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Sasha Cohen

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 64.228.248.2 (talk) at 23:28, 18 December 2006 (Corrected date and added fuller statement from mother manager Galina.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the figure skater. For the British comedian, see Sacha Baron Cohen.
Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Silver medal – second place 2006 Torino, Italy Ladies' singles
Sasha Cohen
Sasha Cohen
at the 2004 World Figure Skating Championships
in Dortmund, Germany, March 2004.
Height157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Figure skating career
CountryUnited States United States
CoachJohn Nicks
Skating clubOrange County FSC
Most Recent Results:
Event Points Finish Year
Olympic Winter Games 183.36 2nd 2006
World Championships 208.88 3rd 2006
National Championships 199.18 1st 2006
Grand Prix Final 177.48 2nd 2003–04

Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26 1984) is an American figure skater. She is the reigning U.S. National Champion and silver medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Biography

Cohen was born in Westwood, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. Her mother, Galina Feldman, is a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine and a former ballet dancer; her father, Roger Cohen, is a Jewish American business consultant who used to practice law. Her sister, Natalia ("Natasha"), began college at Barnard College in August 2006. Sasha is the Russian nickname for Alexandra. A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating when she was seven years old.

Though Cohen's parents are both of Jewish origin[citation needed], her mother described Sasha as half Christian and said she "celebrates everything" during the holidays.[1]

Career summary

Cohen competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, finishing 4th. Her best season was 2003–2004, when she took gold at three Grand Prix events and silver at both the U.S. National Championships and the World Championships. Cohen placed 2nd at the 2005 U.S. National Championships in Portland, and the World Championships in Moscow, Russia. She had to withdraw from the 2005 Grand Prix events due to a recurring back injury.

Cohen started her Olympic season by placing 1st at the Campbell's International Figure Skating Challenge. Soon after she withdrew from Skate America due to a hip injury. She came back strong with a 2nd place finish at Trophée Eric Bompard.

In 2006, Cohen overcame a severe flu to capture her first U.S. National Championship. With this victory Cohen automatically secured her place on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2006 Winter Olympics, a spot made official on January 14 of that year by the United States Figure Skating Association.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Cohen stood in 1st after the short program, leading Russia's Irina Slutskaya by a mere .03 points. In the final free skate, Cohen started off with a fall on her first jump and had her hands down on her second jump, the triple-flip. But after this difficult start, she completed the rest of her elements, including five triples. Cohen finished with a Olympic silver medal, her first Olympic medal. The Olympic gold medallist, Shizuka Arakawa of Japan, won by 7.98 points over Cohen.

A month later at the 2006 World Championships in Calgary, Canada, Cohen once more stood in 1st place going into the free skate, but problems in jumping (only one successful jump combination and a fall on the triple-salchow) dropped her down to 4th place for the free skate portion. She won the bronze medal but finished almost ten points behind her teammate, gold medalist Kimmie Meissner. Despite problems in her free skate, Cohen displayed strong artistry and picked up level fours on all her spins and her spiral sequence. Her program component score of 61.35 was the highest of the night.

During April 2006, Cohen started the Champions on Ice tour, participated in the second annual "Skating with the Stars, Under the Stars" gala in Central Park and performed in the Marshalls U.S. Figure Skating International Showcase. On April 15, 2006, Cohen announced that she intends to compete into the 2010 season and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She said via her official website, "I will decide after the COI Tour how much skating and what events I will do next season."

Coaching changes

Cohen was coached by John Nicks until the summer of 2002, when she relocated to Simsbury, Connecticut, to train with Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova, who choreographed Cohen's Swan Lake program and upgraded her footwork. Under Tarasova's coaching, Cohen landed her first triple-triple combination in competition, a triple lutz-triple toe. Also, Cohen completed her first clean free skate in the qualifying round at the 2003 World Championships. She changed coaches again in January 2004 to Robin Wagner (who coached Sarah Hughes to Olympic gold), in Hackensack, New Jersey. In December 2004, Cohen returned to California to work with her original coach, John Nicks, who trained her to compete in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Nicks, who is very knowledgeable on the Code of Points system, helped Cohen increase the difficulty of her spins and spirals, as well as her jumps, to maximize her performances under the new system.

Skating trademarks

Cohen is known for being an extremely talented skater, though her critics say she has never skated two clean programs in a row.[2] [3] Her childhood training as a gymnast allows her to bring an impressive degree of flexibility to the sport. Her spiral sequences are credited to be the best in skating world due to incredibly flexed positions and control. She is the only skater to have received +3s for spirals in the new judging system for 'Grade of Execution' under the new system. She is also known for difficult and creative positions in her spins. Cohen worked on a quadruple salchow, which she had landed 10-20% of the time in practice in her younger years, including the 2001 Skate America warmups. However, Cohen abandoned the pursuit of the quad in hopes of becoming a more well-rounded skater. The following season she went on to add a triple lutz/triple toe combination, but did not land it cleanly until the world championships. During her free skates she has performed the difficult triple toe/half loop/triple salchow jump sequence. More recently she has added the Biellmann spin to her repertoire.

Television and film

Cohen has appeared on television and in film. During a recent guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a backstage interview, she said: "I love the glamour of red carpet events"; and she "hope[s] that [her] next appearance on the show would be [as] an actress instead" of a figure skater.[citation needed] Cohen has done commercials for Citizen Watch, Simply Saline, and Got Milk?. She has appeared in Project Runway Episode 7 wherein designers were challenged to design a skating dress for her. The winning dress, (by Zulema), did not fit because the designers were not accustomed to making dresses for figure skaters; consequently, the dress had to be resized. Cohen has made a brief appearance guest starring, as herself, on the May 5, 2006, episode of the NBC drama, Las Vegas. [4]

On November 29th, 2006, Cohen appeared at the seventy-fourth lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Cohen skated during Christina Aguilera's performance of a song from her new album.

In the scheduled 2007 release of the Don Johnson movie Moondance Alexander Cohen will be playing the part of "Fiona Hughes," which is now in post-production.[5] At the 2006 Academy Awards, Cohen served as a guest correspondent for Inside Edition. This experience led to an encounter with Ben Stiller about having a part in a future comedy about figure skating, something Cohen said she would enjoy participating in. This film, where Cohen will appear as herself, is titled Blades of Glory and stars Will Ferrell. Ben Stiller is the producer. It is scheduled to be released on March 30, 2007. Cohen has also filmed a part for the crime drama CSI:NY.

Christmas carol controversy

Reuters reported that Cohen was "stunned" to learn from news reports that a U.S. high school choir had been ordered by police, at the instigation of a public official, to stop singing Christmas carols at a holiday show on December 12, 2006, because, according to this official, she is Jewish.[6] The same story reported that Cohen's mother and manager Galina Cohen said Sasha "is half-Christian and 'celebrates everything' during the holidays," and added: "Sasha was stunned. We both thought the voices were just lovely, they were doing such a wonderful job ... Christmas carols are part of celebrating the holiday season."

Additional notes

  • In 2005, Cohen released her autobiography Fire on Ice. The revised edition, which features her 2006 Olympic experiences, was released on March 28, 2006.
  • Cohen is the first U.S. woman since Tara Lipinski (1998) to win gold at the ISU Grand Prix Final (2003).
  • Cohen understands and is able to speak basic Russian.
  • In early 2006, Cohen wore a Kabbalah red string bracelet. She said, "I'm not deeply into Kabbalah, but I appreciate the principles of it, to ward off evil and not think negative thoughts about people." [7] However, recent photos in the autumn of 2006 show that she is no longer wearing one.
  • Cohen graduated from Futures High School in Mission Viejo, California in 2002.

Routines and results

Records and achievements

  • Olympic silver medalist (2006)
  • World Championships silver medalist (2004, 2005)
  • United States National Champion (2006)
  • ISU Grand Prix Final Champion (2003)
  • World Championships bronze medallist (2006)
  • Highest scores posted under Code of Points - Ladies Short and Free Skate
  • Marshalls Worlds Figure Skating Challenge gold medalist (2004)

Competitive highlights

Major events (senior)
ISU Grand Prix Finals National Championships Four Continents Championships World Championships Olympic Games
Seasons SP FS Finish SP FS Finish SP FS Finish QF SP FS Finish SP FS Finish
2005–06 DNQ 1 1 1st - 3 1 4 3rd 1 2 2nd
65.15 134.03 199.18 27.59 66.62 114.67 208.88 66.73 116.63 183.36
2004–05 DNQ 2 2 2nd - 1 2 2 2nd -
28.41 61.37 124.61 214.39
2003–04 2 2 2nd 1 2 2nd - 1 1 3 2nd -
60.80 116.68 177.48
2002-03 1 2/1 1st 2 3 3rd - 3 5T 3 4th -
2001-02 DNQ 2 2 2nd - 2 5 4 4th 3 4 4th
2000-01 DNQ W/D - - -
1999-00 DNQ 1 2 2nd - - -
2005–06 Season
2005–06 ISU Grand Prix
Events SP FS Finish
Skate America W/D
Trophée Eric Bompard 2 2 2nd
60.96 114.16 175.12
Grand Prix Final DNQ

2006

Competition Results
Event Location Finish
U.S. National Championships St. Louis, Missouri 1st
XX Winter Olympics Turin,  Italy 2nd
World Championships Calgary,  Canada 3rd
2004–05 Season
  • Cohen withdrew from the 2004-05 Grand Prix season due to injury.

2005

Competition Results
Event Location Finish
U.S. National Championships Portland, Oregon 2nd
World Championships Moscow,  Russia 2nd
2003–04 Season
2003–04 ISU Grand Prix
Events SP FS Finish
Skate America 1 1 1st
66.46 130.89 197.35
Skate Canada 1 1 1st
71.12 126.48 197.60
Trophée Lalique 1 1 1st
69.38 127.81 197.19
Grand Prix Final 2 2 2nd
60.80 116.68 177.48

2004

Competition Results
Event Location Finish
U.S. National Championships Atlanta, Georgia 2nd
World Championships Dortmund,  Germany 2nd
2002–03 Season
2002–03 ISU Grand Prix
Events SP FS FS2 Finish
Skate Canada 1 1 - 1st
Trophée Lalique 2 1 - 1st
Cup of Russia 2 2 - 2nd
Grand Prix Final 1 2 1 1st
  • Note: Event in italics indicate a non-scoring event.

2003

Competition Results
Event Location Finish
U.S. National Championships Dallas, Texas 3rd
World Championships Washington D.C.,
 United States 		4th
2001–02 Season
2001–02 ISU Grand Prix
Events SP FS Finish
Skate America 4 5 5th
Trophée Lalique 3 3 3rd
Grand Prix Final DNQ

2002

Competition Results
Event Location Finish
U.S. National Championships Los Angeles, California 2nd
XIX Winter Olympics Salt Lake City,  United States 4th
World Championships Nagano,  Japan 4th
2001 and earlier
  • 2001: Goodwill Games - 4th, Finlandia Trophy - 1st
  • 2000: U.S. Championships - 2nd, World Junior Championships - 6th, Cup of Russia - 4th
  • 1999: U.S. Championships, Junior - 2nd

Legend

DNQ
Did not qualify
W/D
Withdrew

Programs

2006-2007

Short: Dark Eyes — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov, David Wilson.

Long: TBA

Exhibition: TBA

2005-2006

Short: Dark Eyes — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov, David Wilson.

Long: Romeo and Juliet — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov, David Wilson.

Exhibition: Don't Rain on My Parade by Barbra Streisand; God Bless America by Celine Dion

2004-2005

Short: Dark Eyes — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov.

Long: Pas de deux from The Nutcracker — choreographed by Igor Shpilband, Marina Zueva.

Exhibition: Don't Rain on My Parade by Barbra Streisand

2003-2004

Short: Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov, Tatiana Tarasova.

Long: Swan Lake — choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova, Robin Wagner.

Exhibition: Romeo and Juliet — choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova

2002-2003

Short: Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov.

Long: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 — choreographed by Nikolai Morozov.

Exhibition: Romeo and Juliet — choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova; One Day I'll Fly Away from Moulin Rouge! by Nicole Kidman

2001-2002

Short: My Sweet and Tender Beast by Doga — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

Long: Carmen by Georges Bizet — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

Exhibition: Hernando's Hideway by Ella Fitzgerald — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen; Aria by Heitor Villa-Lobos — choreographed by John Nicks, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Cohen.

2000-2001

Short: My Sweet and Tender Beast by Doga — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

Long: Dark Eyes orchestrated by London Festival Orchestra — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

Exhibition: Anytime, Anywhere by Sarah Brightman — choreographed by John Nicks, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Cohen; To Love You More by Celine Dion — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

1999-2000

Short: Baroque Selections by Vivaldi and Albinoni — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

Long: Violin Concerto by Mendelssohn — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

Exhibition: Madame Butterfly by Puccini — choreographed by John Nicks and Cohen.

References

  1. ^ "Skater 'Stunned' by Christmas Carol Cutoff". AOL News. 2006-12-15. Retrieved 2006-12-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Arica Dixon (2006-03-29). "Is Sasha Cohen Cursed?". Rampway Online (student-run online magazine at Georgia State University). Retrieved 2006-09-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ John Henderson. "Proof of greatness: Perennial second-place finisher Sasha Cohen tries to silence her critics with a national title". DenverPost. Retrieved 2006-09-27.
  4. ^ "Sasha Does Hollywood!". SashaCohen.com. Retrieved April 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Moondance Alexander at IMDb
  6. ^ http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-12-15T041949Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-280340-1.xml
  7. ^ "Figure Skating - Sasha Cohen's Mailbag". NBCOlympics.com. Retrieved April 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

Biography

  • Cohen, Sasha. (2006). Fire on Ice (Revised Edition): Autobiography of a Champion Figure Skater. Collins. ISBN 0-06-115385-0

Scoring info

Official sites

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