Cohen’s win not the same without Kwan

ST. LOUIS – It wasn’t politics but a television time warp that put Michelle Kwan on the U.S. Olympic team before her teammates had even skated Saturday night.

From her California home, Kwan was watching the West Coast broadcast – three hours behind – of the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships when word came from St. Louis that her petition to be given an Olympic berth, essentially an injury waiver from having to skate here, had been approved by a committee vote.

The long programs of the final group of senior ladies – including rival Sasha Cohen – hadn’t yet come across Kwan’s big screen, though the medals had long since been dispensed.

So it was pointless to ask Kwan on a telephone hook-up whether, after a run of eight straight titles, she thought Cohen a worthy successor.

Guess that will have to remain a secret ballot, too, like the way U.S. Figure Skating has chosen to do business.

The 21-year-old Cohen didn’t deliver a knockout punch at nationals, even with the youngsters behind her crashing like the good china on the patio. But then, she had to get off the mat herself.

She’d taken to bed the previous Friday with a severe attack of the flu and hadn’t done so much as a run-through of her long program since.

“It was an effort,” she said, “just to get down the stairs.”

Nor had she performed that particular version in competition. Add in the onus – both self-imposed and publicly expected – of having to “beat” Kwan even without America’s ice queen present, plus the old baggage of her previous big-event bloopers and it was an upside-down week for Cohen, and one that didn’t allow her to enjoy the moment as fully as she’d imagined.

“I was proud of myself of what I overcame here,” Cohen said. “But it definitely would mean more to win nationals with Michelle here because she’s won so many in the past. I’ve always kind of been second to her.

“But I’m not complaining.”

Nor should anyone else. While Kwan’s grace and dignity have allowed her to virtually transcend the entire culture of skating – even, remarkably, when her results on the Olympic stage have been pretty damned mortal – Cohen has revealed herself to be the more interesting skater. She is more athletic, certainly, and her spirals and spins are more natural, effortless. There is more daring and imagination to her work, and more candor to her self-reflection.

It’s just that there needs to be more winning.

Divas don’t get the hiccups in the middle of the aria.

Cohen recoils at the suggestion that she’s been a serial choker, calling it “a little unfair.” But the results are what they are. She crashed and burned at the 2000 nationals when she was ready to supplant Kwan, and did it again two years ago when she led going into the last night. She could have been the gold medalist in Salt Lake City in 2002 with a superior long program, but didn’t even make the podium. She did finish ahead of Kwan at the last two world championships, but was in position to be the gold medalist both times and wound up second – botching two triple jumps in the final last year.

Even to Cohen, it’s obvious that her slips and failures only intensified the angst to skate the next program flawlessly – and made it that much harder to do so.

“I need to stop worrying about being perfect,” she said, “and just worry about being better.

“I still have something to prove. I want to win. I’m really focused on preparation now, so that when I get to competition I can just let it happen and I’ll be ready. Every day at home now is where the pressure is, to get the most out of myself. This is where I have to compete, to get out everything I can. I’m not going to let the fear of not being perfect hold me back.”

Self-discovery doesn’t come cheap – as Cohen herself said, “Everyone handles winning great – it’s the losing that makes you look at yourself harder.” The last few years, it’s turned her into a gypsy – bouncing from coast to coast, different coaches and different training locales, until returning to California and her original svengali, John Nicks.

But unless she can do what she hasn’t done before – completely clean programs, back-to-back – she won’t be on the top step. The competition is deeper than ever, regardless of whether Kwan is fit to compete. The Japanese delegation gets stronger each year, even without 13-year-old revelation Mao Asada, who is ineligible for the Olympics. And reigning world championship and Grand Prix final gold medalist Irina Slutskaya could well complete a Russian sweep of the Olympic skating golds in Turin.

Cohen’s time is short. Her time is now.

Yet in the wake of Saturday night’s triumph, she was caught off-guard by a suggestion that – should she win in Turin – we might not see her at next year’s nationals in Spokane, or any other major competition.

It’s not that far-fetched. The past two American gold medalists – Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes – beat feet to Hollywood and Yale as soon as the anthem was over.

“One moment at a time,” she protested. “This (nationals) is just coming to a close.”

Candor apparently has its limits.

But not when it comes to her rivalry with Kwan. Referencing the remark that it wasn’t the full payoff winning nationals without Kwan there, Cohen doused the notion that the feeling could be made up if she beats Kwan in Turin.

“No, it wouldn’t be the same,” she said. “I’ve beaten her twice at worlds, but it’s definitely different.

“Worlds and Olympics, it’s all about the international competitors. It’s not Michelle’s territory, it’s the world’s. You’re competing against everybody. Nationals for the last nine years has been Michelle’s event and something she’s won. It just feels different on home turf.”

Kwan or no Kwan, this year it was Cohen’s turf. She was the one who showed up, and in the end, the only one standing.