Evgeni Plushenko

Olympic medal record
Men's figure skating

Evgeni Plushenko
Evgeni Plushenko
	Evgeni Plushenko in 2005.
Full name	Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Russia
Coach	Alexei Mishin
Skating club	Yubileyny Sports Palace

Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (also Romanized as Yevgeny Viktorovich Plyushchenko) (Template:Audio-ru; born November 3, 1982 in Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 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.

Biography

Early career

Evgeni Plushenko 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, and Yagudin and Plushenko developed a fierce rivalry. Yagudin finally decided to leave Mishin and eventually was coached by Tatiana Tarasova, but the rivalry between the two skaters continued throughout the years as they repeatedly battled it out for major titles.

2002 Olympics

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Plushenko and Yagudin were considered co-favorites. Yagudin skated a flawless short program to a standing ovation and finished the night in 1st place. Plushenko, however, botched his quad-triple combination and finished 4th in the short program. He skated a strong free skate to "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall; Yagudin received the highest free skate marks under the 6.0 system in the history of Olympic competition, and won the gold medal easily.

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.

On June 18, 2005, Plushenko married Maria Ermak in a lavish ceremony at the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg. His wife studies sociology at the University of St. Petersburg. Their first child, a son named Egor Evgenievich (originally Kristian), was born on June 15, 2006. However, they separated not long afterwards and divorced in February 2008.^[1]

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. 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 skate was just as strong, and also set a new ISU record. Plushenko's free skating music was especially 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 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.^[2]

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: 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.^[3] In August, he announced that he would marry Yana Rudkovskaya, Dima Bilan's record producer.^[4] They were married on 12 September 2009.^[5]

Plushenko led the short program in his return to skating at the 2009 Rostelecom Cup on October 23, 2009.^[6] 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.^[7] He would receive 171.50 points in the free skate to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points.^[8]

At the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points and took first place before the free skate.^[9] He went on to win the European Championship for a sixth time with a score of 255.39 points.^[10]

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.

Following his short program performance, Plushenko made comments to the effect the Quad is the "future of skating" and without the Quad it is not men's skating. The latter remark was viewed as being aimed at Canadian Patrick Chan, who has stated he will not be performing the Quad at the 2010 Olympic Games. Chan is the 2010 Canadian Champion, currently ranked 9th in the world.

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 land 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.

Programs

Season	Short Program	Free Skating	Exhibition
2009-2010	Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo	Tango Amore by Edvin Marton
2008-2009 2007-2008 2006-2007	Did not compete these seasons	Did not compete these seasons	Did not compete these seasons
2005-2006	Tosca by Giacomo Puccini	The Godfather by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola performed by Edvin Marton	Tosca by Giacomo Puccini performed by Edvin Marton
2004-2005	Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven	The Godfather by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola performed by Edvin Marton	The Godfather by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola performed by Edvin Marton
2003-2004	Tango Flamenco by Paco de Lucia Nyah by Hans Zimmer	Tribute to Vaslav Nijinsky Art on Ice Magic Stradivarious King of the Forrest by Edvin Marton	Logical Song by Supertramp
2002-2003	Adagio by Tomaso Albinoni and Remo Giazotto	St. Petersburg 300 by Igor Korniliuk	Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin Only You by The Platters
2001-2002	Earth Song Childhood Billie Jean They Don't Care About Us by Michael Jackson	Carmen by Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin Fixe; Eclipse by Cirque du Soleil El Tango de Roxanne from Moulin Rouge! Soundtrack by Mariano Mores La Petite Fille de la Mer by Vangelis Papathanassiou	Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin Sex Bomb by Tom Jones and Mousse T
2000-2001	Bolero by Maurice Ravel	Xotica by Rene Dupere Tango from Hasta que te Conoci by Raul Di Blasio Once Upon A Time In America by Ennio Morricone Cotton Club by Duke Ellington Mortal Kombat by George S. Clinton	Sex Bomb by Tom Jones and Mousse T Pasadena: Maywood lyrics.
1999-2000	The Sabre Dance by Aram Ilich Khachaturian	Dark Eyes Russian folk song Coachmen Don't Drive the Horse Concierto Madrigal for Two Guitars by Joaquin Rodrigo	Two Step Nadya Ciocarlia
1998-1999	Hava Nagila by various artists	Chronologie 2, 3; Zoolookologie by Jean Michel Jarre	Two Step Nadya Ciocircla
1997-1998	Concierto de Aranjuez & El Gato Montes by Joaquin Rodrigo	Chronologie 2, 3; Zoolookologie by Jean Michel Jarre	Chronologie 2, 3 Zoolookologie Enigma
1996-1997	Tarantella by Witold Lutosławski Santa Lucia by Luigi Gordigiani	William Tell Overture The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
1995-1996		Don Quixote by Leon Minkus

Competitive highlights

Post-2002

Event	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006	2009-2010
Winter Olympic Games				1st
World Championships	1st	1st	WD
European Championships	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st
Russian Championships		1st	1st	1st	1st
Grand Prix Final	1st	2nd	1st
Cup of Russia	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
Trophee Lalique		1st
Skate Canada International		1st
Bofrost Cup on Ice	1st

Pre-2002

Event	1995-1996	1996-1997	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002
Winter Olympic Games							2nd
World Championships			3rd	2nd	4th	1st
European Championships			2nd	2nd	1st	1st
World Junior Championships	6th	1st
Russian Championships	6th	4th	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st
Grand Prix Final			5th	3rd	1st	1st	2nd
Cup of Russia		4th	2nd	2nd	1st	1st	1st
Skate Canada International				1st
NHK Trophy				1st	1st	1st
Bofrost Cup on Ice					1st	1st	1st
Skate America			2nd
Finlandia Trophy		7th	3rd			1st
Blue Swords		1st
European Youth Olympics		1st
Goodwill Games				2nd			1st