one herself.
You guy over analyze everything. Did anyone see that clip of her talking to the news guy who was asking her questions about her FALLING. She said, "society needs to change, and stop seeing the negative in life, it's my job to change society" It's true, we're all sitting around over analyzing her life and she's laughing at all of us b/c she's the only one that knows the truth.
My jaw is always dropped down is awe when I see her skate. It is umbelievable, she is perfect. And at the same time it is tradgic But here is the thing, if she skated perfectly and won all the time, i don't think i would keep up with her different events.
I probably would have forgotten about her a few years ago if she kept winning gold. And that is the truth. I don't care about winners, i care about people who still strive and try to aim for that gold and I want to see their improvement and I think she is still improving.
Bottom line, and i think many would agree with me, If you had to watch kimmie meissner or sasha skate every day for the rest of your life. who would you choose? I would choose sasha over her and everyone.
We can't be blessed with everything. Think about your own life. Have you always been successful in all the things that you have done?
Watching Sasha always gave me pleasure, because of the beauty and artistry in her performance. Yes, I wanted her to win, but all I remember or want to remember is the joy and gratitude I have for the privilege of watching her perform. May God continue to bless her.
Give her a break now! Figure skating is a beautiful sport, and at present, its most beautiful and artistic skater is Sasha.
Except that I don't think her subpar long program performance at the Worlds will compel her to go into acting right away. Maybe if she had skated cleanly and won the gold, she would have been more likely to leave on a high note. I honesty think she loves skating, but I do agree that the media savages are getting to her.
She is much more of a performer than a competitor, as clearly seen in her contrasting gala and long program performances. I think Sasha would want to go for the clean long program performance she's searching for. Of course, I personally would love to see her continue skating while her body holds up and would be quite devastated if she quits when she still has the potential.
and for Hollywood of all things?! She can skate, but who knows if she can act.
like bode miller, cohen is a flawed genius...
.and that makes them more fragile. my friend, true performers and artists need the feedback from an audience.
i'm a musician, and without a good crowd - the fire isn't there ...
.. THAT is self-expression.
JMO but I would edit the last 3 paragraphs out and leave the rest of the article intact.
There's not that fire in the belly and the determination and the heart of a champion who is hungry to win. Instead, she seems sort of like a spoiled diva who isn't too disciplined. She washed out with coaches Tarasova and Wagner because she wasn't disciplined enough, and she's with John Nicks now because he lets her get away with skipping practices.
A case in point is the most recent 2006 Olympics and World Championships. She skipped vital practices in both competitions on the days before the long programs, and that is something very basic -- getting a feel for the ice and practicing every day in the final week of the competition. It speaks volumes about Sasha's flimsy work ethic that she skips those types of vital practices.
Her excuse during the Olympics is that she was up too late after the short program to practice the next day for the long program. What kind of lame excuse is that? Sort of lazy and undisciplined, if you ask me.
Is it any wonder why she isn't consistent in her jumps? I can see why coaches like Robin Wagner got sick of her excuses and stubbornness not to work hard. Sash Cohen is a beautiful ballerina but she is also a diva and a prima donna spoiled skater who has not disciplined herself enough to win.
.ive been a big fan of hers but im so sick and tired of her choking every competition..
she kept saying \'i tried my best\' but i dont think she did..if she really wanted to win why didnt she focused on her skating first but intead after the olympics she appeared on almost all late night shows.
.i mean tanith belbin and ben agosto were invited too but they turned it down even if they didnt win at least they were focused and well prepared..
thats what i called passion for skating..so sasha i think its time for her to retire maybe she should try acting and who knows she might be good at it.
Facts are either omitted or cherry picked towards one bias or another. Folks - do you notice the irony? The obviously childish bias?
Color Sasha as you please. In the end - her history will read like champ. She was a National silver medalist and a National Champion, Grand Prix Champion, won 12 majors, has been top three in several other majors and was 4th and Silver at the Olympics Games, plus a few Silvers at worlds.
This record will not contain an asterisk * diminishing her best accomplishments. Now - consider your own accomplishments in comparison. Ok - i understand that many people want to compare her to the wonderful Kwan who is placed highest on the iconic scale - but how many other skaters have been credited with Sasha type credentials?
Not many! Now ask yourself - how many skaters have had this type of positive and/or negative national attention. Few!
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