Evgeni Plushenko

Evgeni Plushenko

Plushenko during the men's medals ceremony at the 2010 European Championships.
Personal information
Full name:	Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko
Country represented:	Russia
Date of birth:	November 3, 1982 (1982-11-03) (age 28)
Place of birth:	Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai
Residence:	Saint Petersburg
Height:	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Coach:	Alexei Mishin
Former coach:	Mikhail Makoveev
Choreographer:	David Avdish
Skating club:	Yubileyny Sports Palace
ISU personal best scores
Combined total:	258.47 2006 Olympics
Short program:	91.30 (WR) 2010 Europeans
Free skate:	167.81 2006 Olympics

Olympic medal record
Men's figure skating
Competitor for  Russia
Gold	2006 Turin	Singles
Silver	2002 Salt Lake City	Singles
Silver	2010 Vancouver	Singles

Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (Russian: Евге́ний Ви́кторович Плю́щенко, Yevgeny Viktorovich Plyushchenko; born November 3, 1982) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics silver medalist, 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist, three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final champion and an eight-time (1999–2002, 2004–2006, 2010) Russian national champion.

Early career

Plushenko was born in Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union. He started skating at age four. When he was eleven years old, his ice rink in Volgograd closed. He was then sent to Saint Petersburg to train under the tutelage of Alexei Mishin.

Plushenko made quick progress on the international scene under Mishin's tutelage. As a 14-year-old, he won the 1997 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The following year, at 15, he finished third at the senior World Figure Skating Championships. At the time, Mishin was also coaching another rising teenage star, Alexei Yagudin, who won the World Championships in 1998. They repeatedly battled it out for major titles.

2002 Olympics

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Plushenko and Yagudin were considered co-favorites ^[1]. Plushenko finished 4th in the short program. He skated a strong free skate to "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall;

2002 - 2006

Plushenko and coach Alexei Mishin at the 2004 Russian National Championships.

After Yagudin's retirement, Plushenko won most of the competitions he entered in the following four years. He finished second only twice. The first time was to Emanuel Sandhu at the 2004 Grand Prix Final. The second was the 2004 European Figure Skating Championship, where he lost to Brian Joubert. He suffered through a difficult 2005, when was forced to withdraw from the 2005 World Figure Skating Championship in Moscow after the short program due to injury, and did not even compete at the Grand Prix Final. He eventually required groin surgery. He underwent groin surgery to correct the problem in Munich, Germany in spring 2005.

Going into the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Plushenko was the overwhelming favorite because of his past success under the new ISU Judging System which was now in use^[2]. Plushenko skated two solid programs and became the Olympic champion. He finished the short program ten points ahead of his closest rival, setting a new ISU record for the short program^[3]. His free skate was just as strong, and also set a new ISU record^[4]. Plushenko's free skating music was specially arranged for him by violinist Edvin Marton.

2006 - 2008: Hiatus

Edvin Marton, Dima Bilan, Plushenko at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Plushenko took a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season. He has said the off season has helped him rest and recover from past knee injuries he has battled.

After seeing the poor results of Russian skaters in the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships (which was the worst since 1960), Plushenko was worried about Russia losing its status as a dominant force in figure skating, and was also concerned that Russia might even lose spots for its skaters in the 2010 Winter Olympics. He announced in April 2007 that he decided to return to competitive skating for the 2007-2008 season to keep Russia at a competitive level with other countries until the next generation of Russian skaters can take over, but a return to the ice did not materialize. Plushenko has also stated that he planned to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics.^[5]

In 2008 Plushenko, together with violinist Edvin Marton, accompanied Dima Bilan on stage as part of the winning Eurovision Song Contest performance "Believe" in Belgrade, Serbia. Plushenko skated on stage as part of the performance.

2009-2010: Return to competition

In March 2009 Plushenko announced that he had returned to training with longtime coach Alexei Mishin in order to prepare for the 2010 Olympics.^[6]

Plushenko led the short program in his return to skating at the 2009 Rostelecom Cup on October 23, 2009.^[7] He earned 82.25 points for the short, and also won the free skate with a score of 158.40. Overall, he won the gold in his comeback with a total of 240.65 points.

In December 2009 Plushenko signed a partnership agreement with the international management agency FlashLight led by the sports agent Andreas Goller.

At the 2010 Russian Figure Skating Championships, Plushenko earned 100.09 points for his short program.^[8] He received 171.50 points in the free skate to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points.^[9]

At the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points^[10], and went on to win the Championship for a sixth time with a total score of 255.39 points.^[11]

He skated at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, and received a score of 90.85 for his short program performance, breaking the Olympic record and leading all competitors. Following his skate, Plushenko said "Without a quad it's not men's figure skating. I will do the quad in any case. I believe that the quad is the future of figure skating. The quad is necessary, that is my opinion." ^[12]

Plushenko finished second in the free skating and second overall, ultimately winning the silver medal with a total score of 256.36, 1.31 points behind the winner Evan Lysacek.^[13] In the free skating, he landed a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination but left a planned double loop out of a combination jump^[14]. He and Lysacek received a similar total score for program components, but Plushenko had a lower total technical elements score than Lysacek. He said of the gold medal winner, Evan Lysacek, "I think we need to change the judging system -- a quad is a quad. If an Olympic champion doesn't do a quad, well I don't know...,"^[15] In his interview to Russian newspaper Izvestia, Plushenko brought attention to the fact that, following his short program, three judges placed him 21st and 22nd for skating skills. "Strangely, the computer did not drop any one of the three. But what it did instead was to drop those judges who awarded me first place. Under the current system, if this is the way judges' marks are awarded, you can win, and you can just as equally lose. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to criticize the new rules; they are not bad. But they do need further refinement,”–said Plushenko. He also expressed dismay over the Russian Figure Skating Federation not standing up for one of their athletes. “After the short program, I should have had at least a 5 point lead over my competitors. In the end, however, the gap amounted to a mere 0.55 to which our Federation did not react at all.” ^[16] Fellow Russian skating champion Irina Rodnina said that although she had hoped he would win, Plushenko's performance contained many small errors, and lacked the passion of his gold medal performance in the Torino Games. "Lysacek, meanwhile, had a winning appearance, a balanced program, all elements carefully woven into his program, logically. And Evgeni, it was especially obvious in the second half, was skating from jump to jump," Rodnina said.^[17] At the same time, a number of well-known skaters and coaches said they support Plushenko and believe he deserved the gold. Among them were figure skater Elvis Stojko^[18] and the coaches Reinhardt Ketterer^[19], Tatiana Tarasova^[20], and Galina Zmievskaya^[21] (See Quadruple jump controversy).

Plushenko withdrew from the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships due to an injury.^[22] He has stated that he plans to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Loss of Eligibility

On June 28, 2010, the International Skating Union announced that Plushenko had lost his eligibility due to participating in skating shows without his federation's authorization. He was given 21 days to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport^[23] which he did not do.

Achievements

Plushenko's technical achievements are numerous. He is one of the few male skaters to perform the Biellmann spin. He was the first skater in the world to perform a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-double loop jump (4-3-2) combination in competition, at the 1999 NHK Trophy (he has since landed his 4-3-2 combination 26 times so far). He is the first skater to have landed a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop (4-3-3) combination in competition, at the Cup of Russia 2002 (he has since landed his 4-3-3 combination four times so far). Plushenko is also the first skater to land a triple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop-double loop (3-3-3-2) combination, which was at the 2005 "Ard Gala". At the European Championships, he landed a six jump combination (3-3-2-2-2-2) in his exhibition program. He has landed a four jump combination; 4 toe loop-3 toe loop-2 loop-2 loop, at the World Championships in 2001. Plushenko has landed a consistent quadruple toe loop in competition, and has also landed a quadruple salchow in Samara, Russia at the 2004 "Second stage of Cup of Russia". It is estimated that he has landed a total of about 100 quads in competition. Plushenko is also one of few figure skaters to have landed quadruple loops and quadruple lutzes in practice, but has never completed either of them in competition.

At the age of 16, Plushenko was the youngest male skater to ever receive a perfect score of 6.0. He received a total of seventy five 6.0s before the new Code of Points judging system was introduced.

Political career

In March 2007, Plushenko was elected to the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly representing A Just Russia. Following the 2010 Olympics, he announced his intention to quit politics but as of May 2010 retains his seat. He has come under fire for poor attendance, having attended only 11 of 123 parliamentary sessions since his election.^[24]

Personal life

On June 18, 2005, Plushenko married Maria Ermak, a sociology student at the University of St. Petersburg, in a lavish ceremony at the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg. Their child, a son named Egor Evgenievich (originally Kristian), was born on June 15, 2006. They separated, however, not long afterwards and divorced in February 2008.^[25]

In August 2009, he announced that he would marry Yana Rudkovskaya, Dima Bilan's record producer.^[26] They were married on 12 September 2009.^[27]

Programs

Competitive highlights

• WD = Withdrew
• Plushenko did not compete in the 2006-2007, 2007–2008 and 2008-2009 seasons.

References

External links

• Официальный сайт || The Official Website
• International Agency Representing Plushenko
• Site About Evgeni Plushenko
• Official Italian Site
• Site About Evgeni Plushenko
• Evgeni Plushenko at the International Skating Union

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