From skating in childhood to ascending the podium at the 2006 Winter Olympics, figure skater Sasha Cohen has brought her career full circle.
In addition to being a full-time student at Columbia University, Cohen continues her involvement in skating by encouraging young skaters who possess dreams of achieving an Olympic career.
Cohen hosted two skating clinics at the Washington Park Ice Arena then signed autographs from 5-8 pm Saturday evening at the Miller Center.
Cohen posed for photographs and signed a plethora of skates, T-shirts and posters, all with the aspiration of expanding participation in figure skating.
"I want more people to get into the sport to skate. I tell them (skaters) to work hard, follow your dream and do it because you love it," she said.
Though she embraced the sport of gymnastics at first, she tried figure skating "and fell in love with it. I made my mom take me to the rink every day after that," she said.
By the age of 12, Cohen already desired an opportunity to compete at the Olympics, and by 15, her dream began transforming into a reality.
"When I was 15, at my first nationals (1999 United States Figure Skating Championships), I got a standing ovation, and that was the moment where ... I was on the national stage and the attention was everywhere. It was the beginning of my career, really," Cohen said.
Cohen achieved fourth place at the 2002 Winter Olympics at age 17, then earned a silver medal at age 21 at the 2006 Winter Olympics, accomplishments that became routine for young Cohen.
"It's something that you just grow up with, having a lot of attention on you. If it's already happening when you're 14 or 15, it becomes normal when you go to your first Olympics at 17, then, again, at 21. It's a different life, but you don't know differently," she said.
If a single quality catapulted her to a pinnacle of world renown, Cohen believes it was her determination, a quality she hopes her fans remember, she said.
"I woke up every morning wanting to be at the rink, wanting to practice, wanting to be better. I had a burning desire to improve. Even though things weren't always easy, I always fought and tried to be better," she said.
After a stellar short program, then a long program with a few unsatisfactory landings, Cohen earned a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, which she cites as a "character-building experience," she said.
"It really shaped me," Cohen said. "When you make a mistake, you look back and it bugs you but you learn that life isn't perfect, and you have to do your best as things come to."
Reminiscent of some of her injuries that plagued her 2006 Olympic performance, Cohen said: "It's difficult but you have to keep a smile on your face and go on and do the best you can."
Cohen characterized her moment on the podium in 2006 as the culmination of a long journey.
"You're on top but at that same time, it's the end of the long trajectory that you work your whole life for. It's a lot to soak in. It's a lot running around in your mind. It was very emotional but great moment," she said.
Cohen believes she brought a certain artistry to the sport of figure skating, she said.
"While a lot of people in the sport are more purely athletes or technical, I think I had a lot of inner emotion that was with the music. I think that was a little more raw," she said.
Cohen considers her connection to the music of a performance as her most beloved aspect of skating, she said.
"... just forgetting the world, falling into music and just moving over the ice. Your heart rate is up. You feel the ice under your blades. You push yourself...and it's just you," Cohen said.
Nearly eight years after her Olympic performance, Cohen will be commentating on those of others in the Sochi 2014 Olympics on "Good Morning America," she said.
While Cohen skates occasionally "for fun," she is pursuing a political science degree at Columbia University full time, she said.
"I love to be busy and to keep my mind engaged. I'm catching up on the whole beginning part of life that everyone else did," she said.
Though Cohen is sometimes recognized as an Olympic athlete, she largely maintains anonymity, she said.
"I just kind of go to my studies like normal so I find that pretty cool. It's nice to feel normal and have a college experience," she said.
Beyond a silver medal and an influential experience, Cohen's appearance in the Olympics has given her several longterm benefits, as well as a desire for the chance to be a positive example for others, she said.
"It's given me so many different opportunities since then to tour around the world and speak to kids all across the country. I want to be a role model. I want people to respect the way I've handled my life and to see that I'm constantly trying to be a better person in everything I do," she said.
Though Cohen's skating talent produced an unconventional childhood and adolescence, Cohen is positive in retrospect, she said.
"I don't have any regrets. I wonder how life would be if I wasn't a skater. When I was there, that's all I wanted to do every day, and I knew it was the right decision. I couldn't have imagined being anywhere else," she said.