Evgeni Plushenko
Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko is a Russian former figure skater. He is a four-time Olympic medalist, a three-time World champion, a seven-time European champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final champion, and a ten-time Russian national champion. Plushenko's four Olympic medals once tied with Sweden's Gillis Grafström's record for most Olympic medals in figure skating, which has since been surpassed by Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue. He also won a record total of 22 titles on the Grand Prix circuit.
Early life and education
Plushenko was born on 3 November 1982 in, Solnechny District, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union. His mother was originally from Volgograd, Russian SFSR, and his father, a carpenter, was born in Donetsk. He has an older sister. Plushenko lived in Volgograd before moving to Saint Petersburg in 1994. His mother died on 10 July 2015.A 1998 graduate of school No. 91 in Petrogradsky District, he began studying at the in 2000, graduating in 2005, and at the Faculty of tourism and hospitality of the Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics in 2004.
His surname is most commonly romanized as Plushenko but other variations exist. The Cyrillic shcha may be transliterated as 'shch', but the simplified variant 'sh' is often used for convention. The letter "ю" is pronounced "yu", so a more accurate transliteration would be "Plyushchenko". His given name is romanized as Evgeni or Yevgeny.
Skating career
Early career
Since Plushenko frequently suffered from colds, his mother decided he needed exercise and enrolled him in figure skating lessons at age four. His first coach was Tatiana Skala. He trained in Volgograd, Russia until his ice rink closed when he was 11 years old. In 1994, his mother took him to Saint Petersburg to train under the guidance of Alexei Mishin.Plushenko made quick progress on the international scene. He became the youngest ever World Junior Champion and World medalist at age 14, winning the 1997 World Junior Championships. The following year, at age 15, he won the bronze medal at the 1998 World Championships.
1999–2001
Plushenko developed a rivalry with Alexei Yagudin, with whom he trained under Mishin until Yagudin left in 1998. In 2000, Plushenko defeated Yagudin at the 2000 European Championships, but finished fourth at the 2000 World Championships.Plushenko had a very successful 2000–01 season, winning every event he entered, including his first World title.
2002–2006
At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Plushenko and Yagudin were considered co-favorites. Plushenko finished 4th in the short program after falling on his quadruple toe loop, but skated a free skating to "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall.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 2003–04 Grand Prix Final for misunderstanding the new ISU Judging System which was now in use. The second was the 2004 European Championships, where he lost to Brian Joubert. He had a difficult 2004–05 season. At the 2005 World Championships in Moscow, Russia, an injury forced him to withdraw after the short program. He eventually required groin surgery. He underwent 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 judging system. 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. His free skating was just as strong, and also set a new ISU record. Plushenko's free skating music was specially arranged for him by violinist Edvin Marton.
2006–2008: Hiatus
Plushenko took a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season. He has said the off-season helped him rest and recover from past knee injuries he has battled.After seeing the poor results of Russian skaters at the 2007 World Championships, Plushenko was worried about Russia losing its status as a dominant force in figure skating, and was also concerned that Russia might even lose confidence for its skaters for the 2010 Winter Olympics. He announced in April 2007 that he decided to return to competitive skating for the 2007–08 season to keep Russia at a competitive level with other countries until the next generation of Russian skaters could take over but a return to the ice did not materialize. Plushenko also stated that he planned to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
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.Plushenko led the short program in his return to skating at the 2009 Cup of Russia on 23 October 2009. He earned 82.25 points for the short, and won the free skating 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 Championships, Plushenko earned 100.09 points for his short program. He received 171.50 points in the free skating to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points.
At the 2010 European Championships, Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points, and went on to win the event for a sixth time with a total score of 255.39 points.
He skated at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, 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."
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. 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. 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..." In an 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. He said, "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." 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." Russian skating champion Irina Rodnina said that although she had hoped Plushenko would win, Lysacek had a stronger overall performance. At the same time, some well-known Russian skaters and coaches said they supported Plushenko and believe he deserved the gold medal. Among them were figure skater Elvis Stojko and the coaches Reinhardt Ketterer, Tatiana Tarasova, and Galina Zmievskaya. During the medal ceremony, Plushenko who felt that his free skate performance was strong enough for gold, stepped on the top level of the podium on his way to the runner-up level, considered by some to be unsportsmanlike. Plushenko's website afterwards proclaimed "Silver of Salt Lake", "Gold of Torino", and "Platinum of Vancouver", with the platinum medal claim being removed after ridicule by critics. Following the Olympic medal ceremony, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent Plushenko a telegram, congratulating him on the wonderful Olympic performance and saying his silver was worth gold. On March 24, 2010 Siberian jewelers decided to award Plushenko a special medal weighing more than half a kilo of pure gold.
Plushenko became the only living single skater to have won medals at three Olympics. He withdrew from the 2010 World Championships citing injury.
Loss of eligibility and reinstatement
Plushenko skated in exhibitions soon after his withdrawal from Worlds. On 28 June 2010, the International Skating Union announced that Plushenko had lost his eligibility due to participating in skating shows in March and April without the Russian figure skating federation's authorization. He was given 21 days to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which he did not do. As a result, his loss of eligibility became final as announced by the ISU on 23 August 2010. However, a request for reinstatement could be made in line with ISU regulations subject to a review and decision by the ISU Council. In September 2010, he stated his goal of competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics. In October 2010, he competed in the Japan Open 2010 as part of the European team. Each team was allowed to have an "ineligible" member. He placed third in the men's event.Plushenko skated in ice shows around the world while continuing to train for a possible return to competition by practicing quad Salchows and quad loops. In April 2011, he sent a letter to the Russian figure skating federation president, Aleksandr Gorshkov, seeking reinstatement. Plushenko said he hoped the ban was not a retaliation of his criticism of the judging at the Olympics and that he would like to return to competition with a clean slate. Although he said he would have liked to compete at the 2011 World Championships if the ban had been lifted, he did not feel he would have been ready due to lost training time as a result of injury. On 12 June 2011, it was announced that the ISU had reinstated him by a unanimous vote.