Sasha Cohen - Premature Crowning?

[hockeyfan228]

SC has not hit that so-called "magical performance" that everyone seems to be waiting for.

She did -- Worlds 2004 quali round. It just wasn't televised.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Sasha Cohen

Sasha is not always consistent -- but how many ladies skaters are? There have been a few -- Michelle, Kristi, Tara, Sarah. But look at all those who were not -- Jill Trenary, Debi Thomas, Midori Ito, Tonya Harding, Surya Bonaly, Yuka Sato (as amateur), Maria Butyrskaya, Roz Sumners, Tiffany Chin, Caryn Kadavy, Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul, Lu Chen, Nicole Bobek, Shizuka Arakawa, Fumie Suguri, Miki Ando, Elaine Zayak, Carolina Kostner, the list goes on and on. And many of these ladies were/are highly hyped, or perhaps overhyped, just as Sasha is.

Sasha has clearly earned her stripes among skating's elite (GPF champ, World Silver Medal) but the level of her of press/commercial exposure is pretty high for one who has never won Worlds, Nationals or the Olympics. I think people do not understand why the rest of her skating looks so great, but her consistency is only average (for an elite skater). Sasha is reminiscent of Bobek with her show-stopping moves but mediocre consistency. But with Bobek, it was easy to blame her problems on laziness. You couldn't say that about Sasha. I am amazed at what Sasha can do, but frustrated since she is capable of so much more.

 

[Kuchana]

I will definitely have my fingers crossed when Sasha competes at Nationals next month. Assuming that she's healthy and injury-free, I expect that she will win one of the medals. But will she win the gold medal? Probably not. IMHO, Michelle Kwan will continue to reign as US champion as long as she remains eligible. She knows how to rise to the occasion, and she does so brilliantly.
Sasha consistently disappoints me with her sloppy long programs. My sincere apologies to all of her fans, but IMHO, Sasha reminds me more and more of Nicole Bobek, another superbly talented young skater with loads of potential who just never reached the top, due to injuries and error-laden programs.

I've read that Sasha's only had one clean long program. Is this true? If so, I'd be very surprised even for her. Of course she can do the short but the long is another story it seems.

There's no denying that Sasha has the goods but it's so disappointing when she doesn't fulfil even her own high expectations, especially being when everyone knows she's capable of achieving it.

 

[Ladskater]

With all due respect to Sasha Cohen, I really wonder why the media gives her so much attention and why she is featured first and foremost on the USFSA website as the "star American skater". True, this lady has a great deal of talent, but it's talent that has not yet been tuned to greatness, IMHO.

Cohen has won a number of GP competitions with watered-down rosters of competitors, and she has blown several chances to win both the US and World titles, as well as an Olympic medal. The US and World titles were hers for the taking last year, yet she made several mistakes in both of her long programs and was relegated to second place (again).

I am quite dismayed to see so much press coverage on this girl. It's as if the media has already decided who is going to win the 2006 Olympic gold medal.
IMHO, they are really getting ahead of themselves. Sasha has yet to prove herself to be a champion. She's still a wannabee, IMHO.

With Michelle Kwan keeping a low profile, Sasha is the new "media darling." So what is new here? Michelle had her share of media build-up. Sasha is a very talented young lady so naturally great expectations are put upon her. Think of it from her perspective; she has to live up to those expectations - in the competitive world of figure skating - not always easy.

 

[Dee4707]

I think the reason everyone has such high expectations of Sasha is because it is easy to imagine the kind of performance she is capable of. Put together the best of what we have seen of her, take away the mistakes, and she is awesome. Mathman

Again Math, I have to agree with your comments. I think I am becoming a real Math cheerleader.

Dee

PS Your comments could apply to Sandu and Weir too.

 

[lavender]

Yeah and it didn't take long for Michelle to fulfill those expectations. However you guys can write Sasha off all you want but she may come out and win National. There's no pressure on her now. When this talk comes up where no one (and I mean no one) expects you to win then that's when it happens.

 

[gezando]

All that matters is she's one of the best to the judges. Thankfully, fans don't count.

Hah.. a very usable quote

 

[gezando]

Michelle had her share of media build-up. Sasha is a very talented young lady so naturally great expectations are put upon her. Think of it from her perspective; she has to live up to those expectations - in the competitive world of figure skating - not always easy.

MK is not the only skater with huge hype around her, I couldn't think of any skater who was more hyped than Tara. IMO both MK and Tara lived up to the hype, others don't,

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

PS Your comments could apply to Sandu and Weir too.

We know that Sandhu is a wonderful skater but inconsistent. Weir, however, after his catastrophe in 2003 he rose to be the US National Champion in 2004; a Fifth Place in his first Worlds, Two gold medals in GPs and a silver to the incomparable Evgeni. That's fact, not hype!

Sorry, I can't buy your comments on Weir. He's too consistent when not injured and he does not have the hype of Cohen, Kwan and certainly, Lipinsky. He does have a lot of American fans but that's hardly media hype.

Joe

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Your comments could apply to Sandu and Weir too.

I certainly can't agree with you when it comes to Johnny Weir. If anything, it was the opposite - nobody, especially the media, expected anything great from him at the 2004 Nationals, after the disaster that befell him in 2003. He was considered a longshot for the title at best. I remember Terry Gannon, Dick Button, and Peggy Fleming agreeing that Weir was doubtful, at best, to remain in first place (which he was after the short program) after the long program. There were comments on his nerves, competitive shape, ability to shake off the demons of 2003, etc., etc. Those non-existent expectations made his smashing victory even more memorable, IMHO. He stomped his skate blades into the nay-sayers. Good for him!

 

[Mathman]

Hah.. a very usable quote

I have a feeling we have not seen the last of that particular quote!

MM

 

[chuckm]

Weir's 2002-2003 entire season was a disaster: he missed both GP events due to illness, then was injured at Nationals. But that season was the only blemish on his record, whereas Sandhu has been an erratic skater as long as I can remember.

But even after 2004 Nationals, coming up to Worlds, people were still comparing Weir to Sandhu, calling Weir a "head case", just because of the 2003 Nationals fiasco. They didn't seem to recall that Weir had won a silver medal at Finlandia in the fall of 2003, or that he won Eastern Sectionals the following month to make it to Nationals.

 

[lavender]

Weir is very consistent. He's proven himself. The only time he had trouble was in '03 but that was the fluke.

 

[soogar]

I love Sasha to death, but I think the reason she gets all the media attention is because she's beautiful and white. Maybe you can argue that Bobek was in the same boat but I don't think Bobek is as photogenic (the eye is a distraction). Sasha is just stunning and looks fantastic in the watch ads.

I don't think Michelle is bad looking and she looks good in the ads, but when has America really embraced other ethnicities? Maybe Beyonce Knowles might get various ads, but for the most part, white models are used for the big ad campaigns.

 

[Fossi]

Nicole Bobek isn't as photogenic? Tell that to any male out there. She is beautiful and I believe SHE was often called the All American skater. Blond hair, great body, good skater just overall gorgeous. I don't think Sasha is nearly as photogenic as Bobek was. They have similarities in their skating. I've never heard any complaints about Nicole's eyes, but Sasha has a lazy eye in some photos, so I guess there are similarities there too!
Nicole was reported as being lazy and unmotivated. I just don't think Sasha has what it takes. She's not lazy, she reports she is a hard worker. She trains hard for each competition, but she can't get it right.

 

[soogar]

I think everyone can have a lazy eye in some photos depending on how lit. However Nicole might have a hot body, but the face is not all that. I saw her in an ad with Dorothy Hamill and Peggy Fleming for some health campaign a few years back and she did not look good. Plus despite Nicole's looks, other than the Campbell's campaign which she shared with MK and Tara, Nicole has not had an ad campaign where she was the focus. Sasha's citizen campaign is going along quite nicely and I've seen the ads in numerous women's magazines. The ad campaign that MK had for Yoplait yoghurt didn't run nearly as long and seemed to fizzle after her finish in SLC (even though she has more name recognition and looked good in the ads).

Comparing Sasha v. Nicole, I think that more women like Sasha's looks over Nicole's looks and the women are the ones buying the products. Plus Sasha was featured in Vogue magazine and I don't recall Vogue featuring Nicole in their magazine when she was at the height of her career.

 

[Tonichelle]

With all due respect to Sasha Cohen, I really wonder why the media gives her so much attention and why she is featured first and foremost on the USFSA website as the "star American skater". True, this lady has a great deal of talent, but it's talent that has not yet been tuned to greatness, IMHO.

Cohen has won a number of GP competitions with watered-down rosters of competitors, and she has blown several chances to win both the US and World titles, as well as an Olympic medal. The US and World titles were hers for the taking last year, yet she made several mistakes in both of her long programs and was relegated to second place (again).

I am quite dismayed to see so much press coverage on this girl. It's as if the media has already decided who is going to win the 2006 Olympic gold medal.
IMHO, they are really getting ahead of themselves. Sasha has yet to prove herself to be a champion. She's still a wannabee, IMHO.

With Michelle not skating much -- basically just cheesefests, Nationals, and Worlds -- the American media has to go for the #2 skater for the US hype... *shrugs* I don't like the top two US skaters skating anyway so it makes no difference to me WHO gets hyped up... it's all hype anyway

 

[gezando]

I have a feeling we have not seen the last of that particular quote!

MM

MM, I thought you like it. Yeah I think that particular usuable quote can be applied to many skaters, e.g. S&A, P&T (Russian and Chinese) T&M, Weir, T&M, Goebel just to name a few.

 

[peachstatesk8er]

MM, I thought you like it. Yeah I think that particular usuable quote can be applied to many skaters, e.g. S&A, P&T (Russian and Chinese) T&M, Weir, T&M, Goebel just to name a few.

*Many* skaters? It can be used with ALL skaters, from grassroots on up (the part about the judges anyway)! I'm so glad you see the point. Now run along and tell others so the boring Monday morning quarterbacking by people who have probably never stepped foor on ice can become a thing of the past.

 

[attyfan]

IMHO, Sasha is more visible in advertisments than is Nicole Bobek because Nicole never had the opportunity to hand her cell phone to the president and ask him to speak to her mom. Kwan also isn't fizzling anytime soon -- she is regarded as one of the most marketable female athletes in the business.