mzheng said:It was said she was originally trainned for gymnastics, her parents (mostly her mom) had or encourage her switch to figure skating, because 1) She was sometimes lost focus on the beam, her mom thought it was very dangerous had her fall off the beam, so looking for other sports she can play in. 2) The figure skating seems fit the bill, her exceptional gift on flexability can be well displayed on ice unlike in gymnastics where a lot of gifted kids have the comparable flexability. Besides at the time it looked much easier to make fame in Figure Sakting then in Gymnastics.
There are lots of flexible kids in ballet school. When they go on to compete for a chance at a pro job, they are totally flexible and splits are just the easiest thing to do. It is used as a step and not for gawking. When I say totally flexible that's exactly what I mean. It's more than arabesques, and their flexibility is absolutely required for a half hour ballet - not just two tricks in 3 minutes.jesslily said:There are not a lot of flexible kids in gymnastics than in figure skating. My daughter has done gymnastics in a few local gyms. There are about over 60 kids in teams at any gym. I don't remember many of them could even do a nice split.
There are lots of brief biographies of Sasha on her fan sites. Also, she wrote an autobiogrphy (Sasha Cohen: Fire on Ice, with Kathy Goebeken, for children). They all mention that Sasha started taking gymnastics at five (achieving a "level five" ranking), switched to figure skating at 7 with group lessons, and started skating seriously at 10. That much seems fact.RED DOG said:Where does this story come from? I seem to hear it all the time.
Red Dog said:Where does this story come from? I seem to hear it all the time.
Mathman said:There are lots of brief biographies of Sasha on her fan sites. Also, she wrote an autobiogrphy (Sasha Cohen: Fire on Ice, with Kathy Goebeken, for children). They all mention that Sasha started taking gymnastics at five (achieving a "level five" ranking), switched to figure skating at 7 with group lessons, and started skating seriously at 10. That much seems fact.
http://www.geocities.com/sasha_prima_ballerina/biography.html
Some of these biographies give as the reason for the switch that Sasha's mom was afraid of injury in gymnastics.
http://members.tripod.com/sasha_cohen/bio.html
Tara's story is similar. She started in roller skating, becoming, IIRC, world champion in her age group. Then she switched to figure skating because that sport offered the rewards of greater public exposure. (Some people say that that's why she could never do a proper Lutz -- she retained her jump take-off habits from roller skating, where the mechanics are different because the skate is so heavy.)
Seems true -- at least I have no reason to doubt these accounts.
Mathman
jesslily said:What's wrong tobe famous, or want to be famous? If you can make some contribution in a particular field and become famous, I think you deserve it. Sasha is very talented and work hard for the past few years, so she is famous. Which competitive skater just want to land jumps and does not care how fairly he/she should be placed?
Fossi said:Red Dog, Being the HUGE Cohen fan that you obviously are, I'm surprised you didnt' know already about her history in gymnastics.
I don't think the poster speculated anything. It's fairly obvious that Sasha loves the spotlight and wants to be famous.
Fossi said:It's fairly obvious that Sasha loves the spotlight and wants to be famous.
Joesitz said:There really is no point in carrying on the who will win and nitpicks. Just remember the winner will be the one who had the best skate that evening.
Joe
Red Dog said:Actually, I think it's obvious that I'm NOT a Cohen fan, since I don't know much about her. I mean, JEEZ! :sheesh:
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gezando said:Red Dog, how is your project of making Cohen screen caps of the Marshall competition
There is also the Antixxxx (name the skater) and there is the Anyone but xxxxxx. (name the skater). When you've read as much of these threads as I have you just mellow out.Red Dog said:The cool thing about not being a fan of anybody (some here refer to that as being a "non-fan") is that you don't get the stress/anxiety/sweaty palms/whatever you would like to call it. You can just relax...now try telling that to a diehard Cohen fan or Kwan fan