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BIOGRAPHY

Sasha Cohen
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP | BLOG

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

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. A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating when she was seven years old.

Sasha Cohen rose to prominence in the skating community during the 2000 United States Figure Skating Championships. Just up from juniors, Cohen was in first place after the short program. She fell to second after the free skating, but qualified for the world team. While she was technically too young to go to the World Figure Skating Championships, there was a loophole at the time that if she medaled at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, she would be allowed to go to senior worlds. Cohen was unable to medal at world juniors and so did not go to senior worlds.

Cohen was unable to repeat her podium finish at the 2001 Nationals, 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 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."

During 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."[