American figure skater with Ukrainian roots lays claim to the world crown
In recent years, the world of sports has often spoken of American figure skater Sasha Cohen, prophesying a brilliant future as Olympic champion. But the beauty Cohen, often appearing in show business news, is in no hurry to fulfill the prophecies. Although she strives for success with every fiber of her soul. And when that very success comes to her, we can rejoice for her along with the Americans. After all, Sasha's roots are ours, Ukrainian. The mother of the current prima of ice palaces, Galina, was born in Odessa. At 16, in the 1970s, she immigrated to the United States with her parents, where she finished school, university, and married an American.
One Russian journalist once asked Galina whether Sasha speaks Russian and what she tells her daughter about Odessa: “Sasha understands everything, but is shy to speak. In everyday life she often communicates in Russian, but gives press conferences only in English. She says she cannot always construct phrases correctly. Although when in St. Petersburg at a press conference her words were misinterpreted, she did not hesitate to correct the interpreter.
As for Odessa, I don't tell anything specifically. But Sasha is a curious girl, often interested in how I lived. Sometimes it is very difficult for me to explain some things. Sasha could not understand what a communal apartment is, how several families can share a kitchen and toilet. After all, now in our house there is a toilet for each person.
Generally, she is a very smart girl. At her high school graduation party, she was presented with a certificate from President Clinton and her name was entered into the book of America's best students. Along with figure skating, she is studying at university, and it is not excluded that after finishing her sports career she will choose some other path.”
But the Cohen family is not only Galina and Sasha. There is also the head of the family, Roger, and another daughter, Natasha, who is four years younger than Sasha. The skater's father is a lawyer and consultant on international business matters. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that his children do not need government subsidies. Even though figure skating is not the cheapest sport. You need to hire a coach, and sew an outfit that would really touch the judges, and select music. And the place for training – ice on an indoor rink with a minimum set of amenities – is also not cheap.
America is infected with figure skating. The celebrated Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova, having attended the U.S. Championships for the first time, could hardly express her emotions. At that tournament she met a huge number of Russian mentors who are in demand in the States: Americans have not forgotten who was (and still is) the trendsetter in figure skating 20 years ago. Many residents of North America are willing to pay good money for amateur lessons from Russians, knowing that they will never become stars. Simply out of love for art.
It was out of love for art that Sasha also got into figure skating. Galina Cohen tells: “Indeed, my daughter, although she looks like a complete child, makes decisions herself and not without reason gives the impression of an independent person. At seven and a half she went to the skating rink and enrolled in classes. My husband and I found out about this after the fact, when Sasha came home. She quite convincingly explained to us why she no longer wants to do gymnastics, but wants to do figure skating. At first she took group lessons, and then – about five or six years ago (also on her own initiative) – she moved to John Nicks' group.
In recent years, I regularly accompany my daughter at competitions: in figure skating, she is a beginner after all. Sasha began doing many technical elements much later than is usually the case with others.”
The first serious tournaments showed that Cohen is indeed talented and capable of achieving great success. In 1996, at the regional championship in California, she finished fourth. Experts duly appreciated the debut of the 12-year-old athlete, who the next year won second place at the same tournament. Then in 1997 there were the Pacific Coast Championship (fourth place) and the Junior Olympic Games (fifth place).
In 1998, Sasha again became second at the regional championship, took a similar place at the Pacific Coast Championship, and entered the top six at the U.S. Championships. Cohen was 14 years old then. And at 15 she already began to win. True, the maximum success for some time was a victory at the Pacific Coast Championship in 1999. After that, the skater always made it into the top ranks, but could never reach the very top step of the podium. In 2000-2001, Cohen managed to snatch victory from her rivals only at the Finnish stage of the World Cup. When her coach John Nicks was assisted by the well-known former athlete, Olympic champion Ekaterina Gordeeva.
After that, Sasha herself realized that she should look for another coach, since Nicks could no longer give her anything new. We again give the floor to her mother: "The summer before last, we were informed that our daughter had decided to move from California to the other coast. She did say, though, that she would very much like us to go with her, but immediately added: 'If it's too difficult, I'll go alone.' How did she explain it? During the World Championships in Nagano, Sasha decided that she wanted to create truly professional programs for the new season. She had never had a choreographer, and all her routines were composed together with her coach. She was mad about the step sequence performed by Alexei Yagudin. She was very upset because she realizes what she wants, but doesn't know how to do it on the ice. Right there in Nagano, I suggested a few choreographers for her to choose from, but she flatly refused: 'I've seen their work, and I didn't like any of it.' So I decided to turn to the famous coach Tatiana Tarasova: whether it would be possible, I said, to come to her rink to have programs created. Tarasova agreed, we came to her, and after just a few practices Sasha said she liked it very much at Tatiana's. Especially since at home there were no such training conditions even remotely close. She had to train at a public rink, where there were rarely fewer than 20 people. So we talked it over and moved with the whole family. My husband continues to work in California, regularly flying back and forth."
By that time, Cohen had already gained wide world fame and popularity. At the 2002 U.S. Championships she was second, at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City she finished fourth, and at the 2002 World Championships she was also fourth; in addition, she won several stages of the World Cup.
Cooperation with Tarasova - perhaps the most renowned specialist in coaching in figure skating - according to many, allowed Cohen to improve her skating. But this is only one side of the coin. Sasha's results did not progress enough to speak of Tarasova's influence. Moreover, the psychological instability of the fragile girl during the most important competitions remained with her. Having won the Grand Prix Final under Tatiana's guidance (so far Cohen's biggest success), Sasha failed at the most important tournaments of the season. At the 2003 U.S. Championships she finished only third, and at the World Championships in Washington the same year she was left without medals altogether.
The breakup between the most decorated coach and the most promising female single skater, which seemed a sensation and occurred shortly before the beginning of 2004, is in fact, given all of the above, a logical development of events. Tarasova is a person with a Russian mentality and thinks in her own way. Cohen - Sasha and her mother - have an American tenacity and strive for progress. For them, the direct path is the shortest path to success. Deliberately stepping back in order to then take several steps forward is not their style. And that is their right.
Cohen now reminds many of the Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova. Both are beautiful, both received a solid share of advertising at a very young age, thanks to which the press did not ignore either of them. True, unlike Kournikova, who never bothered to win even one tennis tournament, preferring to remain the queen of beauty on the courts, Cohen is no stranger to sporting achievements.
Moreover, Sasha has already partly surpassed Anna in terms of charm and the number of eager fans. A recent poll on the Fox Sports website on the topic "The Hottest Women in Sports Competitions" brought victory to the daughter of an Odessa woman with 75% of the votes (and more than 100 thousand people took part in the poll). Left behind were tennis stars Amanda Coetzer, Jennifer Capriati, Jelena Dokic, basketball player Andrea Nagy, as well as Anna Kournikova, Katarina Witt, Tara Lipinski, Martina Hingis and Michelle Kwan...
But while Cohen was establishing herself as a beautiful seductress, on the ice rink she again lost. With a new coach at the World Championships in Dortmund, which ended quite recently, Sasha finished second, letting the Japanese figure skater Shizuka Arakawa go ahead, who had just recently been taken under her wing... by Tatiana Tarasova.