Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (also Romanized as Yevgeny Viktorovich Plyushchenko) (Russian: Евге́ний Ви́кторович Плю́щенко born November 3, 1982 in Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist and 2002 & 2010 silver medalist, three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, four-time Grand Prix Final gold medalist and the eight-time National Champion.
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.
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.
2002 - 2006
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 2004 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.
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.
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 plans to compete in the 2010 Vancouver 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: 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. In August, he announced that he would marry Yana Rudkovskaya, Dima Bilan's record producer. They were married on 12 September 2009.
Plushenko led the short program in his return to skating at the 2009 Rostelecom Cup on October 23, 2009. 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.
At the 2010 Russian Figure Skating Championships, Plushenko earned 100.09 points for his short program. He would receive 171.50 points in the free skate to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points.
At the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points, and went on to win the Championship for a sixth time with a total score of 255.39 points.
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. Plushenko finished second in the free skating and second overall, ultimately winning the silver medal with a total score of 256.36
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.
