Sasha Cohen behaviour in past, is it true?

[Fossi]

The rink rumours are that Sasha was quite the little diva. Is it true she used to race to be first on the ice and push past her competitors to get hthere? Supposely Jenny kirk told my bud that Sasha elbowed her just to get on the ice?
Is there any truth to it? Or is this all rink rumours?

 

[chuckm]

I can remember 2002 US Nationals and the last flight of competitors to take the ice. Sasha did push her way to the front, knocking Angela Nikodinov and Sarah Hughes out of her way. I was a bit shocked by that behavior.

But the 2001-2002 season was Sasha at her cockiest. That was the season when she announced that "I want to be #1 and I will do whatever it takes to get there". At the end of the season, she had won one bronze medal (at Lalique), one silver medal (at Nationals) and had finished 4th at 2002 Olympics and Worlds. After that season, she announced that she was switching her coach to Tatiana Tarasova, and from that point on, the brash, boastful and pushy Sasha was seen no more.

 

[dancindiva03]

From all that I have heard, it is very true. She has always acted like a little diva, with a sense of entitlement that came from who-knows-where but makes her come off as such a brat. That is a major reason I could never enjoy her as a skater, because she always seemed so stuck up and bratty.

 

[iloveaxel]

From all that I have heard, it is very true. She has always acted like a little diva, with a sense of entitlement that came from who-knows-where but makes her come off as such a brat. That is a major reason I could never enjoy her as a skater, because she always seemed so stuck up and bratty.

So what? She still skates the most beautiful program in the world.

 

[euterpe]

Sasha skated beautiful SPs. But her FSs were not nearly as good.

 

[R.D.]

To me, her GBA and DROMP exhibition pieces were the only performances of hers I could really get into. Everything else = zzzzz.

I was watching her Olympic free from 2002 and she had this sort of fire and feistiness (sp?) that simply disappeared, I think, when she went to Tarasova. Then her competitive programs after that were a serious snoozefest. Swan Lake? R & J? GMAB.

 

[SeaniBu]

I liked the "feisty Sasha" myself too. Stereotypical of me I know :scowl: but, living up to the "American short brunette with dark eyes born under the sign of Scorpio" stereotype was something that I liked / accepted about her. Don't like the idea of her elbowing Jenny, but she could have done something about it if it really bothered her.

It wouldn't surprise me as much as confirm what I originally thought even though I have not been that involved with in-depth "studies" of FS - as I have been in the past couple of years (really sense I joined here regardless of what I was thinking prior - ie. 05 ).

 

[R.D.]

As far as the thread topic goes, and as far as I'm concerned you can put a brick wall between her, the TV screen and me.

(In other words, that means I find her rather introverted and sort of "into herself" if you know what I mean, which prevents me from "liking" her.) Just brings up bad memories of folks I knew with similar traits.

 

[Mathman]

Is this thread really necessary?

 

[R.D.]

Is this thread really necessary?

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

At the start of her senior year, I found Sasha to be feisty and said just that in the early days of her senior career. That was just a personality trait I used and not meant to be a bash. She had almost immediately, a multitude of fans captivated by her flexibility. That flexibility carried her throughout her eligible career.

Was she pushy? I never noticed that but given the determination she had to be numero uno, I could believe it when others mentioned it, but for me, it was a so what.

I do think she mellowed when she went back to Nicks. She seemed to lose the feistiness and skated more genuinely with a feel for the music rather than for the medal. Lovely face, lovely style, but just not competitive, imo.

Joe

 

[dizzydi7]

Sasha Cohen

Mathman,

Good question......"Is it necessary?"

Well, I'm convinced that some people will never let up on Sasha.

I find it all so very, very petty. Nuff said.

Dizzy

 

[MKFSfan]

I think as Sasha has matured, she's taken responsibility for her actions more seriously. She may still be fiesty, competitive and have the desire to be the best, but I think some of the games she may have played as a younger, newer skater may have come more from overzealous confidence than as a bully. A friend of mine is an Assistant Producer for ESPN, and over the years has occasionally worked at skating competitions. She shared a story with me how after 2002 Nationals, after all the hoopla about Sasha bumping Michelle and the interview where both Sarah and Angela said it happens all the time, but seems to occur more when Sasha is around, she watched as the skaters assembled for medal ceremony and said Michelle, Sarah and Angela were very friendly, chatting away among themselves, but were obviously positioning themselves so that Sasha was disincluded from their group. In her opinion, that is why many of the reporters and fans ran with the whole "Sasha is Mean" story back then.

IMO, I think elite skaters are very focused on what they have to do and probably come off seeming bullish on the pratcice ice. They are also extremely confident and that can come off as arogant or even cocky. I think Sasha tends to be a very introverted skater and probably is so into what she needs to do to prepare for her skate, that she simply doesn't watch out for the other skaters on the ice with her.

 

[SeaniBu]

A friend of mine is an Assistant Producer for ESPN, and over the years has occasionally worked at skating competitions.

Wow, lots of questions there, why cut off skaters blades -to- can you get some sort of scoreboard on screen And is she the one who keeps the shots of Brian J with his shirt off coming?

BOT,
Is passive aggressive better than aggressive?

It seems Sasha has changed a little to me as well, but I wont forget or hold it against her "where she came from."

IMO, I think elite skaters are very focused on what they have to do and probably come off seeming bullish on the pratcice ice. They are also extremely confident and that can come off as arogant or even cocky. I think Sasha tends to be a very introverted skater and probably is so into what she needs to do to prepare for her skate, that she simply doesn't watch out for the other skaters on the ice with her.

ITA!

Extra point, necessity is the mother of invention. Is the invention needed? depends on the necessity. - relativity again, oh geez.

 

[chuckm]

I think Sasha tends to be a very introverted skater and probably is so into what she needs to do to prepare for her skate, that she simply doesn't watch out for the other skaters on the ice with her.

Sasha once said that she doesn't pay attention to what other skaters are doing on the practice ice, but only on what she is doing. The problem with that is that she is expecting other skaters to divide their attention between what they are doing and looking out for her so as not to have mishaps. In effect, Sasha seems to feel that she has the right of way and the other skaters must defer to her.

I don't think Sasha is introverted at all, I think Sasha is just very self-centered. She is a person who thinks only about what she is doing and is not concerned with what her competitors think of her. She once commented that she is not friends with her rivals because they are rivals. If you have noticed over the years, Sasha "hangs with" Johnny Weir and Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto (and Orsher and Lucash, when they were competing)--these are all skaters who are not direct competitors.

 

[attyfan]

FWIW, this is the article that started all the trouble:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/comment/brennan/2002-01-14-brennan.htm

 

[R.D.]

Sasha once said that she doesn't pay attention to what other skaters are doing on the practice ice, but only on what she is doing. The problem with that is that she is expecting other skaters to divide their attention between what they are doing and looking out for her so as not to have mishaps. In effect, Sasha seems to feel that she has the right of way and the other skaters must defer to her.

I don't think Sasha is introverted at all, I think Sasha is just very self-centered. She is a person who thinks only about what she is doing and is not concerned with what her competitors think of her. She once commented that she is not friends with her rivals because they are rivals. If you have noticed over the years, Sasha "hangs with" Johnny Weir and Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto (and Orsher and Lucash, when they were competing)--these are all skaters who are not direct competitors.

So to refer to another thread, could Cohen be too MUCH of a competitor?

 

[Jaana]

Is this thread really necessary?

LOL, I think that I rather rarely agree with you, but this is one of those cases where I do agree...

 

[brinababy87]

As much as I am a Cohen fan, I can't deny that she's had a few too many instances to be unfortunate coincidences. Nonetheless, I also sometimes try to imagine myself skating at that level, in front of thousands of people sometimes, and to the scrutiny of many more than that. I, personally, would have to have a lot of confidence in myself to even put on my skates in such a situation. Perhaps Sasha's "introvertedness" (or some may see it as self-centeredness) is her way to deal with all of that attention, her way to turn it into a positive.

Now, one can debate that is hasn't been working, and that other skaters have less aggressive ways of dealing with the pressure, but that's my take on her behaviour.

 

[Fossi]

I didn't post my question to be mean. I just wanted to know if there were other diva reports and well, there have been. I didn't know that Sasha was mean to Sarah and pushe her before too! I knew SArah was put in an odd situation once after Skate America when Sasha made a comment about how Michelle shouldn't have won and Sarah should have but Michelle was right there and Sasha knew it, but I didn't know s he targetted Sarah before.