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Evgeni Plushenko

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Olympic medal record
Men's Figure Skating
Silver medal – second place 2002 Salt Lake City Men's Singles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Turin Men's Singles
Evgeni Plushenko
Evgeni Plushenko at the 2004 World Championships
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
Country Russia
CoachAlexei Mishin
Skating clubYubileyny Sports Palace
Most Recent Results:
Event Points Place Medal Year
Olympic Winter Games 258.47 1st Gold 2006
World Championships 2.0
(Old Judging System) 		1st Gold 2004
Grand Prix Finals 251.75 1st Gold 2004
European Championships 245.33 1st Gold 2006
National Championships 1.5
(Old Judging System) 		1st Gold 2006

Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko, (Russian: Евге́ний Ви́кторович Плю́щенко) (b. November 3, 1982 in Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union (Russia) is a Russian figure skater, the six-time National Champion, five-time European Champion, three-time World Champion, and 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist.

Biography

Evgeni Plushenko was sent to the ice rink by his mother at age four. His mother liked figure skating and had some friends at the rink. When Plushenko was 11 years old, his ice rink in Volgograd closed, and the boy left his home, his family and moved alone to Saint Petersburg to train under the tutelage coach Alexei Mishin. His mother followed later, while his father (a carpenter) and older sister stayed in Volgograd.

Plushenko made quick progress on the international scene under Mishin's tutelage. As a 15-year-old, he won the 1998 World Junior Championships and finished 3rd at the Senior Worlds the same year. However, at the time, Mishin was also the coach of another rising teenage star, Alexei Yagudin, who won the World Championships in 1998, and the two skaters 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 won major titles at the expense of the other.

Plushenko's parents never watch him compete live, even if competitions were held at home. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Plushenko and Yagudin were considered co-favorites. Yagudin, in perhaps the best shape of his career, skated a flawless short program to a standing ovation and finished the night in 1st place. Plushenko, however, totally 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; while Yagudin put up the highest free skate marks in the history of Olympic competition, and won the gold medal easily.

After the retirement of his chief nemesis, Plushenko won competition after competition in the following four years. He finished second only twice: at the 2003 Grand Prix Final to Emanuel Sandhu, and at the 2004 European Championships to Brian Joubert. He suffered through a difficult 2005, when he had to withdraw from the 2005 World Championships 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 in Munich, Germany in spring 2005. Despite these setbacks, Plushenko was the overwhelming favorite leading into the 2006 Winter Olympics, as he had consistently earned the highest scores recorded under the new Code of Points scoring system which was now in use. He dominated the Olympic competition, setting new personal bests for each phase of the competition, and finally won the only title that had previously eluded him. At the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Plushenko skated two brilliant programs, setting himself apart from the field, and became the Olympic champion. Plushenko's free skating music has been especially arranged for him by violinist Edvin Marton. He is currently touring with Champions on Ice.

Among Plushenko's achievements, he is one of the few male skaters to perform the Biellmann spin. He has landed a consistent quadruple toe loop and in 2004 also landed a quadruple salchow in competition in Samara, Russia. Plushenko is also one of few figure skaters to have landed quadruple loops and quadruple lutzes in practice. He was also the first skater in the world to perform a 4-3-2 (quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-double loop) jump combination and later a 4-3-3 (quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop) jump combination, the latter taking place at the 2002 Cup of Russia. At the age of 16, Plushenko was the youngest male skater to receive a perfect score of 6.0. He received a total of 70 6.0s before the new Code of Points judging system was introduced.

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. They met in the summer of 2004 when Plushenko, driving in St. Petersburg, spotted her in a convertible and decided to follow her. Their first child, a son named Kristian Evgenivich, was born on June 15, 2006.

Competitive highlights

Major Events (Senior)
ISU Grand Prix Finals National Championships European Championships World Championships Olympic Winter Games
2006 - Gold Gold - Gold
2005 - Gold Gold WD
2004 Gold Gold Silver Gold
2003 Silver - Gold Gold
2002 Silver - WD WD Silver
2001 Gold Gold Gold Gold
2000 Gold Gold Gold 4th
1999 - Gold Silver Silver
1998 - Bronze - Bronze -
1997 - 4th - -

Other results

  • 2005:
    • 1st place at the Cup of Russia
  • 2004:
    • 1st place at the Marshalls World Cup of Figure Skating
    • 1st place at the Cup of Russia
    • 1st place at the Marshalls Skating Challenge
  • 2003:
    • 1st place at the International Figure Skating Challenge
    • 1st place at the Trophee Lalique
    • 1st place at Skate Canada
    • 1st place at the Campbell's International Figure Skating Classic
    • 1st place at the International Figure Skating Challenge
  • 2002:
    • 1st place at the Crest Whitestrips Challenge
    • 1st place at the Cup of Russia
    • 1st place at the Bofrost Cup
    • 2nd place at the Campbell's International Figure Skating Classic
  • 2001:
    • 1st place at the Goodwill Games
    • 1st place at the Cup of Russia
    • 1st place at the Sparkassen Cup
  • 1999:
    • 1st place at the NHK Trophy
    • 1st place at the Nations Cup in Germany
    • 1st place at the Cup of Russia
  • 1998:
    • 1st place at the NHK Trophy
  • 1997:
    • WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPION
    • 2nd at Skate America
    • 2nd at the Cup of Russia
    • 3rd at the Finlandia Trophy

See also

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