Article: Sasha Cohen Skates Around 2010........

[Geesesk8]

From the interview/article: "...But at 23, she still hears the competitive call to the Vancouver games in 2010. She will decide in the fall whether she will actually go for Olympic gold again..."

This is yet another SOI promo interview. Nothing new, except in this one she says she will decide in the fall about the 2010 Olympics. I seem to recall a few months back that she said the decision would be made in the spring. Stay tuned, I guess......

Complete article from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (staff) 3/30/08 -
"Sasha Cohen skates around the 2010 Olympics"
http://www.telegram.com/article/20080330/NEWS/803300474/1110

 

[fairly4]

i guess Sasha changed her mind again. I thought she was suppose to let us know in spring or after SOI finished.
She is putting off her decision. I can't blame her though.

 

[chuckm]

Sasha won't be coming back. In the fall of 2008, she will have less than 16 months to prepare for the 2010 Olympics. If she had started training in April of 2008, she might have had some chance to regain her jumps and get back in competitive shape. But every month she puts off getting back to rigorous training shrinks her chances.

By now having decided to sit out the 2008-2009 season, if by some chance she did make the US team (which is not a given by any stretch of the imagination), she'd be debuting her programs before international judges in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, CoP has changed drastically since her last time competing, and not to her benefit. She has admitted that she doesn't have a 'true lutz', and the spinning rules have gotten much, much tougher. Her flexibility has been matched and exceeded by other skaters, and she doesn't have 3/3s or a 3A to make her competitive with the current crop of skaters.

I can't imagine Sasha taking that big step only to find she either can't make the US team, or has to settle for the bottom half of the top 10 in Vancouver.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

She can be a dynamic bravura skater as witness to her Short Programs. But imo, she has trouble switching over to the more lyrical Nutcracker pas de deux, and Roti's R&J. However, given all those performances in SOI, she may have conquered the demons of the LP miscalculations.

Although I think she, Kwan and Irina's time has come and gone, if Sasha really wants to go to the Olys, she may have trouble qualifying if only two skaters at US Nats will be eligible for the 2010 Olys.

I leave the decision to Sasha.

Joe

 

[chuckm]

She can be a dynamic bravura skater as witness to her Short Programs. But imo, she has trouble switching over to the more lyrical Nutcracker pas de deux, and Roti's R&J. However, given all those performances in SOI, she may have conquered the demons of the LP miscalculations.
Joe

How do you figure that? In SOI, she has problems landing a 2A and a 3S in her exhibition-style programs. More often than not, she stumbles on one jump or the other, and not infrequently falls.

Why would she now have an easier time with a 6-jump, 4+ minute FS including 3Z and 3F solo and in combination, plus 3L? She hasn't tried any of those harder jumps in her SOI programs, and who knows if she is even capable of landing them any more?

The only skater in recent memory who kept up the harder jumps was Kristi Yamaguchi, who was still landing 3Z and 3L into her 30s. But she did those jumps regularly in her SOI programs, something Sasha hasn't even attempted to do.

 

[sillylionlove]

Personally I am sick of who is coming back, who says that they are coming back, who will let us know if they are coming back.....they can compete in every competion from now until 2010....when I see them in Vancouver in 2010 skating under the Olympic rings...well then I will believe it!!

 

[Mafke]

I repeat, there's no reason to take any skater talking about 'coming back' seriously until they've actually entered a competition (maybe even then, I'd wait until they hit their opening pose in the SP).

It's just something to say to the press.

 

[chuckm]

I don't see Sasha giving up another year of headlining in SOI to undertake a mammoth effort to regain her competitive skating skills. So that means putting off a decision until next April again. By that time, it's a lost cause---but she'll play the "maybe I will..." game right up to the 2010 US championships.

Those in the know are not fooled.

 

[R.D.]

This is just comic relief now. When you know, you know, and when you're in doubt, you'll put it off...then a time comes where it is too late. As I said on SF, her position will automatically keep her name in the news and she doesn't need to drag this out further. It has gone from wishy-washy-ness to just simple "sound bytes", something to tell the press to shut them up. But you know what would REALLY shut them up? An announcement of retirement.

 

[lmarie086]

; It has gone from wishy-washy-ness to just simple "sound bytes", something to tell the press to shut them up. But you know what would REALLY shut them up? An announcement of retirement.

Bingo.
That would really grab attention. And IMO, it's her best and only move. There's no way she'd be ready for the Olympics.
And personally, I don't want her to come back. Just as I recall her saying about Michelle Kwan, she had her chance. Sasha should enjoy her time on SOI.

 

[chuckm]

Sasha has already indicated that she plans on skating in SOI for the 2008-2009 season. That means there is NO WAY she could possibly regain competitive skating skills absent for three years with less than 9 months of training.

 

[Bennett]

Wow, another old familiar story. I don't know what to say.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Why does the idea of Sasha coming back send so many of us over the edge?? If her saying she hasn't decided just yet sells more tickets to SOI what difference does it make? If she does indeed come back and makes the team, why is that a bad thing? If she decides to raise swallows on a butterfly farm - why all the angst?

I never will understand fan obsession with who should and who shouldn't... (but I do think its hilarious that in this time of jumping beans & messy skating that we talk about 6 triple programs like they're brand new or something... )

 

[chuckm]

Why does the idea of Sasha coming back send so many of us over the edge?? If her saying she hasn't decided just yet sells more tickets to SOI what difference does it make? If she does indeed come back and makes the team, why is that a bad thing? If she decides to raise swallows on a butterfly farm - why all the angst?

I never will understand fan obsession with who should and who shouldn't... (but I do think its hilarious that in this time of jumping beans & messy skating that we talk about 6 triple programs like they're brand new or something... )

It's how she talks about returning, and the way she disses the competition she faces.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/16/sports/NA-SPT-FIG-Worlds-Youth-Movement.php

Doesn't she realize that a skater like Rachael Flatt has skated 3 clean 7-triple free skates in a row?

 

[Kwanford Wife]

It's how she talks about returning, and the way she disses the competition she faces.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/16/sports/NA-SPT-FIG-Worlds-Youth-Movement.php

Yeah... Sasha is a very special young woman in that regards... the fact that she can literally put her foot in her mouth is also too amusing for life...

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

It could also be skater obsession to hold on to their diehard fans.

Joe

 

[Kwanford Wife]

It could also be skater obsession to hold on to their diehard fans.

Joe

would that make said skater an uber-athete?? Further, if that's the truth, then skaters should say "forget competition skating!! Come see me here because I wouldn't be caught dead at Nationals - there's no money in it!!!"