Sasha Cohen
American figure skater, 2006 Olympic silver medalist.
Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26, 1984) is an American former figure skater. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics, earned three medals at the World Championships, won the 2002–03 Grand Prix Final (held in December 2002), and became the U.S. national champion in 2006. She was well known for her artistry, flexibility, body lines, and musical interpretation.
Cohen was born in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her nickname "Sasha" is a Russian short form of "Alexandra." Her mother, Galina Cohen, is a Jewish immigrant from Odesa, Ukraine, and a former ballet dancer. Her father, Roger Cohen, is a law school graduate from UC Berkeley and was a partner at the law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. She graduated from Futures High School in Mission Viejo, California, in 2002, and later earned a political science degree from Columbia University in 2016, where she went by Alex instead of Sasha. In 2005, she published her autobiography, *Fire on Ice*, which was reissued in 2006 with an added chapter on her 2006 season.
Cohen started as a gymnast and switched to figure skating at age seven, though she did not take it seriously until she was eleven. One of her early coaches was Victor Yelchin, father of the late actor Anton Yelchin. She first gained attention at the 2000 U.S. Championships, where she led after the short program and finished second overall, provisionally qualifying for the senior World team. A loophole in ISU age rules would have let her compete at senior Worlds if she medaled at the World Junior Championships, but she placed sixth there.
She missed the 2001 U.S. Nationals due to a stress fracture in her back and resumed training in June 2001. At the 2002 U.S. Championships, she won silver and earned a spot at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where she finished fourth. She also placed fourth at the 2002 World Championships in Nagano. At that time, she was coached by John Nicks in California. In summer 2002, she moved to Connecticut to train with Tatiana Tarasova at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury. She won her first Grand Prix event at the 2002 Skate Canada, then the 2002 Trophée Lalique, and took silver at the 2002 Cup of Russia. Those results qualified her for the 2002–03 Grand Prix Final, which she won. She earned bronze at the 2003 U.S.
Quick Facts
- Full Name
- Alexandra Pauline Cohen
- Birth Date
- 26 October 1984
- Birth Place
- Westwood, California, U.S.
- Hometown
- Newport Beach, California, U.S.
- Height
- 1.58 m
- Began Skating
- 1992
- Retired
- 2010
- Discipline
- Women's singles
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Cohen was born in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Galina Cohen, is a Jewish immigrant from Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, and a former ballet dancer; her father, Roger Cohen, is a law graduate of UC Berkeley. She graduated from Futures High School in 2002 and from Columbia University in 2016 with a degree in political science. As a university student, she used the name Alex rather than Sasha. In 2005, she published her autobiography, Fire on Ice, republished in 2006 with a new chapter on the 2006 season.
A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating at seven but did not take it seriously until eleven. She rose to prominence at the 2000 U.S. Championships, finishing second. She won silver at the 2002 U.S. Championships, earning a spot to the 2002 Winter Olympics, where she placed fourth. She also placed fourth at the 2002 World Championships. Cohen was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2017.
Reader's Guide
Sasha Cohen's significance lies in her artistic and technical achievements during a competitive era in women's figure skating. She was the first skater to receive +3s for spirals under the International Skating Union Judging System and the first female to break the +130 barrier on a free skate under that system. Despite her talent, figure skating historian James R. Hines noted that her potential was never fully realized due to inconsistency in presenting two clean programs at major competitions. Her Olympic silver medal in 2006 and three World Championship medals (silver in 2004 and 2005, bronze in 2006) mark her as a top competitor. She was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2016. Her legacy includes her influence on the artistic side of skating, particularly her flexibility and spiral sequences.
Did You Know?
- Cohen's nickname 'Sasha' is a Russian diminutive of 'Alexandra'.
- She was the first female skater to break the +130 barrier on a free skate under the IJS.
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