US Figure Skater, Sasha Cohen, Fails to Grab Gold

The women’s figure skating Olympic competition was finished up tonight. It had an unpredictable end with an unexpected Japanese skater, Shizuka Arakawa, grabbing the gold medal. Both of the top contenders, Sasha Cohen from the United States and Irina Slutskaya from Russia both failed to come through in their long program performance. Sasha Cohen was in first after the short program over Irina Slutskava by just a slight amount. The gold winner, Arakawa, ended up beating Sasha Cohen, the silver medalist, by eight points. The article says this about Sasha Cohen: “The successor to Michelle Kwan as national champion has all the makings of a superstar, but she can’t break through when the stakes are highest.” She failed in the 2003 and 2004 national championships, the 2004 world competition, and the Salt Lake City Olympics to take first place. Some athletes might get discouraged from having so many chances and never being able to pull through. I do not believe that Sasha Cohen should not look back on these negative experiences. I think that her missed chances to claim a first place or gold medal could be viewed in the same way as sunk costs. They are all in the past and there is nothing that Sasha can do about it. If she decides to enter more major competitions she should enter without any hesitation and forget about her previous failed opportunities.