Sasha Cohen (USA) - 2002 Salt Lake City, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skate

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA - 2002 Winter Games, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skate - First, an interview with Sarah Hughes of the United States, followed by the scores for Hungary's Julia Sebestyen. Then, it's Sasha Cohen of the United States who attempted a triple Lutz-triple toe-loop combination but fell on the second jump. That would be enough for her to end up placing 4th in the Free Skate and dropping from 3rd to 4th Place overall.

[@ChristianLehrer]

Interesting, the way the scoring works today, even with mistake on the triple lutz-triple toe combination, her base mark would still have been higher, especially as it was the most difficult combination attempted. A beautiful world class performance by a real artist!

[@Zuranthium]

Her base mark probably wouldn't be higher because that triple toe would probably get called as landing forward and downgraded to a double.

[@user-yn1uw6yx7t]

Отличное выступление, программа огонь, жаль, что были допущены ошибки!👍👏👏👏

[@soxnation1000]

It's incredible that she choreographed this beautiful program herself at age 16. This program was the most emotional and powerful for me out of all her long programs.

[@ocsasha]

I absolutely love her "Romeo and Juliet" program in 2006 Torino

[@stephanie3848]

I'm so glad I can find videos from the 2002 Winter Olympics, they were my favorite.

[@josielevi9691]

Sasha is so beautiful, artistic, and superior skater. She was very young with not as much experience but was much more pleasure watching her than the other two

[@kathifuller5332]

Her outfit was spot-on. This young skater was FIRE on ice! Ugh... goosebumps. One of my favorite skaters ever.

[@maurahobart8414]

Mine too. She was a ballerina in skates.

[@kathifuller5332]

My other favorite skater is completely the opposite - a gymnast on ice, a disruptive trailblazer who pushed the boundaries of the sport - French skater Surya Bonaly. Her athleticism and bold rebellious style put her in a class by herself. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnLLqoCilL-GZpY

[@maurahobart8414]

She had such artistry and was just a beautiful performer.

[@TT-ee4qp]

It's not Carmen.

[@valmacclinchy]

Sasha had phenomenal musicality, incredible spins, and amazing spiral sequences. One of the finest skaters, ever. Legendary.

[@dougpence3862]

Sasha, the most exciting and fun to watch ever, the reason you buy a ticket!

[@TT-ee4qp]

Actually, Michelle was more popular than Sasha.

[@valmacclinchy]

@dougpence3862, I agree with you! Sasha's musicality, spiral sequences, perfect positions, scratch spins...will forever be legendary ❤

[@user-rr9sw5yr4x]

Саша- умничка! Она больше заслуживает золото, чем непонятная Сара Хьюз!

[@user-md7lm5ni4r]

любимая иностранная фигуристка❤ позже узнала, что мама Саши- русская балерина, оттуда похоже уникальная растяжка и эмоциональные выступления под русскую музыку❤

[@TressBraga]

Sasha was the only one out of the top four whose flip and lutz jumps used the toe pick (and not the outside edge) to pole vault with less than a quarter blade pre-rotation. That in and of itself should have placed her on top of the leaderboard technically.

[@rajs7876]

And she won the short. I dont get how artistically she wasn't first either. She was totally cheated

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@rajs7876 Sasha's performance was beautiful, and just beautiful, nothing more. That's why Michelle's artistry was better than Sasha's.

[@olgadvoitchenkova7246]

Какая женственная и прекрасная фигуристка!

[@annecohen8927]

Part of the program by Sasha was used in a commercial for Office Depo with Tara Lipinski as a spokesperson though it’s not certain if it was the Olympics games of 2002, or Figure Skating Championships or Worlds. I had a hard time distinguishing it .

[@tracygarrett3952]

Would you happen to know the name of this music Sasha skated to?

[@user-gf3wn1ne9n]

@@tracygarrett3952 Carmen by Georges Bizet.

[@valmacclinchy]

5:22 Absolutely stunning!

[@spartyutube2020]

I would love to see what the final placings would be if all the skaters after Sarah had skated clean too.

[@TheDancelina]

No offense to anyone. I saw those comments like 'what if she didn't fall or if she did 3-2, ... then what could happen. What if I (or anyone) did perfect, and even more that others made mistakes... Sasha has lots of excellence quality, but one. She could barely deliver a clean performance in any major competition.

[@auntiechercher4266]

You are right about all of that. She had the look and beautiful style, and she could do all the jumps. She had many great short programs, but always fell apart in someway or another in the long. More often than not and that is why she rarely won any compeitions.

[@marshajulessa2995]

@@auntiechercher4266 yes beautiful skater literally artistry on ice. Too bad about the issue with the long programs.

[@user-qs2dc8iy4o]

Except for that one mistake at the start, this was a stunning performance and the components in artistry and skating skills should have definitely made up for her to medal. Crazy robbery.

[@achnix3167]

Much better skating and technique than the others

[@jutjubow]

Artistically strong but technique-wise not do much.

[@jondavwal13]

She deserved the silver medal.

[@TT-ee4qp]

And Michelle Kwan or Irina deserved the gold. Sarah Hughes deserved 4th.

[@TT-ee4qp]

Tara Lipinski deserved the 98 kid's Olympics. 😆

[@dbulc5171]

Omg I totally agree with you. I don't care about the opening combo.. She deserved silver. And she was under scored in the short too.

[@dbulc5171]

​​@@lutzaby1997 At least she went for a triple triple.. No one else did, except Sarah. And the rest of her program was flawless. Michelle and Irina made big mistakes too and held back.

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@dbulc5171 If Michelle and Irina didn't make mistakes, who cares about Sarah Hughes or Sasha Cohen.......... The Olympics = a accident happened.

[@benweikert6512]

Would have been gold today

[@lisadevidowich1733]

Do U happen to have the full nbc broadcast of the free skate? I can’t find it anyplace online.

[@3Axel1996]

I opted not to post the full broadcast as the Olympic channel posted theirs and feared they would block my post. You can follow along through the playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLC7D55FB109A9793F&si=s5w0idnfYciHzjXE

[@mallemee99]

Unbelievable the presentation scores were so low. She had the most grace and artistic elements in all the top 4. Understandably she fell, but so did Michelle and Irina's presentation scores were way too high. So were Sarah's,yrs she did have the technical merits, but I think too many errors were either made or 'seen' by the judges.

[@eddiedaniels5034]

Yes, Cohen had the best artistry that night. She deserved no lower than a 5.8 for presentation.

[@stonew1927]

Interesting, because my thoughts after watching this performance was that Sasha's strength was her technicality, not her artistry, and that she really needed to pull off all her elements. Unfortunately, she did have that one stumble. She's very artistic, but not as fluid or graceful as Michelle Kwan.

[@Beargeek616]

Remember watching this with my mom and she was like "Her fanny is on fire!"

[@user-kg8nd5ty3u]

Как же её катание отличается от Загитовой, пустое болтание от бортика к бортику. Алина высшая лига, против Коэн просто космос!

[@Danny-wy8kz]

What do you think if Sasha didn’t go for triple-triple but landed triple-double clean,would’ve she gotten some medal?

[@jchars87]

Well she should’ve ended up in 2nd after the short. But since she placed 3rd, if she had landed a 3-2 at the beginning I would say she should’ve gotten 3rd in the long for a total of 4.5 whereas Michelle would have placed 4th in the long for a total o 4.5. Cohen placing higher in the long, she would’ve gotten the bronze. However, I don’t think the judging panel would’ve taken Kwan out of the medals under no circumstance that night.

[@ManuelPabloArnao]

I would have given it to Sasha over Sarah- 5.7 and 5.9. Crazy that she finished 4th!!!

[@mht4908]

I disagree about putting her ahead of Sarah, but I would place her in front of Michelle

[@adrian123781]

would it be possible if she didnt pursue the triple toe loop after the triple lutz combination and win ahead of Sarah ? or Sarah is technically superior and nobody can beat her during the event ?

[@TT-ee4qp]

Sarah Hughes was a middle skater who was lucky to win the 2002 Olympics because the other better skaters like Michelle and Irina made mistakes......

[@TT-ee4qp]

Sarah Hughes just had a lucky Olympics night.....Michelle, Irina and Sasha all were greater than Sarah in the history.

[@mht4908]

I'm thinking maybe she should've placed in front of Michelle in the free skate, yes she fell but she was attempting a triple-triple combination, whereas Michelle fell on a solo triple flip and two footed her triple toe loop-double toe loop combination. I'm thinking Michelle got the 3rd place in the free skate based on reputation

[@DY-zk2zt]

I’d say yes without the fall Sasha would’ve won. Looking at her scores then back to Sarah’s without the fall Sasha’s technical would’ve scored higher as well as presentation. Sasha got two 5.9 Sarah not even one. Sasha’s 5.8’s would’ve also gone up to 5.9s. Sarah even got 5.6’s. It’s like the judges said we don’t support you as a skater but we do have to give you some credit for that, but Sasha’s said had you not fallen you would’ve won the free skate, then winning the gold.

[@Zuranthium]

@@mht4908 Kwan's lutzes were better than Sasha's and her program had more choreographic detail and better skating skills.

[@trollmomful]

I forgot about this part of Borat

[@mysoul3416]

Look like Lipnitskaya a lot

[@valmacclinchy]

I agree...love them both!! ❤

[@eddiedaniels5034]

I like this performance. Sasha Cohen fell trying to do a very difficult triple-triple. If she had just doubled the triple toe, she would have deserved to have won the long program. Her artistry is better than Sarah Hughes.' Kwan fell on a triple flip, and she two-footed a triple-toe loop. She was slow and didn't have Sasha's energy that night. Irina only landed four clean triples, and her "artistry" was atrocious.

[@user-un3wu7ok9s]

Внешнее сходство с Мерайей Белл

[@lukelee3]

Sasha is flexible and that's pretty much it. Sara deserved the gold, smooth skating and great landings but still a flutzer.

[@valmacclinchy]

Sasha's spiral sequences are gorgeous.

[@aaroncorcega9441]

also Sasha it's flutzer 5:08 there you have it

[@wheresbaby7783]

So her 6 perfect triples were alll,about fle i little

[@user-ez8yp4zr6b]

Саша Коэн даже с падениями на много талантливее и техничнее Сары Хьюс была

[@MrOu83]

The judges thought otherwise, and that’s all that matters.

[@valmacclinchy]

Sasha's spiral sequences are iconic 💖

[@Qacc6]

Cohen's arms are really short proportionally so her extensions always looked forced.

[@alazjaw.8968]

her extensions are gorgeous

[@valmacclinchy]

​@@alazjaw.8968absolutely gorgeous ❤

[@TT-ee4qp]

Now we can see how Michelle impacted Sasha. Sasha told people that she learned a lot from Michelle's performance. Sasha's performance was beautiful and boring, it's not Carmen. Without feeling and passion.

[@ExiledStardust]

LOL. Michelle Kwan is the most boring skater in the world.

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@ExiledStardust And Sasha Cohen always skated under Michelle's shadow. 😁

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@ExiledStardust Michelle and Sasha are artists on ice, but Tara Lipinski is just a jumping bean. 😆

[@valmacclinchy]

Why do people watch videos of artists and athletes they don't like? Never understood it.

[@user-qs2dc8iy4o]

Actually it's Michelle who skates like a bore. Sasha has always been a superior skater in artistry to all the others. Problem was her nerves. Everyone knew this.

[@amiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii]

Michelle Kwan of course was better than this hot mess.

[@debsam77]

Exactly

[@ytyt3922]

Hot mess? She fell once but it was on the most difficult combination in the competition. Even with that fall this skate was clearly superior to Kwan. She should have placed higher than Kwan, just as she should have won nationals against Kwan in 2000.

[@lukelee3]

Neither of them deserved a medal, lol

[@Jacobeeez]

Michelle kwan was boring to watch

[@stepitup25]

She fell too??? But ok

[@pennywise8041]

Она эту музыку вообще не тянет. Связок почти нет. Катание от элемента к элементу. Вращения хорошие и всё...

[@user-ez8yp4zr6b]

Ну если сравнивать со Слуцкой, то она на много интереснее и техничнее, наоборот у нее много элементов и связок, тем более тут она только начинала, смотрите программы к ее последней Олимпиаде 2006 года, то там на много сложнее все у нее

[@gregklein7640]

Look at her triple flip, doube toe combo at 3:38 just phenomenal.

[@usfanlovesjiwoo1978]

She was my favorite female skater. She had the talent to be a champion but her problem was she would crack under the pressure.

[@valmacclinchy]

She is gifted with musicality and passion. She puts the music onto the ice and every note is represented. Her emotions shine through. She's done such exquisite short programs.

[@rajs7876]

she should have been first after the short and possibly won the gold

[@Sharmuta6311]

Sarah blew them all away !!!

[@lwnatali3425]

she is good skater, bravo Sasha!!

[@NGaGuy41]

If she had landed the triple-triple combination, she'd have won gold.

[@NGaGuy41]

@Cancer Survivor Sadly, you are right. It's all about landing them right when it COUNTS.

[@carlenamoss8955]

and such a lovely bit of choreography with the adagio into the layback spin at 4:15

[@TressBraga]

Look at the rechoreographed version the following year with Tarasova. It'll blow your mind as to how beautiful it was.

[@carlenamoss8955]

Thank you, I'll look into that.

[@carlenamoss8955]

such a fabulous Kitri!

[@barkingtree88]

Should have been a US sweep that year... Irina's performance was a mess!

[@stanislavmachouse8821]

Irina Slutskaya unlike Kwan or Cohen didn’t fallen on the ice, during her free program. She didn’t jump triple triple combination,like Sara did, but like for me Irina has had more difficult program than 3 Americans.

[@NIQ31]

lol, this is so biased

[@sgsmozart]

Even with the fall in the first jump combination, this still is the best " Carmen".... better than Katerina Witt or Debbie Thomas.

[@snopesshop1903]

Steven S without question

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@snopesshop1903 No. Sasha's performance was beautiful and boring, it's not Carmen.

[@intldawn]

@beckerbombs You have Sarah in 7th after the short program? That's interesting. Who is fourth through sixth in your opinion?

[@snopesshop1903]

Explain to me how she is out of the medals?

[@gregklein7640]

She should have won the bronze medal instead of Michelle Kwan. I could see silver even ahead of the Russian skater. I think if the new scoring system had been in place in 2002 Sasha would have definitely been somewhere on the podium, she would have gotten good credit for the attempted triple lutz/triple toe combination. In addition, her grade of execution/component points on her jumps, spins, and spirals would have exceeded most of the other contenders.

[@FinchelFan728]

I like Michelle, but I agree with you. I also know there's no way that they would have let Michelle leave the Olympics on home ice without a medal...

[@skatergirl1247]

I think it should've been 1. Sarah 2. Michelle 3. Sasha

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@FinchelFan728 Michelle is one of the greatest skaters in the history. If Michelle skates today, she still will be the winner with the new training.

[@TT-ee4qp]

A skater fell , her jumps were not deserved any marks. Sasha fell everywhere on ice, it's a big problem.

[@TT-ee4qp]

Sasha was a bad jumper. Michelle's spirals was better than Sasha's. Irina had better spins than Sasha. Sasha had no chance to be a winner.

[@eMCizzle1]

If her first combo was a successful triple double instead of a triple triple (which she fell on the 2nd triple), would she have made it to the podium?

[@TressBraga]

Very good question. I believe that had she landed the 3lutz3toe combo, she would have won gold for she would have placed higher that Sarah Hughes. Had she landed a clean 3lutz2toe combo, there was a chance that she would have beaten Sarah Hughes but not Slutskaya, thus Kwan would not have medalled.

[@cassidytracey8722]

+Tress Braga I don't understand this scoring, if this one beat that one and that one wins the long she will win , it had to beat this one , but not that one. lol. it makes me crazy because I don't understand it.

[@ferdyspears]

@@cassidytracey8722 I dont think sasha would have won. The judges rewarded Sarah with crazy good Mark's and she did those triple triple combinations. They would have given sasha the second place ordinal. When Irina skated they would have known that they had to have Irina beat Michelle who was in 1st to have Sarah win. So then they give Irina the 1st place ordinal which ensures Sarah wins, Irina gets second and Cohen gets third. Although it's still debatable if they ever could give Kwan 4th. Sasha would have been the scapegoat no matter how it worked out. Once the judges saw how Sarah skated it was all in the cards and the judges did everything they could to ensure she won. As for the scoring. Basically after the short program the top 4 had a chance to win gold. Anyone in 1, 2 or 3rd could win the good outright IF they won the Long Program. No questions asked. The 4th place person could medal obviously, however, for the 4th place person to win the gold, they HAD to win the Long Program AND they had to have one of the other two also beat the 1st place person. So the person that was in 1st had to get 3rd in the long program at minimum for the 4th place person to win gold, assuming the 4th place person had won the long program. That is exactly what happened here. Most people agree that Irina skated a mess but because the judges wanted Hughes to win based on her skate they allowed Irina to beat Michelle and since Hughes had one the long program Kwan fell to third in the long program.

[@snowangel7980]

@@cassidytracey8722 There's multiple scores-- a base value for completing an element and then a grade of execution score given by judges determined by how well the element was performed. In instances where jumps aren't completed, the GOE is negative, and you don't get the BV points. Here she didn't get the points for the 3T because she fell and underrotated. So if you have a 3Lz2T solid and you never fall, it is better to include that in your program than a higher value 3Lz3T because you lose so many points by not completing the element.

[@drouinjohnny9036]

Beautiful jumping technique..but where is the choreography between the jump??

[@LaurenThompsonIsMyRealName]

Drouin Johnny I believe she was doing her own choreography ... so that would explain the lack thereof... She probably could have benefited with the help of a choreographer.

[@snopesshop1903]

Explain to me how the Kwans thought the judges weren’t going to penalize her after firing her coach

[@TT-ee4qp]

It's not about your business. And Sasha skated under Michelle's shadow.

[@vistaprime]

she could have been the Olympic champion in both 2002 and 2006.

[@sarizonana]

vistaprime and should have even with the fall i would have given her the gold

[@mohamedhazem9072]

With that performance , Sasha deserved the bronze , fair and square. Michelle kwan deserved 4th place If fair judging was applied in these olympics, but Michelle got bronze because of her reputation. In nagano , If Michelle skated last , she would have won the gold , But Sasha's performance here deserved a podium finish. Also, in my point of View , Sarah hughes was far Away to get the gold I think Irina Slutskaya deserved gold , Hughes Silver , and Sasha Cohen bronze.

[@metsdudenj]

I agree with everything you said, EXCEPT I feel that Hughes definitely deserved the gold. Slutskaya was not a better skater than night to overtake her.

[@debsam77]

Mohamed Hazem Sasha just cannot skate clean for no amount of money and Irina was sloppy and didn’t even deserve to be on the podium.

[@metsdudenj]

Mohamed, while your response is spirited, it is largely incorrect on a few levels. First of all, as a judge, i can tell you Irina in no way deserved the gold. Her artistry was awful and she telegraphed her jumps. Sarah that night was superior and in spite of a few landings, she landed triple combos that non else did. Her artistry was beautiful. Slutskuya's spins were better than Kwan's, but she did not interpret the music like any of the Americans. I agree that Cohen deserved 3rd, but Kwan was too high up in the SP for her to catch her, Cohen needed to be second in the LP to beat Kwan, and with her fall, she was 4th in the LP. Personally, I had Cohen second with Slutskaya third and Kwan fourth

[@dbulc5171]

@@metsdudenj I agree with you! Sasha 2nd! :)

[@mht4908]

@@metsdudenj I personally wouldn't have Slutskaya on the podium, not because I'm biased on having an American sweep, but because like you said, the Americans' presentation was much better. Sasha was kind of underscored in the short imo, I would've put her a close second behind Michelle

[@Hail2TheVictorsBaby]

Sasha was simply the best out there.

[@deepfocuslens]

nothing short of brilliant. to me she performed better than both Irina and Michelle on this night.

[@FinchelFan728]

I felt like Sasha should have been second. I preferred her performance to Michelle's and Irina's.

[@allendeednella]

ага, конечно, Саша с жопой на льду лучше чем Мишель и Ирина. ага.

[@lmfao7558]

Huge disappointment. I expected her to win the gold. So much skill.

[@snopesshop1903]

No one better than Sasha

[@joejoematic8206]

Sorry. I always thought Cohen was a great artist. But there is almost no choreography. Cross over. Jump. Cross over, jump.... And so on

[@JeffB2015]

I was a HUGE Sasha Cohen fan but I have to agree...She would improve as years went on. Her calling card in this era was her posture, carriage, extension, and "it" factor, which were all very special

[@3Axel1996]

She attempted to choreograph her LP here with the help of her coach, but starting the following season, she started working with choreographers like Nikolai Morozov.

[@sameoldsteph]

There's no way she shoudn't have beaten Michelle and Irina.

[@sameoldsteph]

@@evanperilstein5308 Clearly I am biased!

[@sameoldsteph]

@Cancer Survivor Yes, sigh. I love her though so I'll own my bias!

[@sameoldsteph]

@Cancer Survivor I don't agree that Sasha had zero substance and a very weak psyche, but we each have our own opinions.

[@sameoldsteph]

@Cancer Survivor I don't have to explain my opinions. I'm done with this conversation.

[@sameoldsteph]

@Cancer Survivor I don't care how many times she fell or stumbled. I love all of her imperfect skating more than anyone else's perfection. I really do feel like I'm communicating with a banana.

[@tally1604]

This looks flat. Sarah was flying across the ice. Cohen choked. Like she always did at crunch times.

[@tally1604]

She barely got any lift on her jumps. She was slow. She was flexible, but that's about it.

[@lexismith8325]

Evan Perilstein Sasha had poor jump height and technique.

[@shihlin1]

Whatever happened to this girl? Nobody talks about her anymore plus she herself fell off the planet. People remember Nancy and Tonya more than they do for this girl.

[@TheLurkingDerm]

She lives in NYC and went back to school at Columbia and got a degree in PoliSci. She works at Morgan Stanley as an analyst and is currently going through a divorce. She doesn’t skate anymore.

[@cassidytracey8722]

+Rin She went pro after the 2006 Olympics and toured with stars on ice and with Kurt Browning.

[@snopesshop1903]

shihlin1 she’s super smart so went to college and got a job