Filip Bondy

TURIN, Italy - If you are Sasha Cohen this morning, staring at your silver medal or stuffing it in the drawer with all the others, you don’t know what to do. You search for historical precedent, feel your aching bones, try to put off any decisions until the ice chips thaw from your costume.

Is she through with the Olympics, with the wearying process of getting there? Will she become just another ice show pixie? It appears she may not be done. Cohen has indicated that she may skate in Vancouver four years from now as long as her body permits.

This will not be an easy transition for Cohen, 21, who is a ’tweener in both age and accomplishment. The gold medalists disappear in a hurry. We know that. Not one of them since Katarina Witt ever came back for another Olympics, and Witt only did that back in 1988 because the East Germans didn’t let her cash in on her accomplishments.

Kristi Yamaguchi, Oksana Baiul, Tara Lipinski, Sarah Hughes, they all vaguely talked about hanging in there before quickly vanishing from competitive skating. Already yesterday, the gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa of Japan was looking for a graceful exit, too.

“It’ll make me happy if I skate in ice show events, and hopefully I’d like to be a skater making people want to come and watch as long as possible,” Arakawa, 24, said.

Unlike Arakawa, Cohen has good reason to return. She isn’t an Olympic champ. That same void in Michelle Kwan’s trophy case is what kept the nine-time U.S. champion showing up for practice, again and again.

Slide show   Taking gold Check out the best images from the 2006 Winter Olympics.

But the odds of Cohen winning gold at Vancouver 2010 are slim to none. She will be 25 then, and there are already kids out there like Mao Asada of Japan and American Kimmie Meissner who are surpassing her in technical prowess.

Cohen still beats them all on presence and grace, but she never enjoyed the work in the rinks. She called herself “Grandma” for most of this competition, spoke about being the elder statesman on the team. She has been enduring injuries and pain, confessing to small agonies following her performance in the long program.

Cohen said she fought off nagging injuries, sore muscles down the inside of her legs and hamstrings that caused her to swallow a batch of pills before each practice and performance. She listed her medications and treatments, a grocery list at the local pharmacy.

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“No shots,” Sasha said. “I don’t like needles. Ultrasound. Celebrex, Tylenol, a nice combination.

“It’s been a rough time for me,” she said. “I don’t even know the names of all the muscles. Nagging things, on and off. I’ve done the best to push through them. It’s been hard in training. I had enough medication where I felt good.”