Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26, 1984) is a retired American figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Championship medalist, the 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and the 2006 U.S. Champion. She is known for her artistry, flexibility and body lines, and musical interpretation. , Cohen is the most recent American woman to medal individually in figure skating at the Olympics. Early life Cohen was born in Westwood, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. Her nickname "Sasha" is a Russian diminutive of "Alexandra". Her mother, Galina Cohen (née Feldman), is a Jewish immigrant from Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union and a former ballet dancer. Her father, Roger Cohen, is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and formerly a law partner at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. Cohen has a younger sister, Natalia (nicknamed "Natasha"), who began college at Barnard College in August 2006. She understands and can speak Russian, but refuses to speak it in public. Cohen graduated from Futures High School in Mission Viejo, California in 2002. Cohen graduated from Columbia University in 2016 with a degree in political science. As a university student, she has used the name Alex rather than Sasha. In 2005, Cohen published her autobiography, Fire on Ice. The autobiography was republished in 2006 adding a new chapter on the 2006 season. Skating career Early career A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating when she was seven years old, but it wasn't until she was eleven that she began to take the sport seriously. One of her early skating coaches was Victor Yelchin, father of late actor Anton Yelchin. Cohen rose to prominence in the skating community during the 2000 U.S. Championships. Just up from juniors, Cohen was first in the short program and finished second overall after the free skate, provisionally qualifying for the senior World team. A loophole in the ISU's age rules at the time would have allowed her to compete at the senior World Championships if she medaled at the World Junior Championships but she finished 6th at the junior event. Senior development and success Cohen did not compete at the 2001 U.S. Nationals due to a stress fracture in her back. She resumed full training in June 2001. Cohen won the silver medal at the 2002 U.S. championships, earning her a trip to the