Sasha Cohen's Ukrainian connection

WASHINGTON - In addition to the 70 Ukrainian Olympians competing at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, there will be at least one more athlete there with ties to Ukraine.

Sasha Cohen, the 17-year-old American figure skater who qualified for the Olympics by coming in second to Michelle Kwan in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January, reportedly is of Ukrainian descent.

According to a story in the February 5 issue of The Washington Post, Alexandra "Sasha" Pauline Cohen was born in California to an attorney father and Ukrainian-born mother, Galina, a former gymnast who had emigrated with her family to the U.S. when she was 16.

It should be noted that Ms. Cohen participated last year in a charity ice show benefitting the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund that was organized by former Ukrainian Olympian Viktor Petrenko.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 10, 2002, No. 6, Vol. LXX

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