Both Beauty and Gallantry
I don't think that Sasha was belittling anybody; on the contrary, she was honoring a couple of top competitors by saying she would find it easier not to have to compete with them at Worlds. I'm sure Irina and Shizuka would appreciate her having said that; it was a respectful tribute to both of them.
People tend to pick apart innocent statements by skaters, statements which seem perfectly reasonable when they are made, in the context of the interview taking place. I don't find anything that Sasha says in this interview, odd. I find it all very understandable. She is coming off an injury, and her own natural disappointment at not winning the gold at Torino. She has girded up her loins, so to speak, to compete at Worlds. At Torino, her coach made her rest for a day, without practice, between the short and long programs, because she had an injury that needed rest. She was "icing her leg" after the short program, they had said. So....I consider her competing at Worlds to be gallant and sportsmanlike, and I respect her greatly for it. I admit, I am a Sasha Cohen fan; I have been, for a long time. I am also an Irina Slutskaya fan, also for a long time. I shall continue to be a fan of both of them, and to wish them well in whatever course they pursue in life. My main hope for Sasha is that her injury be fully healed, and not trouble her, because I care more for her health than for the medals, but, because I know she would like to win the gold at Worlds, I hope she does.
I like this sentence at the end of the USFS article: "One thing is for certain, though: As long as her competitive spirit still burns, Sasha Cohen will continue to skate with the same beauty and grace that very few of us have ever before witnessed." Yes, that describes her well, "beauty and grace that very few of us have ever before witnessed". The way she got up off the ice after her LP errors at Torino, and skated her heart out, I should like to add "gallantry" to that description.
Sashaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
:agree:
