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Sasha Cohen

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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 Turin Ladies' singles
Sasha Cohen
Sasha Cohen in exhibition in 2007.
Height157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Figure skating career
Country 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

Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26 1984) is an American figure skater. She is the 2006 U.S. National Champion, 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and 2006 Olympic silver medalist.

Personal life

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.[1][2] Sasha attended Aliso Niguel High School in Aliso Viejo, California and graduated from Futures High School in Mission Viejo, California in 2002. Her sister, Natalia ("Natasha"), began college at Barnard College in August 2006. A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating when she was seven years old, but it wasn't until she was 10 that she began to take the sport seriously.

In 2005, she published her autobiography, Fire on Ice.

Cohen understands Russian.[3]

Skating career

Cohen rose to prominence in the skating community during the 2000 United States Figure Skating Championships. Just up from juniors, Cohen dropped from first place after the short program to second after the free skating and qualified for the world team. Too young for the World Figure Skating Championships, a loophole at the time would have allowed her to compete in senior worlds if she medaled at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. Cohen did not medal at world juniors and so did not go to senior worlds.

Cohen did not compete at the 2001 Nationals due to a stress fracture, but took back her silver medal at the 2002 Nationals, earning her a trip to the Olympics. 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 withdrew 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 took 2nd place at Trophée Eric Bompard, where she fell on a triple Salchow during her fre skate. In 2006, Cohen overcame the 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 was in 1st after the short program, leading Russia's Irina Slutskaya by a mere .03 points. In the final free skate, Cohen fell on her first jump, a triple Lutz, and had her hands down on her second jump, the triple-flip. She completed the rest of her elements, including five triples. Cohen finished with a Olympic silver medal, her first Olympic medal. The Olympic gold medalist, Shizuka Arakawa of Japan, won by 7.98 points over Cohen.

A month later at the 2006 World Championships in Calgary, Canada, Cohen was in 1st place after the short program. Completing only one jump combination and falling on the triple-salchow, she placed fourth in the free skate and won the bronze medal, finishing almost ten points behind her teammate, gold medalist Kimmie Meissner. Cohen displayed strong artistry in hre free skate 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.

Post 2006 Olympics

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."

In December 2006, Cohen announced that she needed "a little down time from competing" and that she will not defend her US Figure Skating Championship title in 2007. She again stressed that her "major goals" are the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships and the 2010 Olympics; "I know I want to be in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics."[4]

Cohen did not compete in the 2006-2007 competitive season, although she did perform exhibitions, including at the Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting and at USFSA-approved events. She has not given up her Olympic-eligibility.

Cohen has signed on to be a headliner in the 2007-2008 Stars on Ice tour.

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 performs an I-spin, a position which she popularized

Cohen is known for being a talented skater, though her critics say she has never skated two clean programs in a row.[5][6] 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 the 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.'[citation needed] She is also known for difficult and creative positions in her spins, such as the "I" spin position which she popularized. 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. Cohen abandoned the pursuit of the quad in hopes of becoming a more well-rounded skater.[citation needed] 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.

Acting career

Television

Cohen has done commercials for Citizen Watch, Simply Saline, and Got Milk?. She appeared in Episode 7 of the second season of Project Runway wherein designers were challenged to design a skating dress for her. The winning dress (by Zulema Griffin) did not fit and 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.[7] Cohen has also appeared in the television crime drama CSI:NY.

Film

Cohen will play Fiona Hughes in the scheduled 2007 release of the Don Johnson movie Moondance Alexander.[8] At the 2006 Academy Awards, Cohen served as a guest correspondent for Inside Edition. This experience led to an encounter with Ben Stiller and a discussion about having a part in a future comedy about figure skating, something Cohen said she would enjoy participating in. This led to Cohen appearing as herself in Blades of Glory. Also in 2007, she had a role in Bratz: The Movie.

Competitive highlights

Event 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006
Winter Olympic Games 4th 2nd
World Championships 4th 4th 2nd 2nd 3rd
World Junior Championships 6th
U.S. Championships 2nd J. 2nd 2nd 3rd 2nd 2nd 1st
Grand Prix Final 1st 2nd
Trophee Eric Bompard 3rd 1st 1st 2nd
Skate Canada 1st 1st
Skate America 5th 1st
Cup of Russia 4th 2nd
Nations Cup 5th
Finlandia Trophy 1st
Junior Grand Prix, Sweden 1st
Gardena Spring Trophy 1st J.
Pacific Coast Sectionals 1st J. 1st
Southwest Pacific Regionals 1st J.
  • J = Junior level

Detailed placements by season

Major events (senior)
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

Season Short Program Long Program Exhibition
2006–07 Non applicable - did not compete this season Non applicable - did not compete this season Hurt
by Christina Aguilera
2005–06 Dark Eyes
Russian folk song
choreographed by Nikolai Morozov and David Wilson 		Romeo and Juliet
Soundtrack from the 1968 movie
by Nino Rota,
choreographed by Nikolai Morozov and David Wilson 		Don't Rain on My Parade
by Barbra Streisand
God Bless America
by Celine Dion
2004–05 Dark Eyes
Russian folk song
choreographed by Nikolai Morozov 		Pas de deux from The Nutcracker
by Tchaikovsky,
choreographed by Igor Shpilband, Marina Zueva 		Don't Rain on My Parade
by Barbra Streisand
2003–04 Malagueña
by Ernesto Lecuona, choreographed by Nikolai Morozov and Tatiana Tarasova 		Swan Lake
by Tchaikovsky, choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova and Robin Wagner 		Romeo and Juliet
choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova
2002–03 Malagueña
by Ernesto Lecuona,
choreographed by Nikolai Morozov and Tatiana Tarasova 		Piano Concerto No. 2
by Rachmaninoff, choreographed by Nikolai Morozov 		Romeo and Juliet
choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova
One Day I'll Fly Away
from Moulin Rouge!
by Nicole Kidman
2001–02 My Sweet and Tender Beast
by Doga, choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen 		Carmen
by Georges Bizet, choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen 		Hernando's Hideway
by Ella Fitzgerald,
choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen
Aria
by Heitor Villa-Lobos,
choreographed by John Nicks, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sasha Cohen
2000–01 My Sweet and Tender Beast
by Doga, choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen 		Dark Eyes
Russian folk song, orchestrated by London Festival Orchestra,
choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen 		Anytime, Anywhere
by Sarah Brightman,
choreographed by John Nicks, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sasha Cohen
To Love You More
by Celine Dion, choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen
1999–2000 Baroque Selections
by Vivaldi and Albinoni,
choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen 		Violin Concerto
by Mendelssohn, choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen 		Madame Butterfly
by Puccini, choreographed by John Nicks and Sasha Cohen

References

  • Cohen, Sasha. (2006). Fire on Ice (Revised Edition): Autobiography of a Champion Figure Skater. Collins. ISBN 0-06-115385-0
  1. ^ Bloom, Nate (February 16 2006). "The Tribe goes to Torino: Sketches of Jewish Olympic-Bound Athletes". Jewish World Review. Retrieved 2006-12-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=profile&cod=4
  3. ^ "Athletes - Sasha Cohen". NBCOlympics.com. Retrieved February 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Cohen pulls out of 2007 national championships". ABC News. December 22 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ 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)
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "Sasha Does Hollywood!". SashaCohen.com. Retrieved April 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Moondance Alexander at IMDb
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