Motivation Quote by Sasha Cohen

Cohen’s steak ritual reads like small talk until you clock the pressure hiding inside it: women in elite sport are still asked to prove their bodies are “built for it,” and food becomes part of that proof. By naming a pre-competition meal, she’s not just describing preference; she’s asserting control in a world where athletes’ routines are scrutinized, moralized, and endlessly optimized. Steak is practical here, but it’s also symbolic: dense, traditional, almost stereotypically “strength-coded” fuel that pushes back against the persistent expectation that female athletes should eat lightly, stay small, and look effortless.

The line about meat being “especially important” for women signals a particular cultural friction. Female athletes are more likely to be navigating iron deficiency, energy availability issues, and the tightrope between performance and appearance. She frames meat as nutrients, not indulgence, which sidesteps the aesthetic policing of women’s diets and re-centers the conversation on output: jump higher, skate cleaner, endure longer.

There’s also a subtle plea for legitimacy. When Cohen talks like a coach or sports dietitian, she claims authority over her own preparation, collapsing the distance between “graceful” and “powerful” that figure skating in particular has historically tried to maintain. The quote lands because it’s mundane and defiant at once: a reminder that peak performance isn’t magic, it’s metabolism, and women deserve straightforward permission to fuel like competitors, not ornaments.