24 February 2006

Ok, so I am so sad Sasha fell. Twice. But she STILL got the silver. That's how strong the rest of her program was. In fact, Chicago Tribune sports columnist Phil Hersh puts it this way: "Upon further review of the entire final group, it's clear that over the final 3-plus minutes of her 4-minute program, Cohen easily was the best skater in a competition Japan's Shizuka Arakawa won with a clean but conservative skate. Not only that, but neither Russia's Irina Slutskaya, the bronze medalist, nor Japan's Fumie Suguri, who finished fourth, skated better than Cohen for the entire four minutes." The column is HERE. Sure, there was all the talk about how Sasha's her own worst enemy,how she's never skated two clean programs in a row, blah, blah blah. Who knows what happened. I hear her practice earlier that was a disaster. She missed several jumps, and it spooked her. You could tell. The second she took the ice my partner and I both remarked how she looked: scared, distracted -a completely different look than Tuesday night when she so focused and sassy. (And won.) My partner predicts she's done with competitive skating -- washed up at 21. She will go on tour, collect endorsements, and maybe coach. Hopefully she'll keep going. After the medals ceremony, Sasha said: "I love skating. It gives me a sense of purpose and accomplishment. I plan on going to worlds [in mid-March] and keep training. I still don't have a world title, and I would like that." You KNOW I'll be cheering her on.