It doesn't figure
I'd love to see Michelle Kwan skate again--graceful, elegant, megawatt smile as she glides into her final spiral.
And Sasha Cohen, the saucy vixen with porcelain-doll exterior and blow-torch soul? Absolutely.
How about three-time world champion and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko? Hey, the more the merrier.
With the 2010 Winter Olympics less than a year off and the world championships taking place in Los Angeles this week, all three athletes are making noises about coming out of retirement.
Russia's Plushenko might be able to pull it off; there's not a skater in his country who even approaches his old skills. But for the sake of their bodies and our memories, here's hoping Kwan and Cohen get on with the rest of their lives.
It was about a year ago that Kwan told me she was finally pain-free when she put her feet on the floor each morning getting out of bed. Years of practice had left her with a ton of hurt that only healed with surgical intervention and time.
At 28, the five-time world champion and nine-time national champion has earned a college degree and a future chock-full of whatever she wants. But apparently her to-do list might include reaching for the Olympic gold that eluded her.
Cohen, 24, runnerup at the 2006 Olympics, endured a lifetime of pounding that left her with a creaky back, hips and neck.
The sport that they left is not what they're thinking of stepping back into. Kwan is a virtual stranger to the new scoring system and Cohen isn't much better versed. Believe me, it's a jungle out there, and with more mandatory elements, more critical judging and slo-mo instant replays, it's getting meaner every season.
And while each woman might have a shot at making the U.S. team going to Vancouver next February, the likelihood of them leaping over Japan's Mao Asada and Korea's Yu-Na Kim (not to mention Canada's Joannie Rochette and Carolina Kostner of Italy) to the podium isn't great.
It's not surprising that each woman still feels the desire to compete. You don't become great by being passive.
Would I love to see Kwan and Cohen skate again? Absolutely. In the same way I'd love to watch Johnny Unitas hit Raymond Berry down the sideline or the "Showtime" Lakers of Magic Johnson and James Worthy run the court or Sandy Koufax retire the side.
Speaking of retired, that's where Kwan and Cohen should stay.
Comments
Sasha
The Vancouver gold is your's if you
want it bad enough.
The new crop of ladies can't match your skating.
Come back and show all how it's done
Joseph
Posted by: Joseph LaCentra | March 26, 2009 4:51 PM
Sasha: show the younger ladies how to skate.
No one can beat you
Joseph
Posted by: Joseph LaCentra | March 26, 2009 4:53 PM
Michelle never retired. If she wants to come back, she should. Good thing no one ever tells reporters when to retire.
Posted by: Racheal | March 26, 2009 6:45 PM
Michelle win win the Olympic Gold Medal. You can take it to the bank.
Posted by: JW | March 27, 2009 6:10 PM
Sasha Cohen's return to competitive skating is needed and the community would for sure welcome her with open arms. She is by far one of the most under appreciated skaters of all time - and more and more people have finally realized that over these past three years. U.S. Women's Figure Skating is simply not the same - and the ladies on the scene now just can't compete with what Sasha has to offer. In fact no other skater, including Michelle Kwan can achieve artistically what Sasha can on the ice. While Michelle deserved a lot of the accolades she has received, there were several times she was scored higher than Sasha in various competitions just because of her “superstar” reputation. Regardless if Sasha falls or not, she is fluid in motion on the ice - her extensions in her breath takingly beautiful spiral sequences are far superior to anything Michelle has ever done in her often lack-luster routines. Sasha always takes chances and while at times she may fall short of her technical potential, as Dick Button said at the Turin Olympics - he would “gladly take the two mistakes she made in exchange for the exquisite artistic beauty of her skating.” At times the commentators (mainly Peggy Fleming) are far too critical of Sasha in favor of other skaters such as Kwan, Japan's Shizuka Arakawa and Russia's Irina Slutskaya. At the Turin Olympics when Sasha made the mistakes early in her long program, each of the commentators all but totally discounted Cohen's chance of a medal - as if to say that none of the remaining skaters - especially the highly favored Slutskaya - were capable of making mistakes - which, as it turned out, is exactly what happened. In fact, considering all of the skaters made mistakes, it's almost safe to say that if Arakawa (during her less than memorable performance) had fallen, Sasha would have taken home the gold.
Even suffering injuries, Sasha remained a true team player for the U.S. and gave it her best shot in Turin - and ended up with the Silver. Unlike Kwan's dramatic series of events that got her to Turin as a result of petitioning for a place on the team - which was totally unfair and undeserving to team mate Emily Hughes. In the end, Michelle was a total embarrassment to the U.S. Because of her endorsements, she only made the trip to Turin to fulfill her contractual responsibility to the sponsors. If you watch her practice routine, where she "falls" it was clearly staged on her part. Then hours later she met with the press and announced she was pulling out of the Olympics due to injuries. It quickly became obvious that she could not compete under the new judging rules - which we already witnessed at the World Championships where she failed to medal - for the first time in 10 years. And which skater managed to medal over her at Worlds two years in a row prior to Turin? Sasha Cohen.
Without a doubt, the skating community and fans all over the country know that Sasha Cohen will be welcomed back with warm open arms. And maybe this time the commentators - especially Peggy Fleming (the one who proclaimed Kimmie Meissner as the NEW face of U.S. Women's Figure Skating after her win at Worlds), will show her the respect she has not only earned, but truly deserves. After all, Sasha Cohen remains today as the ONLY female U.S. Skater ranked in the Top 3 in the World for the Highest Short Program, the Highest Long Program, and the Highest Overall Total Short & Long Program Scores to date. Not Kwan. Not Meissner. COHEN.
Posted by: Pamela | March 28, 2009 7:28 PM
i would love to see all these comebacks. i agree that they would have a hard time beating mao or yuna but they have a better chance than a lot of other american skaters out there right now. i mean really? alissa czsiny? she has wonderful spins, but she doesn't stand a chance against sasha cohen. out of the two sasha has a better chance--she has the flexibility and the jumps (remember she landed a quad sal?) to beat out the field....I would love to see michelle make a comeback...but the skating atmosphere is way too brutal for her type of skating. she has the fire, but not the skills...she's landed one triple triple in a major competition....and for vancouver shes going to NEED triple triple just to stay in the game.
Posted by: Anne | March 29, 2009 4:45 PM