Sasha's comments about competition

[Ptichka]

lmao...staying up all night to bake Christmas cookies. I find it kind of amusing if its true. Sasha just seems to have a very short, erratic attention span. Is that really what she said?

Here is a quote from an interview TT did ni January 2005:
(Original

I pity her. It's not that I put so much effort into Cohen - other coaches put in much more. I pity any un-realised talent. Sasha lost herslef a bit. In my opinion, she now made the right choice. Nicks is a wise specialist. I highly respect him back from the days when we both had teams compete in Lake Placid. I worked with Rodnina and Zaitsev, and he - with Babilonia and Gardner. [...] I know one thing - however Sasha works with in the future, she must fully trust that person. No athlete can train themselves, no matter their talent.

She didn't trust you?

I guess not if she didn't follow my advice.

Why did you split?

At times we had true understanding. I loved working with her. Sasha resembled a baby tiger with chubby legs, you could see her gaining strength. Then she got sick. Once, twice... Consider that those illnesses would start with breaking routine, nothing to do with training. I remember how before Christmas Sasha spent all day and all night baking cookies. It was incerdible cookies, twelve kinds in all. She gave me a huge heavy box of them, and mailed dozens of boxes to her friends. The next day, of course, she could not train. And her shopping sprees in Paris...

I doubt Sasha would do something like that now. Back then, though, she made mistakes like that. I, on the other hand, wanted to avoid unnecessary mistakes. If I say don't go - it means you don't go. Take care of yourself. Sasha is tiny, and a tiny body cannot have big reserves - ice is too close, it's too easy to fall.

But her mom always made all decisions. Perhaps, I was wrong in how I talked to her, I didn't consider the depth of her connection to Sasha. I'd discuss very important things with her, but often not calmly. Because I couldn't sit idly and watch everything that was happening. That trip to competition while sick... There haven't been real results since...

Up until then Sasha skated wondersfully - did a lot of work. She could cleanly skate two free programs and one short in one training session. I'm lucky - I saw how she skates when she doesn't fall.

Having parted ways with Cohen, I thought that only Russian coaches demand so much from their atheltes. Then, however, I saw the same going on in Japan. Athlete must follow instructions blindly. That's the law. That's how it was with Yagudin, he came to me and said, "Do what you have to with me, I'll listen to you".

As to Sasha, she has to decide for herself how to build her life from this point on. She'll make a living even without the sport - such a unique athlete will find work in any show. But the thing is, she love figure skating with all her heart. And she really wants to become Olympic champion.

 

[Dee4707]

Thanks Ptichka, good read. I think Tatianna recognized Sasha's amazing talents.

Dee

 

[kyla2]

Interesting

Interesting article and revealing. Too bad her mother couldn't connect with Tarasova. Personally, I think Sasha's other interests in life i.e cooking, shopping, acting are distracting and interfere with her skating. On the other hand, we know she trained all out for the Olympics this year. I think she has a combination problem-technique difficulties which only non-stop training can keep in check, and lack of competitive nerve. When one or the other problem kicks in, or both, it's a rough time for her performance wise. I feel very badly for her because I think she is the greatest talent in the history of figure skating apart from Michelle Kwan, John Curry and Janet Lynn.

 

[password]

I dont think that really implies she was lazy at all. Maybe a little bit of that attention defecit disorder (sp ?).

 

[Ptichka]

kyla, I am not sure how beneficial it is to do nothing but train. I recall an interview with Yagudin where he talked about how in the Summer before Olympics he did nothing but train, and was in perfect shape by Goodwill Games. At Goodwill, of course, he bombed big time. When Tarasova brought in the Zagainov (the shrink), among his advice to Yagudin was a certain loosening of the routine. He did have Yagudin occasionally go out, and just relax. Humans are not robots after all...

 

[flying camel]

I never liked Tarasova. Why would she even comment on the cookie baking? That is what a lot of people enjoy doing around the holidays.

 

[password]

"I remember how before Christmas Sasha spent all day and all night baking cookies. It was incerdible cookies, twelve kinds in all. She gave me a huge heavy box of them, and mailed dozens of boxes to her friends."

That was nice of Sasha to give her a big batch. lol. How soon after that did tt start having health problems? jk,jk (12 different kinds!? I would lovvee to see saw Sasha to get some show on the food network.)

 

[flying camel]

Yea, that would be so neat if she was on the food network. That way we could see her outside of skating.

 

[jesslily]

Occationally staying late to bake cookies does not affect skating much, it may not affect practice result at all. I doubt that Sasha would do something like this often. She still lives with her mother. She is still kind of manager of Sasha's every day life. She would not let Sasha keep an undisciplined life style. As for sleep effectiveness, we all know that even you go to bed at same time every day and get up at same time every day, you still do not get same good night sleep every day. It's impossible. How well you sleep during night is controlled by many factors, not just how early you go to bed.

 

[heyang]

I never liked Tarasova. Why would she even comment on the cookie baking? That is what a lot of people enjoy doing around the holidays.

The only thing I can compare it to is when a former co-worker called in sick on Monday's because he had too many beers while watching football on Sunday's. It's ok to have a few beers, but his choice to overindulge affected his responsibilities at work. He also did this for several weeks in a row , which showed a lack of respect for his employer and co-workers who had to pick up the slack.

I think her point was that Sasha didn't always put her skating 1st. It's ok to bake cookies, but why all night to the point that you can't do your job the next day? Did she skip practice to go shopping? Did she respect Tarasova's time and give her notice when she would be skipping practice, etc?

I don't know the answers to the above questions, but that seems to be what Tarasova is implying IMHO. This type of behavior is common with youth and it seems as though Sasha grew up a lot this year.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

That's exactly what TT meant. She does not put skating first if another interest grabs her attention. Whether it's cookie or a photo shoot, or whatever, Sasha seems to me to go for the moment.

However, she is a top tier skater, and goes for the judges when skating - at least most of the time. I watched her closely in Calgary anticipating a special skate in getting her first World's gold. Her attitude for me during the Quali was that she should have been excused from this meaningless competition. That showed in the scoring. (she really irked me because I wanted her to win). It may have scared her a bit with the Quali results because she did perk up for the SP, and I was back to expecting a first place.

Again, Sasha shows what happens when gold is minutes away. She is hesitant in putting her self on the line. It's not Nicks, it's not TT, it's not Robin, it's her. Whatever frightens her about winning is a mystery. for me explanations about poor skating just wont do. I want the truth about what happens at the moment of truth.

I am sincerely hoping she skates another year with the full intent to win all the way. If she doesn't have that desire, then my best wishes for another career for her. She is a very talented lady.

Joe

 

[Ptichka]

Like just about everyone here I believe that Sasha's problems are psychological. Now, we know how a sports shrink helped Yagudin; I wonder if something similar could be done for Sasha.

 

[dancindiva03]

No one, who has a brain, has any right to comment on Sasha's training. She has spent the last year training extensively. Her issues aren't training but technique and nerves. She trained right up to the Olympics and it didn't make any difference. I feel very sorry for her. She is a brilliant skater, who can't skate clean programs. I can only imagine how heartbreaking this must be for her. Imagine if this were you DancinDiva, how you would feel.

Well unless you see her training so extensively with your own two eyes, how do you know how well she's training? And I'm sorry, but a problem with technique and nerves IS a problem with training. If she spent more time working on her technique, then maybe it would not let her down so badly when the nerves get to her. And, we also have all heard that she practices what she WANTS to practice, not what she NEEDS to practice. How would I feel if I were her? Well, I don't know, but if I were her, I'd be working on the elements that let me down competition after competition, not spending all my time practicing the contortionist moves, and certainly I wouldn't be getting myself all distracted with outside events when one of the biggest events of the year is coming up. Sorry, I still cannot feel sorry for her.

 

[Lucy25]

"I remember how before Christmas Sasha spent all day and all night baking cookies. It was incerdible cookies, twelve kinds in all. She gave me a huge heavy box of them, and mailed dozens of boxes to her friends."

That was nice of Sasha to give her a big batch. lol. How soon after that did tt start having health problems? jk,jk (12 different kinds!? I would lovvee to see saw Sasha to get some show on the food network.)

I'd like to see Sasha eat some of those cookies herself and put on a few pounds.

 

[R.D.]

I'd like to see Sasha eat some of those cookies herself and put on a few pounds.

 

[Dee4707]

kyla, I am not sure how beneficial it is to do nothing but train. I recall an interview with Yagudin where he talked about how in the Summer before Olympics he did nothing but train, and was in perfect shape by Goodwill Games. At Goodwill, of course, he bombed big time. When Tarasova brought in the Zagainov (the shrink), among his advice to Yagudin was a certain loosening of the routine. He did have Yagudin occasionally go out, and just relax. Humans are not robots after all...

I think he lost 20 pounds at that time thinking it would help with his jumps. I am not sure the weight loss had anything to do with his bombing at the Goodwill games. He was too close to the boards when he tried to do a jump or combination.

Dee

 

[Dee4707]

Sorry, I still cannot feel sorry for her.

You've said that about 10 times now. I really believe you don't feel sorry for her--so can you stop already???

Dee

 

[chuckm]

I truly believe that Sasha did not want to compete at Worlds, and Nicks agreed that she should not go. But her mother and the USFS talked her into going. Sasha was clearly exhausted and did not seem to be enthusiastic at the prospect of possibly winning a World Championship.

Apparently she had not been training much, perhaps partly because of the round of post-Torino parties and appearances, and perhaps also because of the nagging groin pain. She hadn't done a runthrough of her FS all week.

Before the SP she looked well, disinterested. After she skated reasonably well and was in first place, she looked relieved, but not at all excited at being in position to become World Champion.

Before the FS she just looked as if she wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else. And after nearly falling on the 2A mid-program, she definitely was out of character, out of the program, and just grimly determined to get to the end of it. After it was all over, her eyes just looked dead, as if the worst had happened and she couldn't wait to get out of the nightmare.

At the exhibition, did anyone else notice that she was announced just as "Sasha Cohen", without prefacing her as the Olympic silver medalist or the new bronze medalist? I am sure she must have insisted on that.

I am almost 100% certain we will not be seeing her in eligible competition again. This season really was a nightmare for her.

 

[graceness]

I truly believe that Sasha did not want to compete at Worlds, and Nicks agreed that she should not go. But her mother and the USFS talked her into going. Sasha was clearly exhausted and did not seem to be enthusiastic at the prospect of possibly winning a World Championship.

Apparently she had not been training much, perhaps partly because of the round of post-Torino parties and appearances, and perhaps also because of the nagging groin pain. She hadn't done a runthrough of her FS all week.

Could I ask how you, and others, know, or guess, that Nicks didn't think Sasha should go to worlds? That she didn't want to go? That her mother and USFS put on the pressure? I can understand USFS doing that, but how can you know about her mum? Sasha seemed fairly stoked about wanting that World Championship title - at least she talked a good game.

Is this true, that she didn't do a runthrough of her long program the entire week? I don't get that!! Just like I don't understand how it is that she didn't practice her jumps in Calgary.

Graceness

 

[John King]

With apologies to The Wizard Of Id comics

"What's wrong,Sasha?You look upset"

"I feel so worried about being short,I get depressed"

"You should see a shrink"

"You have a lousy way with words!"