Posted 11 January 2004 - 04:09 PM
I don't think it's fair to speculate as to whether a skater is a "nice"person or not...I will concede that I think it very unlikely that any highly ranked, world-class athlete (Tiger Woods, Michelle Kwan and those competitors seemingly on their heels) turns out to be a sweety-sweety when it comes to their sport! If Sasha Cohen's problems as a competitor are, as many seem to think, at least partly psychological -- nerves etc. -- then growing up a little more may help. I certainly hope so.
I feel compelled to write a little in Cohen's defense since I just saw her skate live for the first time as part of the exhibition following the U.S. championships. Her positions are even more exquisite in real space/time than on television. The sheer flow of skating is, as everyone comments, much more evident for all skaters when one sees them live, and seeing a skater with such precise positions as Cohen live really adds to the impact of the skate. All the picturesque poses really move across the ice. In short, she seems still more graceful and certainly "softer" than on television (and I like her on television). I realize, too, that she was doubtless much less tense skating in exhibition -- but I've compared the live skate with the ABC telecast and live does seem to me to make some difference.
I'll add one word more in Cohen's defense. I simply don't believe that it's possible to skate the way Sasha Cohen skates if one doesn't have "passion." It's simply too hard to achieve that skill level. I understand that the passion may not communicate itself all the time to an audience, but especially in those extraodinarily stretched spins in arabesque (I don't know the skating term, some kind of camel perhaps?) with her back slightly arched, she seems to be taking the position to the very limits of what it can be, and the image is, in my eyes, one that does convey passion. With more experience, more confidence (I mean genuine confidence not bravado) and, yes, maturity, she may well be able to bring still more of that quality to her performances.
Whether Cohen will ever be able to win the big, prestige competitions -- I have no idea, but I hope so...For the rest, I love Johnny Weir, a skater entirely new to me, though from what I'm reading, the way he skated this week was new even to people who have seen him before. I liked the fourth place finisher, Ryan Jahnke (?) a lot as well; at the exhibition he seemed to me to have tremendous presence and power, though I can't say the audience roared and ABC decided not to include the skate at all...I also thought Michelle Kwan was fabulous in her competitive skates (which I only saw on television), though I would be happy never to see another woman skater skate to Tosca ever again. I think it's dreadful music for skating and I would say that I would be happy never to see any skater skate to it, but I sort of thought Yagudin pulled it off. Perhaps the sheer power of a great male skater can somehow match the melodrama of the highlights style music "cuts" that skating programs use from the opera.
I also thought Kwan's exhibition skate, though not one of my favorites, showed her ability to respond to a very different kind of music and was, of course, thrilling to see live. I am far from thinking Kwan overated...even in her short program with its small mistake on the double axel she seemed to me to have a more compelling presence on the ice than Cohen or anyone else at this competition. Her interview persona is, too, the most poised and pleasant of any professional athlete I have ever seen and has been so, in the past, after disappointments as well as smashing successes. But all my admiration for Kwan cannot keep me from appreciating Sasha Cohen's lovely qualities as a Skater...and hoping for her future success as well.
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