Press on English about Evgeni after LP

Зимние Олимпийские игры 2010 в Ванкувере || Winter Olympic games 2010 in Vancouver

Press on English about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 11:40

Scarlett wrote:Плющенко: «Возможно, это мои последние соревнования» :plush27:
.....
http://www.eurosport.ru/figure-skating/ ... 7096.shtml

Plushenko: "Perhaps is this my last competition"

Champion Olympic-2006 in figure skating Evgeny Plushenko, who on Friday was unable to defend his title at the 2010 Games in Vancouver and took second place in the men's figure skating, do not exclude that withdraws from the sport, in which came after more than three years.

By his opinion, figure skating become different.

"I see myself in today's figure skating, but perhaps this is my last competition. But let we wait - and see" - said the athlete in a live TV channel "Russia 24".
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Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby Cooky » 19 Feb 2010, 13:00

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancou ... &type=lgns
By Elvis Stojko, Yahoo! Sports
VANCOUVER, British Columbia –


The night they killed figure skating

Sorry, Evan Lysacek.

You’re a great skater and all.

But that wasn’t Olympic champion material.

In Thursday night’s men’s free skate, Lysacek skated slow and his jumps weren’t close to the technical ability of defending Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko.

How can you be Olympic champion when you don’t even try the quad? If you’re going to take the quad out, why not take out another triple axel and just have more of the other stuff so the International Skating Union can make it more into an “art.”

Plushenko had a great performance. His footwork was great and maybe his spins weren’t quite as good as Lysacek’s, but he had some spins that were fast. He also had a quad toe triple toe that wasn’t even attempted by anyone else. He did both triple axels, so all the jumps were there.

But the judges’ scoring was ridiculous.

Because of it, the sport took a step backward. Brian Boitano did the same thing, technically, in 1988. There are junior skaters who can skate that same program.

And the judges’ scoring probably killed figure skating because kids now are going to see this and say, “Oh, I don’t need a quad. I can just do great footwork for presentation marks and do a couple of nice spins and make it to Olympic champion.” With that type of scoring, you don’t have to risk it. You can play it safe and win gold.

In what other sports do you have to hold back in order to win?

The International Skating Union has taken the risk out of figure skating and it makes me sick.

Now, Lysacek does have quality to his skating. But when you compare it to Plushenko’s, there is no comparison.

If Plushenko was making a whole bunch of mistakes, then sure, maybe Lysacek deserves gold. But when you take the risk out of skaters’ programs, it doesn’t compute to me.

And it’s not a personal thing. I like Evan. But when you compare performances and have an outcome like this, the sport is going backward. And it hurts me to say it because I love this sport. But the judges made a mockery of it by giving Lysacek the gold.

I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade because it’s not the skaters’ fault. It’s the system. And the figure skating community wants to control who wins and who loses. And what it does is it makes the component score more valid than the jumps so it can control whatever it wants. And that’s exactly what happened Thursday night at Pacific Coliseum.

How can the sport be put back on the right path? I have no idea. I haven’t even thought about it. It’s not up to me. Because people at the ISU obviously seem to know what they’re doing. Well, they think they know what they’re doing.

For me, the outcome on Thursday night was disappointing.

A few more thoughts on the men’s free skate:

• I thought Daisuke Takahashi was awesome. He tried the quad and he had the guts to go for it, and he should’ve been ahead of Lysacek in that aspect.

• Johnny Weir was great. He should’ve been higher than sixth – above Patrick Chan, who was fifth. Weir outskated Chan. He might’ve skated a little bit slow but he went out there and did his stuff. I feel bad for him.

• People say I’m hammering certain skaters. I’m not. That’s why I’m telling you that Weir skated great and should have been higher.
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Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 13:46

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20100219/157937797.html

Plushenko says might quit sports after Olympic silver

Russia's Evgeni Plushenko, who hoped to become the first repeat men's Olympic gold medalist since 1952, but won silver in the free skate in Vancouver, said on Friday he might quit sports.

Plushenko led the competition after the short program, but the U.S.'s Evan Lysacek, the reigning world champion, beat him with an overall score of 257.67 points. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi will take home the bronze medal with 247.23. Plushenko's overall score from both events was 256.36.

Plushenko, 27, said figure skating has changed and he may quit the sport. "This may be my last competition. We will see," he said.

"It is hard to say anything as I was sure I had won my second Olympics. With the old [judging] system... A quadruple jump is a quadruple jump," he said.

"I'm not ready to skate well and then lose. The [judging] system needs to be changed. This is men's figure skating and not pairs. I am not ready to lose with a quadruple jump."

"It's clear why the judging system was changed because the United States and Canada don't have anyone who can do a quadruple jump," Plushenko said.


But Plushenko said he was happy to return to the ice and skate in Vancouver.

"I did the right thing. I am immensely grateful to God, my coach, parents and wife who supported me throughout the season allowing me to win all those competitions after more than three years of retirement."

"Today I faced defeat, well that's fate. But everything was just great,"
Plushenko said.

Plushenko skated freely, with his usual charisma, drawing laughs from spectators with his seductive tango. He held up his index finger when he finished showing he was sure of his victory.

The 2006 Olympic champion began his number to Tango Amore by Edwin Marton with a quadruple and triple jumps, but ommitted a double Rittberger. He also made an imperfect landing after a triple axel. But his footwork and spins cost him the most points.

But the skater's longtime coach, Alexei Mishin, criticized the judging system.

"It is nonsense when a skater wins in the Olympics without a quad jump. The judging system takes figure skating back to the past," Mishin told reporters after the competition.

He sounded upbeat about Plushenko's future in the sport: "We will continue skating. I am proud of my student."

The 2006 Olympic winner and three-time world champion Plushenko returned to the ice late last year after a self-imposed retirement following his stunning performance in Torino.

He easily won an international Moscow cup in October and the Russian national championship in December. He also triumphed at last month's European Championships.
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 13:56

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6 ... %2F+Sports)
Sonia Oxley VANCOUVER Fri Feb 19, 2010

Even in defeat, Yevgeny Plushenko steals show

The Russian scampered cheekily across the top podium, pulled cheesy faces and gave a thumbs-up to the cameras, was a diva-like 10 minutes late for the news conference and gave a lengthy lecture on how figure skating needs to change.


Only his wife Jana's uncontrollable tears and the silver medal hanging round his neck gave away the fact that despite all his pre-competition bravado, the great showman had handed his crown over to American Evan Lysacek.

"I was sure I'd won," he told a news conference after his gamble to wow the judges with the jumps he had said were essential to win Olympic gold backfired when he had two shaky landings.

He blew kisses at the judges and raised his index fingers high in the air as if in victory before staring stonily at the score when it came up.

"Obviously, Evan needs the medal more than me, maybe because I've got one already," said Plushenko, who took off his medal when he left the ice after the victory lap long before Lysacek and bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi made their exits.

SAME BREATH

Without congratulating Lysacek, Plushenko said his rival was "a great skater" but almost in the same breath called for changes to the scoring system that had allowed a competitor to win gold without doing a quadruple jump.

"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...," said Plushenko, who later put his medal back on.

"Now it's not men's figure skating, it's dancing."

"The (figure skating) movement needs to go forward, not stand still and definitely not go back."


He also suggested the fact a north American had won was partly down to the fact the Games were in that continent.

"You don't have business right now in the U.S., your (skating) shows have closed. In Russia we have a lot of shows. So now you have an Olympic champion you will have sponsors and figure skating will go up a bit," he said.

When the Olympics are in Sochi, Russia in 2014, it would be a different story, he said.

"It's going to be our continent," said Plushenko, who had come back to the sport after a three-and-a-half year absence to defend his title.

Whether the 27-year-old Russian will compete in his home country's Games remains to be seen but he said he had no plans to go back into retirement, even admonishing his agent for suggesting to some reporters that he was going to quit.

"I need to learn a new quad," he grinned.

"I said before the competition I was going to accept any result ... Two silvers, one gold is not too bad."


His sobbing wife rushed over to him while he was talking to reporters. He gave her a big hug and some kisses, patting the red bobble on her woolly hat before getting back to the business of explaining what had gone wrong.
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 14:11

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... orts/wires)
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/02/1 ... e-skating/
By JOHN LEICESTER
The Associated Press
Friday, February 19, 2010; 3:29 AM


Inside the Rings: Men gone wild in figure skating

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Evan Lysacek won the Olympic gold. Evgeni Plushenko won the argument.

The quad, the toughest jump there is in figure skating, is the way of the future. It has to be for the sport to keep progressing. Plushenko is right there.

Only the judges didn't see it that way on Thursday night.

They made Lysacek the champion, even though he didn't land or even attempt the devilishly hard jump with four revolutions.

Plushenko did do a quad, and he got only the silver, but he could still have the last word.


Take a look around.

In snowboarding, Shaun White is throwing down ever-crazier moves, pushing the boundaries of his sport.
In Alpine skiing, racers are putting life and limb on the line every time they click into their bindings and head downhill.
In the process, they helped NBC clobber "American Idol" in the television ratings.

Viewers, in short, like stuff that's new and they like risk.

But figure skating? Well, quads were a staple for the top men before the sport rewrote its points system after the Salt Lake City judging scandal in 2002.

Now, they are a dying breed.

No matter which way you spin it, and in skating they spin it better than anyone, that does not represent progress.

"It's not men's figure skating," Plushenko said contemptuously. "Now, it's dancing."

Lysacek's routine was super, but conservative, too. With his big frame, sleeked-back Pierce Brosnan hair and sober black costume, he oozed power and control. His opening combination of jumps was velvet-smooth.

It could not be said that he was an undeserved winner.

But it wasn't edge-of-seat stuff, either. His jumps were at best triples, not quads. The envelope was not pushed.


He micromanaged his way to gold. Plushenko went for a bigger bang, but his jumps weren't as clean.

In layman's terms, it would be the difference between a nice, solid and reliable pick-up truck and the far edgier but not as practical Lamborghini that snowboarder White has in his garage.

Lysacek practically admitted as much, saying that he had shown "a complete package" of skating moves, not just giant jumps.
"If it was a jumping competition they'd give you 10 seconds to go and do your best jump," the American said.

As long as skating's points system stays as it is, this argument will rumble on and on.

At the moment, landing a quad properly can bring big rewards. Plushenko got 14.6 points for the quad and triple toeloop with which he opened his program.

It was a sight to behold. Plushenko spun so fast that it was a wonder he didn't drill into the ice on landing.

But quads are risky, because they are so hard to do well. Skaters who don't manage to pull them off, like bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi, can be heavily penalized. Takahashi fell hard attempting his quad and got just one point for it.

So many skaters don't attempt them. They play it safe with easier moves they are more confident of landing.

But who, honestly, likes safe?
Not Plushenko.

"We need to change the system, judging system, because quad is quad. If Olympic champion, he doesn't know how to jump quad, no, I don't know."

His manager, Ari Zakarian, was more succinct: "We are going in the direction of becoming ballet on ice."


He suggested that in the wake of this defeat, Plushenko might not compete when the games move to his native Russia in four years time.

If "the quad is not going to be appreciated, probably (he) will never try to go for the Olympics," Zakarian said. "Now, he just finished (his program) and he says, 'You know what? That's it.' He says, 'I don't see any future here.'"

Plushenko, asked later about those comments, said: "Who said? My manager? He lied to you, he is joking.'"


Perhaps. Time will tell.
But the risk of skating standing still is not so funny.
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 14:31

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_spor ... er+A+to+Z#
By John Powers
Globe Staff / February 19, 2010


Technically perfect
Lysacek tops Plushenko for supremacy


VANCOUVER, British Columbia - So did it come around again, 22 years later, to five flawless minutes on a sheet of ice in Canada. The last time the Winter Games were north of the border, in Calgary in 1988, Brian Boitano won the gold medal, but none of his countrymen had managed it since. Until last night, when Evan Lysacek stayed calm and conservative and knocked off defending champion Evgeni Plushenko for the Olympic title at the Pacific Coliseum.

It was a wondrous moment for the Americans, who had been off the podium at three of the last four Games. And it was a just reward for Lysacek, who has mastered the new scoring system and its emphasis on clean and consistent skating across all the elements - jumps, spins, and footwork. “I couldn’t have asked for much more than that,’’ said Lysacek, who submitted the best free skate of his life. “To get a personal best in the most important moment of my life - you dream about that.’’

:plush27:
And yet, if Plushenko hadn’t left off a simple double loop on his opening quadruple-triple-double combination, he would have been the first man to retain his crown since Dick Button in 1952 and the oldest champion since Sweden’s Gillis Grafstrom in 1928. That omitted jump was the difference between gold and silver for the Russian, since it cost him 1.5 points and Lysacek won by 1.31 - 257.67 to 256.36. Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi was third with 247.23, earning his country’s first Olympic medal in the men’s event.
....

Plushenko already had gold and silver medals from two trips to Olympus and he wasn’t even supposed to be here, but the Motherland had called him out of retirement. The Russians had to because their skating empire has collapsed. Their pairs had missed the medal stand at the Games for the first time since 1960. They have no competitive women. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, their world dance champions, are on his last legs.

It was unthinkable that the country that has been synonymous with skating for half a century and that once worshipped “these sliding gods’’ might win no gold medals here after claiming three of four in Turin four years ago. They’d won the previous four men’s crowns and were counting on setting an Olympic record with a fifth in the event. And after the disastrous start of their entire team at the Games - a measly three medals going into last night - they couldn’t accept just any result from Plushenko. “He knows Russia is not doing so well at the beginning of the Olympics,’’ said his agent Ari Zakarian. “He knows the whole nation is watching.’’

....

Given the demands of his long program, which included a quadruple toe-triple toe-double loop combination and two triple axels, one in combination, Plushenko needed spring and stamina in his body. But the greater burden was psychological. “There is a lot of pressure, not only from the Russian side,’’ he acknowledged. “Everybody is saying you must, you must.’’

Maybe it was the pressure or maybe it was rust, but Plushenko wasn’t the man he was four years ago. He front-loaded his point-rich program into the first two minutes, then couldn’t execute it. He barely saved his quad and the following triple axel and had rough landings on both of his triple lutzes. Midway through, he was bleeding points like an old Soviet car leaking oil.

Thus did the Russian men’s skating dynasty end. All it took was five minutes and an American who knew he didn’t have to jump out of the building to be golden. All he had to do was what he does every day.

-------------------------------------

That Plushy jumped only triple jumps, and he could make everything... even and better than these "young" skaters... :plush43:
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 14:42

http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/19 ... -for-gold/
02/19/2010 3:51 AM ET By Kevin Blackistone

Playing It Safe for Gold

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Shortly after Evan Lysacek regaled the media about how he'd just upset Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko on Thursday night to win the men's free skate, Plushenko sauntered into the bowels of the Pacific Coliseum and all but denounced his American vanquisher as an unworthy Olympic champion.

"We need to change the scoring system," Plushenko snorted, "if the Olympic champion can't jump [a] quad."

A quad is launching oneself off the ice and spinning four times before landing, and not falling while doing so. That is a 1,440-degree spin.

Plushenko, who was attempting to be the first man to win consecutive Olympic figure skating gold medals in 60 years, did it and lost. Lysacek didn't attempt one and won.

The people who know and follow the convoluted sport of figure skating explained afterward that Plushenko wound up with silver and Lysacek with gold because Plushenko did most of his jumps – quads or not – in the first half of his routine and Lysacek did the bulk of his in the second half of his performance. For a long time, figure skaters were rewarded more for jumps they pulled off early rather than late. The script was flipped coming into Vancouver.

But what else this surprising outcome underscored was the continuing struggle within figure skating to be viewed as an athletic event or an artistic one.

If it is the latter -- as Lysacek's victory suggested -- figure skating shouldn't be in the Olympics.

It is bad enough that an Olympic event like figure skating must be decided by subjective criteria like choreography and interpretation. It is even worse that it doesn't reward athleticism as much as technique.


To jump or not to jump, that is the question for men's figure skating.
...

Lysacek, who became the first U.S. man to take a free skating gold since Brian Boitano in 1988, was absolutely sensational in being perfect. He just didn't do anything extraordinary – unless you count ripping off eight triple jumps – in reaching a crescendo skating to Korasakov's Scheherazade, which you might recognize as the suite Arabian Nights.
...

Plushenko, however, skating last, started with a quad and leaped right into a triple. He then reeled off six triples but was not steady on two landings. He was credited less for the extraordinary, than he was discredited for ordinary. "I was sure that I had won my second Olympic Games," Plushenko said afterward. "But this is the new system. The quad is not valued."

Plushenko complained that his sport was regressing when it should be marching forward like other sports, where times get faster or athletes like White add another dimension to their routines.

"He's a great skater," Plushenko said of Lysacek. "He's a very good skater, artistically."
....

I don't know if the artist is more important than the athlete in men's figure skating, but I do believe the overreaching for it in the form of costuming obfuscates the talent. That's a shame, because what some of these guys did with their bodies – launching off the ice and spinning four times in the air before landing like nothing happened – was remarkable
, Lysacek included even it the most he did was spin three times in the air.

I don't figure skaters can do that before dunking a basketball, but I don't think any guy who can dunk a basketball can pull off a 1,440-degree twist, either. Figure skaters are athletes and their sport should do more to promote that fact. They would gain a lot more respect.

Lysacek tried to warm the cold war developing between him and Plushenko in particular and U.S. skating and Russian skating in general. With Plushenko sitting to his right at the interview table and looking straight ahead, Lysacek said Plushenko was an inspiration to him. Plushenko proceeded to criticize the scoring again before departing with his entourage. He said he looked forward to the next Winter Games in 2014 on Russian soil.

There is no guarantee then, however, that skating will have worked out this philosophical struggle that ails it. Lysacek's coach Frank Carroll said afterward that he thought Plushenko's performance had more peeks, and valleys, than his pupil's.

He said Lysacek's effort was like a straight line. It was remarkably consistent if not eye popping. The judges said it was golden. It certainly wasn't a leap of faith.
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 14:47

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... orts/wires
By BARRY WILNER The Associated Press Friday, February 19, 2010

Plushenko indicates he'll continue to compete

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The figure skating world may not have seen the last of Evgeni Plushenko.

The 2006 gold medalist won his second Olympic silver medal Thursday night, then indicated his career is not over.

"I knew I would accept any outcome,"
the Russian said through a translator after finishing second to American Evan Lysacek at the Vancouver Games. "After this defeat, I'm not going to put my hands down and stop." :plush38:

The Russian was a silver medalist in 2002. He returned from a three-year retirement trying to become the first man to win consecutive gold medals since Dick Button in 1952. But he struggled on several jump landings and spins, and it cost him the title.

"I was positive that I won," he said. "But I suppose Evan needs a medal more than I do. Maybe it's because I already have one.

"I have to share with you: two silver and one Olympic gold medal is not too bad."


Plushenko is the only man with three Olympic figure skating medals. Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden won four: gold in 1920, '24 and '28, silver in '32.

But the sport barely resembles the skating Grafstrom knew and, at 27, Plushenko already is considered old. Knee problems helped force the retirement that ended with his comeback this season.

Plushenko indicated he was confused by the direction skating is taking, wondering why the quadruple jump he mastered long ago isn't more important.

"He's a great jumper," Plushenko said, referring to Lysacek. "He can do triple lutzes, triple flip, yes. And he's a very good skater, like artistic."

Lysacek didn't do a quad, and Plushenko couldn't resist a jab.

"If the Olympic champion doesn't know how to jump a quad, I don't know," he said. "Now it's not men's figure skating, now it's dancing."

There could be extra enticement for Plushenko to stick around. The next Winter Olympics are in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 14:54

http://vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/ ... plushenko/
February 19, 2010, 1:43 am By ARCHIE TSE

How Lysacek Defeated Plushenko

Evan Lysacek beat Yevgeny Plushenko basically by doing a modern program that took advantage of the new judging system.

They had identical “artistic” scores of 82.8.

So the difference came down to the executed elements scores (i.e. the “technical” score).


Plushenko performed an old-school program, more typical of those designed before the new judging system was implemented in 2004. In such an old-school program, skaters load their jumps in the first half of the program.

Under the new scoring system, jumps in the second half receive a 10 percent bonus.
Plushenko did five jumping passes in the first half of his program and only three in the second half.

Lysacek had three jumping passes in the first half and five in the second half.


Lysceck picked up 37.77 points from his jumps in the second half, about 3.5 points of which were the 10 percent bonus.

Plushenko earned only 18.63 points from jumps in the second half, of which about 1.7 was from the 10 percent bonus.

The difference: 3.5 – 1.7 = 1.8 points. That is almost equal to the difference in their total long-program scores, 1.86 points.
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Re: Press about Evgeni after LP

Postby cekoni » 19 Feb 2010, 15:02

http://www.vancouversun.com/American+Ev ... Sun+-+News)
By Dan Barnes, Canwest Olympic TeamFebruary 19, 2010

American Evan Lysacek wins gold in stunning figure skating upset over Plushenko
.......

Lysacek powered through every moment of his stirring long program Thursday at Pacific Coliseum and was rewarded with a whopping 167.37 points for a golden total of 257.67. He beat Plushenko by the slightest of margins, just 1.31 points, while Daisuke Takahashi of Japan skated around like his crazy hair was on fire for four minutes and took bronze. Canadian Patrick Chan was a gutsy though bittersweet fifth.

It could be said that Lysacek's minuscule margin of victory was rooted in Plushenko's decision to drop the third jump of his planned opening gambit, one triggered by the quad that Lysacek eschews in favour of a focus on components. And if you look at it that way, theirs was an ironic war of philosophy. Because Plushenko and Lysacek had identical component scores of 82.8 and Lysacek beat Plushenko at his own game, 84.57 to 82.71 for the 13 elements that make up the gruelling long program.

This mathematical anomaly did not sit well with the Russian, who skated last and earned just 13.8 points for his opening quad-triple combination.

"With the old system I must win. The new system is a little different," said Plushenko. "I was sure that I had won my second Olympic Games. But this is the new system, the quad is not valued anymore. Apparently this is what figure skating needs today. I thought it was enough and it should have been enough (to win)," said the irritated 27-year-old from St. Petersburg.

Plushenko landed a quad and won the early battle in the short program, though just barely, by less than a point, with Lysacek and Takahashi smelling blood. Had Plushenko skated clean Thursday, he would have celebrated Russia's sixth straight gold in the men's discipline. Instead, he wobbled through a triple Axel and dropped that third jump of his opener.

He was vulnerable for the first time all year and Lysacek broke the Russian streak of dominance his way, with eight clean triples that gave the States its first Olympic winner since Brian Boitano, who won the last time these Games were held in Canada, Calgary in 1988.
....

Lysacek knew what Plushenko was bringing back to the fight after a three-year retirement, his arsenal plain to see at the Rostelecom Cup, Russian nationals and the European Championships. Lysacek had time to arm himself with a quad and combinations but he stayed focused on those component scores, on footwork and transitions, on feeling his way through the program. Plushenko, though working hard on artistry, usually cannot match the American on that piece of turf, so he pushes the envelope in the air, with quads and combinations unmatched. But he was less jumping machine than a mere mortal on Thursday and the gap between the two men normally created by the quads and combos was gone. Though Lysacek settled smoothly for triples, they were golden not silver because they were all solid.
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