If Practice Makes Perfect, Cohen Opts to Skip a Golden Opportunity

The announcement rattled around the nearly empty arena Wednesday, from the high metal chairs to the deepest American fears:

“Next to skate, Sasha Cohen, of the United States of America.”

The competitors cleared center ice. The loudspeakers blared her music.

The breathtaking, soaring leader in Olympic women’s figure skating was scheduled for her first long-program practice at the Palavela Arena.

But the only thing breathtaking was her absence.

And the only thing that soared was the intrigue.

A day after greatness, she was a ghost.

Sasha didn’t show.

She turned down a dress rehearsal on the eve of the biggest performance of her life.

Her coach, John Nicks, asked her to come. She told him she was tired and didn’t feel like it. Nicks threw up his hands and showed up at the rink without her.

Talk about an impressive spin. In about the time it takes to paste on a peacock-blue sequin, Cohen has gone from diva, to darling, back to diva.

The 76-year-old coach describes his relationship with his 21-year-old student: “Yes, Sasha, I will. Yes, Sasha, I will. Yes, Sasha, I will.”

This time, he should have said he would not.

This time, somebody should have told her she could not.

A brief survey of former skaters Wednesday revealed that virtually everyone practices between the short and long programs of major championships, even if only to cruise in circles for 15 minutes, if only to stay sharp and focused.

It’s like skipping the first practice on the road in the middle of the NBA Finals. It’s like blowing off Wednesday at Augusta.

“It is unusual,” said Randy Gardner, former world pairs champion. “When you do something like that, you better deliver the next night.”

On Tuesday, Cohen skated to a close short-program lead over Russia’s Irina Slutskaya and Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa.

Both skaters were at Wednesday afternoon’s practice.

“We always skated between programs,” Gardner said, alluding to his skating partner, Tai Babilonia.

“We had to keep it going, we had to keep the pace up, it would make me nervous if we didn’t. Even if it’s just low key, we would go out there.”

On Tuesday, Cohen also took decent leads over the two other American skaters, fifth-place Kimmie Meissner and seventh-place Emily Hughes.

Both of the kids skated in two practices Wednesday.

“It’s important to get out on the Olympic ice and get comfortable with it, get your bearings straight,” Meissner said.

As Meissner’s comments would indicate, the biggest issue here is not that Cohen needs work on her long program.

She could strap on roller blades outside her Corona del Mar home and skate her long program.

It’s that she needs to skate it on the Palavela ice.

She needs to get a feel for the location of the boards. She needs to test her moves in the corners.

She will have that chance in one final practice this morning.

But the five other skaters in the final group obviously thought it was important enough to try it out on Wednesday.

“I thought she should practice,” Nicks said. “But then when I heard she had rest issues, didn’t sleep very well, I thought it was best she didn’t do it, and she agreed.”

Michael Weiss, two-time U.S. Olympian, agreed that Cohen should be given credit for knowing her body.

“Physically and mentally, the short program put a huge strain on her,” he said. “I wouldn’t be alarmed. She knows what she’s doing.”

But how much is she hurting?

The last time anyone saw Cohen late Tuesday, she was walking out of the rink with a bag of ice strapped on her leg. She said it was strictly for “maintenance,” but there were subsequent reports of a groin irritation.

Nicks ruled out those reports, saying, “I don’t think so.... She has occasional muscle problems and uses a lot of ice, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

Weiss added that when Cohen stayed at his home recently, she had iced after every practice.

Then there was the question of whether she avoided practice to avoid the question that has haunted her since she was 15.

Not only has she finished second in the last two world championships, the last two winners, Slutskaya and Arakawa, are within one point of her here.

Three times, she has blown a national championship when leading after the short program.

Maybe she wanted to skate around another question of why she can’t win the big one?

“She’s answered that question 100 times,” Nicks said, shrugging it off. “One-hundred-and-one times wouldn’t make any difference.”

So why wouldn’t she just show up?

Just make an appearance, skate around the ice, no need to jump, just hang and get comfortable, exactly what she did on Monday before the short program?

The Olympic village is right down the street from the arena. She could have walked there in the rain with her soaking wet media buddies.

Could Cohen have just been in one of her infamous moods?

“Sasha moody?” Nicks said, sarcastically laughing.

Was Sasha being a classic sports baby?

“She’s strong-willed, everything is always up to Sasha,” Gardner said. “Knowing John Nicks, he wanted her to practice, but he gives in to her a lot.”

To be futilely honest, the answer to her absence is probably the same one fans give in Boston when a certain nutty Red Sox outfielder acts up.

It’s just Sasha being Sasha.

Go deep tonight and all will be forgiven.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.