Sasha Cohen's confidence shattered by NBC Interviewer?

After her ever so narrow first place finish in the short program, Sasha
Cohen was elated. That is, until the NBC interviewer Andrea Joyce
struck, telling Sasha "The rub has always been can you keep it together
for two programs?" Sasha suddenly looked like she had been punched in
the stomach and was going to cry. The interviewer, having broken her
spirit, ended the interview with a perfunctory (and ironic) good luck.

Little wonder that Sasha's practice was cancelled. Her coaches
probably won't let her on the ice until the very last minute,
desperately hoping to minimizing the chances that she would fall or
miss a jump. Because her now fragile confidence couldn't handle it in
a practice, which would doom her in the competition.

Chelsea Christenson...

If her confidence were really that fragile, she wouldn't be championship
material.

Sasha is well aware of her reputation; she has been working to overcome it
for the past four years. And I don't think her spirit was broken -- if it
had been, she would have given up after her fall and her step-out. Instead,
she kept it together and skated the rest of the program as well as anyone
could ask.

Congratulations NBC, you've all but guaranteed that the Japanese in 3rd
(Shizuka Arakawa) or the Russian in 2nd (Irina Slutskaya) will win.

If ice skating can be bet on, bet against Sasha, thanks to Andrea
Joyce. For Sasha to win now would be a bigger miracle than even the
gold medal won by 1980 U.S. hockey team.

Ken from Chicago...

Reporters asking questions that undermine confidence in athletes ... it
ain't the first time and it won't be the last. The same goes for actors,
musicians, politicians, et. al.

pb......

Good grief. I've been observing Sasha since she was smaller than small.
The skater chokes...almost every time. Go back, if you have access to
archives or whatever, and WATCH Sasha choke. The young woman is a lovely
skater, but she's never gonna have the one-two punch it takes to really
win until SHE stops the self-sabotage. NBC? Andrea Joyce? Just doing a
job and responsible only unto themselves.

Congratulations to ALL the Olympic athletes for making the world proud
of them ...and, a better place to live.