SASHA COHEN Biography - Famous Sports men and women

 
 

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SASHA COHEN

Name: Sasha Cohen                                                                     
Born: 26 October 1984                                                                 
                                                                                       
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.                                                     
                                                                                       
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 is       
an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney LLP. 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.                                             
                                                                                       
In 2005, she published her autobiography, Fire on Ice.                                 
                                                                                       
Cohen understands Russian.                                                             
                                                                                       
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.                                                                             
                                                                                       
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 in her back,     
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 free 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 an 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 her 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.