Evgeni Plushenko

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Olympic medal record
Men's figure skating
Silver	2002 Salt Lake City	Singles
Gold	2006 Turin	Singles

Evgeni Plushenko

Evgeni Plushenko at the 2004 World Championships
Personal Info
Country:	Russia
Residence:	Saint Petersburg, Russia
Height:	178 cm
Coach:	Alexei Mishin
Skating Club:	Yubileyny Sports Palace
ISU Personal Best Scores
Short + Free Total:	258.47	2006 XX Olympics
Short Program:	90.66	2006 XX Olympics
Free Skate:	167.81	2006 XX Olympics

Most Recent Results:
Event	Points	Finish	Year
Olympic Winter Games	258.47	1st	2006
European Championships	245.33	1st	2006

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

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early Years 1.2 2002 Olympics 1.3 2002-2006 1.4 Achievments 2 Programs 3 Competitive highlights 4 External links 5 Navigation

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Years

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 2002-2006

After Yagudin's retirement, Plushenko won most of competitions he entered in the following four years. He finished second only twice. The first time was to Emanuel Sandhu at the 2003 Grand Prix Final. The second was the 2004 European Figure Skating Championships, where he lost to Brian Joubert. He suffered through a difficult 2005, when was forced to withdraw from the 2005 World Figure Skating 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 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. 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.

[edit] Achievments

Plushenko's 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 (since he has landed 26 times his 4-3-2 combination so far), as well as the first skater to land a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop (4-3-3) combination at the Cup of Russia 2002 (since he had landed 4 times his 4-3-3 combination so far), as well as the first skater to land a triple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop-double loop (3-3-3-2) combination at the 2005 "Ard Gala". He did at European Championships exhibition a six jump combination: 3-3-2-2-2-2. He did at Worlds Championships 2001 a four jump combination: 4 toe loop -3 toe loop -2 loop -2 loop. He has landed a consistent quadruple toe loop and he has landed a quadruple salchow in competition in Samara, Russia at the 2004 "Second stage of Cup of Russia". Total to have landed 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 them in competition. At the age of 16, Plushenko was the youngest male skater to 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.

On June 18, 2005, Plushenko married Maria Ermak 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.

Although Plushenko is taking a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season, he has kept his eligibility and may return to competition in the future.

[edit] Programs

[edit] Competitive highlights

Event	1995-1996	1996-1997	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006
Winter Olympic Games							2nd				1st
World Championships			3rd	2nd	4th	1st		1st	1st	WD
European Championships			2nd	2nd	1st	1st		1st	2nd	1st	1st
Russian Nationals	6th	4th	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st		1st	1st	1st
Grand Prix Final			5th	3rd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st
Cup of Russia		4th	2nd	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
Skate Canada				1st					1st
Trophee Lalique									1st
NHK Trophy				1st	1st	1st
Bofrost Cup on Ice					1st	1st	1st	1st
Skate America			2nd
Finlandia Trophy		7th	3rd			1st
World Junior Championships	6th	1st
Blue Swords		1st
European Youth Olympics		1st
Japan Open				1st		2nd
Grand Slam of Skating				4th	1st
Goodwill Games				2nd			1st
Keri Lotion Classic					2nd
ABC Sports International FS Challenge								1st
Crest Whitestrips International FS Challenge								1st
Campbell's International FS Classic								2nd	1st
International FS Classic									1st
Marshalls World Skating Challenge									1st	1st
Crystal Skate											1st

• WD = Withdrew

[edit] External links

• plushenko.ru Official Site
• evgeniplushenko.net Official Site
• Evgeni Plushenko at the International Skating Union biography page

[edit] Navigation

Persondata
NAME	Plushenko, Evgeni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Plushenko, Evgeny; Евге́ний Ви́кторович Плю́щенко
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Russian figure skater
DATE OF BIRTH	November 3, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH	Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH