Looks like Sasha's taking a year off | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Looks like Sasha's taking a year off

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I don't understand all this chatter about Robin. That is now so long ago.

The bottom line is Sasha is her own worst enemy and it is not just my opinion when it comes to winning gold. Sasha is an extremely talented skater. All her coaches were fine. None of them kept her from winning. Sasha kept herself from winning. It's not enough to be pretty and flexible.

What happens in 2008 remains to be seen if she buckled down and worked on her jumps. What happens in hollywood also remains to be seen. It will take a lot of work to get to the level of Kirsten Dunst and so much more to get to the level of Meryl Streep. Will she wind up in teenage horror films? It's a job but somehow I don't think she needs the money. I hope she's not dreaming of an Oscar.

Joe
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Piel said:
IMO Sasha wants to be "the star".....I don't think what of matters to her as much as. being #1 at something, anything, LOL. Now if she is looking for this in Hollywood I think she is setting herself up for major disappointment. Figure skating was her best chance I think.

Yeah...I somehow can't see her completely changing her view in a few years. She admits she loves the spotlight, but hey...even if you aren't a real movie star (read Tara Lipinski, Oksana Baiul) you always get your picture taken on a red carpet.

The bottom line is Sasha is her own worst enemy and it is not just my opinion when it comes to winning gold. Sasha is an extremely talented skater. All her coaches were fine. None of them kept her from winning. Sasha kept herself from winning. It's not enough to be pretty and flexible.

What happens in 2008 remains to be seen if she buckled down and worked on her jumps. What happens in hollywood also remains to be seen. It will take a lot of work to get to the level of Kirsten Dunst and so much more to get to the level of Meryl Streep. Will she wind up in teenage horror films? It's a job but somehow I don't think she needs the money. I hope she's not dreaming of an Oscar.

Basically sums up what I think...but hey, can't fault her if she's thinking big. That's actually a good thing. There's a difference between DREAMING and EXPECTING, IMO.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Joesitz said:
The bottom line is Sasha is her own worst enemy and it is not just my opinion when it comes to winning gold. Sasha is an extremely talented skater. All her coaches were fine. None of them kept her from winning. Sasha kept herself from winning.

Often, the road to victory in skating isn't trying to win, or trying to do your absolute best, but just putting out a solid performance. I think she was too distracted by trying to wipe up the rink with the other skaters and/or deliver the program of a lifetime (which usually happens when the skater least expects it).

The skater she least reminds me of: Katarina Witt (slacker champion, whose motto 'only do enough to win' saw her through one of the all time great careers).

Skater she reminds me most of: Tonya Harding, almost scarily determined not to make the most of her singular gifts.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Wow - that is a very harsh - even insulting - judgment. Tonya Harding is about as low as it gets. What about them is similar?

I also don't get how you put this opinion together with your opinion in another thread that Sasha has objectively had an "outstanding" career, even if not up to some of the hype. You can hardly compare Tonya's record to Sasha's - 20 successive podium finishes since 2003. And Sasha has absolutely nothing in her background that can compare with "the whack" or the other scandalous personal problems of Tonya. I'm not trying to put Tonya down - her case is very sad and it's too bad that her skating potential got derailed. But this comparison seems absurd to me.

Could you clarify?
 
Last edited:

Lanie

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Spun Silver said:
Wow - that is a very harsh - even insulting - judgment. Tonya Harding is about as low as it gets. What about them is similar?

I also don't get how you put this opinion together with your opinion in another thread that Sasha has objectively had an "outstanding" career, even if not up to some of the hype. You can hardly compare Tonya's record to Sasha's - 20 successive podium finishes since 2003. And Sasha has absolutely nothing in her background that can compare with "the whack" or the other scandalous personal problems of Tonya. I'm not trying to put Tonya down - her case is very sad and it's too bad that her skating potential got derailed. But this comparison seems absurd to me.

Could you clarify?

Tonya was a pretty amazing skater, I don't think the comparison was meant to be harsh/insulting/etc. She's just known for "the whack" now.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Spun Silver said:
Wow - that is a very harsh - even insulting - judgment. Tonya Harding is about as low as it gets. What about them is similar?

When I refer to Harding, I always mean the pre-whack gifted skater (an all time fave of mine) and not the sad charicature she became. As much as possible I try not to think about Harding post 1994 nationals.

But even at her peak, despite her amazing natural talent Harding was known for being a slacker about training and headstrong about doing things her! own! way! even if she was wrong (and she usually was).
Look at her amazing performance of Skate America 91 (olympic medal of some kind totally in the bag) and subsequent slack off of training leading up to her performance at Albertville where she was going to show everybody a thing or two ("I never suffer from jet lag!" and arrived at the last minute, got jet lagged (surprise!) and finished off the podium.
Meanwhile little worker-bee Yamaguchi trains her *** off and waltzed off with olympic gold despite one of the worst LP's in her eligible career.

All of Cohen's coaches talk about her uneven training and lack of mental focus when a competition isn't staring her in the face (the cookie thing with Tarasova for example). And yet she shows up at nationals in 2001(?) trying to do triples in a back brace (!!!!!!)

I don't know if Cohen would have won worlds or olympics with better training and a better mental game, I think her technical flaws (which lessened here and there but never went away) may have gotten the best of her even with Yamaguchi style dedication but in general terms, she's had a great eligible career.

In other words, she's a contradictory mess (and therefore fun to analyse and it's always possible to come up with a new angle).
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Red Dog said:
I didn't think she made nasty statements; she just said what was on her mind and while it may not have been PC of her to do so, I see nothing wrong with the content of her statements. Besides, Cohen had the opportunity to "defend" herself (and she did). However, that being said, I don't think it leaves people who may not know her with a good impression of her (and maybe drive away future students?)

Most professional relationships are subject to confidentiatliy agreements, even if they're not formally in writing then they are usually implied. The spirit in which Wagner made the comments was not as general commentary she was angry/emotional which adds to my reasoning that it was wholly unprofessional to divulge information about Sasha (her payng client) i would think that given her comments about both Sasha and Sarah i'd really think twice about having her as a coach.

Ant
 
Last edited:

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Dee4707 said:
Since I asked and no one has answered am I to assume this was just a rumor??

Dee

Some of it was rumour and some of it i think was comments from Wagner in an article (unfortunately i couldn't begin to tell you where but it was online). Something along the lines Wagner making less than supportive comments about Sarah's training in the season following her olympic win. Sarah then taking soolice with her family and making the decision to go to school and leave skating for ayear to see what happens, and the fact that ll of these decisions were made without Robin's input. Robin being upset about not being part of the decision process was what i remember reading about but not in a botchy way just in a genuinely upset way since he relationship with Sarah seemed like it was more motherly than coach-like and the articel seemed to suggest that they no longer spoke. I can't remember whether it was opinion at the time or my reading of what was in the media but i seem to remember thinking that it was likely Sarah's dad who was pushing for her to go to school and concentrate on her academics now she'd achieve he goals in skating and that this was somethign Wagner didn't agree with.

Ant
 
Top