http://www.cbssports.com/worldsports/story/12405580
Oct. 22, 2009 CBSSports.com wire reports
Former champion figure skater Plushenko returns to competition
MOSCOW -- With Olympic gold and silver and world championships medals in his résumé, Evgeni Plushenko has everything a figure skater could want. Yet he's coming back for more.
Plushenko begins his comeback at this week's Rostelecom Cup, the second event on the Grand Prix circuit. Down the road, he has his sights set on the Vancouver Olympics.
Plushenko's short program Friday will be his first appearance at an international competition since winning Olympic gold in 2006 at the Turin Games.
After Turin, there were no more major titles left for him to win, and he had issues with his knee. But when the next generation of Russian skaters proved underwhelming, Plushenko came out of retirement and began rigorous training, including dropping 20 pounds he had packed on, according to coach Alexei Mishin.
At a Russian competition in Perm this month, Plushenko was characteristically clean and stylish. But he tripled his planned quadruple jump, and doubts remain about whether he has regained enough athleticism to mount a serious defense of his gold in Vancouver....
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http://www.in.com/news/sports/plushenko-le...3-115243-1.html
Friday October 23, 2009
Plushenko leads after Rostelecom short program
MOSCOW (AP) -- Evgeni Plushenko began his comeback attempt with characteristic skill and boldness at the Rostelecom Cup, landing a clean quad-triple combination Friday.
But a few second later, Plushenko showed that he's still short of the discipline that made him the Olympic champion, losing focus and doubling a planned triple lutz.
"I got a little relaxed, I felt like I had done everything" after the opening jumps, Plushenko admitted.
The lapse hardly mattered. Plushenko won the short program, finishing well ahead of his challengers in his first international competition since winning the gold medal at the Turin Olympics.
Julia Sebestyen of Hungary prevailed in a tight women's field, where the top three finishers are separated by less than a point. In the pairs competition, former world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian opened a solid lead over Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov and Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker.
Plushenko finished with 82.25 points, almost seven ahead of Japan's Takahiko Kozuka going into Friday's free skate.
Kozuka didn't try a quad in his speedy, stylish and loud program to the feedback-drenched guitar music of Jimi Hendrix. But his landings were as precise as Plushenko's and the calculated audacity of his music choice underlined how the once-punky Plushenko has become, at 26, almost a sedate elder.
After finishing second at the Salt Lake City Games, Plushenko dominated figure skating for the next four years. He won two more world titles -- he has three total -- and claimed the top spot at every competition he entered in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
With no more titles left to win after taking the gold in Turin, Plushenko stepped away from skating. He decided last year to return.
"Somebody had asked me why I was coming back because I already had everything. I have money, I am famous ... maybe I keep wanting to think I am very young," Plushenko said....
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http://vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/200...nd-prix-return/
By Joanne C. Gerstner
Plushenko Makes Splash in Grand Prix Return
Russia's Evgeni Plushenko performs his short program at the Cup of Russia in a spashy return to Grand Prix figure skating last Friday. Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko performs his short program at the Cup of Russia in a spashy return to Grand Prix figure skating last Friday.
Leave it to 2006 Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko to make a dramatic entrance. Plushenko, who stopped competing after the Turin Games, won the Rostelecom Cup (aka Cup of Russia) in Moscow Saturday.
He delivered an emphatic message in his first competition back, which will be his only Grand Prix event of the season, showing he could be a significant factor in Vancouver. Plushenko’s trademark jumping ability was clearly intact. He is still explosive in the air and impressively strong on the clean landings. He landed one quad, and combined it with a triple toe loop to open his free skate to dramatic tango music.
Plushenko, 26, has led an interesting life since Turin. He helped the Russian Olympic Committee successfully bid for the 2014 Games in Sochi, participated in “Stars on Ice” shows, performed in Russia’s winning entry in the popular 2008 Eurovision song contest, and most recently, married Russian record producer Yana Rudkovskaya on Sept. 12.
He announced in March that he would resume competitive skating, with the goal of reaching the Vancouver Olympics. Plushenko has appeared in two Olympics, winning a silver medal in 2002 and gold in 2006.
Plushenko’s performance in the Rostelecom Cup featured his trademark hubris, as he finished the free skate by dramatically pounding his chest and holding one finger aloft – signaling he was No. 1.
Takahiko Kozuka of Japan won silver, while Plushenko’s countryman Artem Borodulin took bronze.
Plushenko will need to clean up his transitional footwork, something he’s not known for, to contend in Vancouver. The new judging system also gives preference to skaters who sprinkle jumps throughout their program. Plushenko’s past programs were front-loaded with jumps, allowing him to do the most while he had the most strength.
Because Plushenko has been away for so long, he will not be in the other Grand Prix events leading up to the Olympics. Assignments to those events were made long ago by skating federations, and the Russians did not leave a spot for Plushenko.
He will compete next in the Russian nationals, then European Championships, and perhaps then in the Olympics.