Still the thread is labled Sasha Cohen's big gamble
That was the headline of the article that was linked in the first post.
And you actually buy this? You really, honestly think she'd endure the grueling Olympic schedule just because she "misses competition"? I've a bridge for sale in the Bay area...
Maybe and maybe not. You're not Sasha Cohen so whatever you think will be pure speculation. Even more to the point - you don't know her at all personally so again any speculation about the truth behind the statement is pointless.
Even if she said this, I don't think she's being honest with herself (or with us, or both). She went in 2006 and got silver. The only step up from that is Gold. Why go back unless, somewhere in the back of your mind, you think you can still win it? Otherwise it's a waste of time and health imo.
Again, at some point you ahve to take what you're told at face value. Choen has been away from the competitive world for three years. I don't know much about sports psychology but the one thing i do know is that the key to competitive success is plan a training program that gets you exactly where you need to be at exactly the right time and to perform when you have to to the best ofyour potential. The placement of others and their performance is out of your hands, your actual placement compared to others is out of your hands. The only thing you can control is your own performance and the journey to get there.
Maybe she's finally addressed/addressing the psychological side of skating and this is exactly how she feels about it and the reason why she thinks she might come back?
Alternatively - imagine that skating is all you've ever done since you were little. You've trained and given everything to that. She feel burned out and fed up by the end of the last Olympic cycle and want to do something that you enjoy again. You try your hand at acting, you skate in shows etc etc. Then you loko back and think - you know what it wasn't that bad. Acting hasn't taken off like i might have hoped and heck I was a great skater - one of the best int he world for a number of years. Why not give it another go? The familiarity alone, and the snigle mindedness required for training must be of some comfort?
Say she returns, gets on Team USA 2010, and grabs a bronze. Do you think she'd be beaming on the Podium? Something tells me no.
Lu Chen was overjoyed with her Bronze in Nagano - she'd won the bronze ni the last Olympic cycle too. She went through a lot in the interim, and i would think that a bronze for Sasha would be huge success at the Olympics.
Umm, this is silly? Certainly their fans care. Certainly a lot of people in Korea would care if Yun-a won, it would be a great point of pride for the country. Certainly Shizuka's promotion to a celebrity and parades in her honor in 2006 showed that people cared that she won. Certainly many in the audience in Salt Lake 2002 cared that Sarah Hughes had an amazing skate and enjoyed the drama of the win that night. I just REALLY don't get where you are coming from here. Are you being serious?
I'm confused because you've just spent a number of posts saying that "olympic experience" is worthless - whoopdie do - only the actual people involved give a rusty hoot about it, and then say that of course it matters - but only if you win??
I would have thought that fans of both Kimmie and Emily were overjoyed at their being able to take part in an Olympics. Not just from their perspective but also all of their family, friends, and importantly too - their fans.
I know it's an honor for someone to be able to say they competed at the Olympics, and maybe if I was from some small country I could get excited that we would even be sending someone, or that they might make something like the top 6. But I'm from the US. We won ladies OGM for how many straight Olympics? And Sasha still pulled off silver in the last one. So just saying "we sent these girls to the Olympics!" or "we finished in the top 6!" is terribly anticlimactic. There are also a lot of people out there who don't really care about skating until the Olympics is on. They may have no idea how hopeless things really are for us, and get smacked in the face when they see no US lady on the podium - or even worse none in the top 6, which is possible. So unless some US lady pulls off a miracle, our country is essentially going to be shamed.
hwell:
Your country will be shamed because of a lack of US lady on the podium at the Olympics??? I think you're raising the importance of figure skating AND the Olympics waaaaaay out of proportion. I bet a lot of money that 2010 will be remembered by most people for awful ecomonic situation, they'll remember that pinch more than the US not making the podium in an Olympic competition.
Maybe it's a good thing that the US ladies are in this state - every other country has had to go through it (Russia is also going through it but even worse than the US). It keeps things real.
Bare in mind (and i know you have acknowledged it in your post) that some countries not only have to qualify their lone spot at the Olympics at worlds, but if the skater does not also qualify through tough national olympic committee test then they may not even be allowed to go.
Ant
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Now let someone else have a chance to show what they can do.
