What a nasty article. Sasha could really be injured. I don't think it was her choice to withdraw. You are really mean spirited.

If everyone was so apathetic about Sasha's appearance at Skate America why did the USFSA wait until Monday to announce her withdrawal? Rumor has it she filed the paperwork the week before. Her picture is all over Skate America's website and she was used in promotional material as late as Sunday. Clearly some people thought she was a draw and cared about her showing up.

For that matter, if no one cares why bother writing this article?

The US ladies field is very weak right now and this is the first time in a long time that there hasn't been an American lady contending for a medal at the Olympics. If Sasha had been able to get back into the shape she was in in 2006, she definitely would have been an asset.

Also, I have a hard time imagining anyone let alone Sasha going through the effort of training with a new coach, working on new programs etc. just for attention.

Far be it from you to lecture Procter and Gamble but you seem to have no problem with making blanket accusations about a skater's motivation and integrity when I doubt you know no more about it than anyone else.

I, for one, am disappointed that Sasha's comeback is apparently over before it began. She is a beautiful and exciting skater and I would have liked to see her skate to her full potential at least once.

here here... GREAT article. SOMEONE had to say it. let's face reality here. Michelle Kwan certainly did... and in gracious spirit, might I add by plain out saying, that she was old and technically no longer competitive especially against the likes of Kim or even Asada, Ando or the rest. For 4 years, Sasha has ridden her Olympic sympathy and gotten the last of skating newbies to believe in her magical fairy tale comeback. yeah, didn't think so.

Bitterly jealous of Sasha much? Wow-your blog is just PATHETIC.

But, I get the impression that the only reason that Sasha Cohen even continued her professional skating career at all(postponing her acting & modeling ambitions) is because the ice shows desperately needed an American female olympic skater for their shows, and there are very few female olympic medalist skaters who still want to perform, thanks to the decisions of Sarah Hughes & Tara Lipinski to totally hang up their skates(at 19 & 21 respectively). Tara was another ex-skater who thought that she was going to make it in Hollywood as an actress, but the acting jobs dried up when she stopped skating.
The best career for Sasha Cohen is as a professional ice show skater, because she has a history of skating badly or inconsistently under the pressure of competition.
The article may seem cruel to some, but I think that it's accurate. Kim Yu-Na is the best female competition figure skater on the planet. And she is multitalented, and destined to be a long-term star in any field she applies herself to.

Cohen did not "blow off" the media summit.

She was in Canada getting her programs choreographed by Lori Nichol.

Fact check, buddy.

I do not think she will be at Nationals. Age and injuries caught up with her and she was never a good jumper or hard worker in general, but this is just nasty. Not surprised though. It's not like most of the blogosphere knows about figure skating.

This was a bitter blog. Obviously you protest too much. If you didn't "care", you wouldn't have written this article. I'm just sad I wasted my time reading it. I heard so many complaints about it, I wanted to see what all the drama was about. Now I just want the time I wasted reading it back.

As a skater myself, I actually agree with this assessment. All of this has unfortunately not been a big surprise. I was a bit upset knowing that she was coming back and was likely going to take an Olympic spot away from someone else who has been working and growing for most of their recent adolescent life in order to get an Olympic spot.

For the first time in a while, the US ladies only have 2 spots for the Olympics, which is disappointing enough. But to see one of those spots go to someone who hasn't been on the skating scene in years, hasn't been putting in their time to prepare consistently like the rest of the women in the field, and to know that her spot won't likely produce a medal in Vancouver (given her absence, recent lack of training and nerves during big performances, not to mention the strength of the international field of skaters) would be VERY unfotunate.

Don't even get me started on Evgeny Plushenko's return. But this return was something I figured she would announce but not much would come from it. She was one of my favorites at the start of her career (especially 2000 Nationals), but by the assumed end of it, it was just a bit disappointing.

Have you considered employment with TMZ?

So you think Sasha's return "is all a public relations gimmick". Check your sources before writing next time, I'm sure you could have verified the lessons, costumes, doctors appointments, and physical therapy are real.

As Audrey stated above, "if no one cares why bother writing this article."

Even if Sasha returns, there's no way she's even a threat for the gold medal. She could hardly land a triple triple at the height of her career. She's so inconsistent! She's definitely not one of the best skater ever lived, so what makes her a threat. She knows that but she just wants the attention and endorsement. She's truly pathetic.

Sasha went about this comeback completely the wrong way. She figured because she'd been skating regularly in shows that she'd be fine to jump into 2 or 3 months of hard training and be ready to compete. Um, no. It's not that easy. Clearly her body isn't up the the physical demands of fulltime training anymore as evident by this injury she has and can't seem to get rid of.

At first I thought it was all a stunt, especially after her withdrawal from TEB. But now I just think she overestimated her conditioning and abilities. She knew she wouldn't be ready to compete this past weekend probably around the same time she withdrew from TEB. That injury she has isn't going to go away until she completely rests it for longer than 2 or 3 weeks.

I don't think they announced her withdrawal from SA this time until so late because they didn't want to overshadow all of the NHK competition news and winners at the time. But rumor was she submitted her paperwork the week before...I expect she'll be pulling out of nationals too; but she'll probably wait until the week of to do it...

She should just stick to show skating...that's what she's great at. She can't act, her voice is too monotone for commentating...just stick to what you're good at Sasha and, FYI, it's not competing!