"Sasha Cohen may take shot at 3rd Olympics"

Phil Hersh has just written an article at the Chicago Tribune about Sasha Cohen's potential return to competitive figure skating, and he brings up some very interesting points.

Cohen will decide about a comeback in June.

"As long as I can keep my body healthy and especially the way I've been skating lately, it feels like the right thing to do," she said. "Going to a third Olympics would be just incredible.

"I have the next 50 years of my life to have fun. Eventually I will have to move on, but I think I can do it again, and I need that purpose and challenge in my life right now."

Despite people's doubts about whether Sasha is right to return or not, I think she has a very good point here. Physically, she is in very good shape; skating almost every single night for months on the Stars on Ice tour is by no means a substitute for real competitive training, but has definitely kept her in good form, Furthermore, audiences at the SOI shows have reported that she's been performing to a very high standard,landing her triples confidently, and this is something which Michael Weiss has reiterated;

"She's doing all the triple jumps and working on triple-triple combinations," Weiss said Tuesday.

"Even if she does only triple-doubles, she is pretty much a lock to make the Olympic team because her spins and footwork would be all top levels, and her component (artistic) scores would be so strong."

Now that, for me, is the main reason why I think Sasha would excel if she returned to the competitive circuit. All the skaters currently have the technical ability,else they would not be competing at the level that they are, yet I feel that there are not so many which have the artistic ability on the same level as Cohen's when she won her OSM.

Hersh is not the only one "beseeching Sasha Cohen to come back", as he claims; I think the sport would benefit from her return. She seems to have the technical ability as well as the fitness, and her artistic ability would guarantee her good results were she to return. What has she got to lose?

Still not sure? Watch Sasha at arguably her best;