http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/ ... 08355.html14.01.2012 Russian Sports Daily - Weekly reviewI’m pleased to say that all of the Russian fans can breathe a sigh of relief as the 9time national title holder and 2006 Olympic champion, the lord of the ice, Evgeniy Plushenko was granted the right to perform at the Europen tournament despite all of the pessimistic predictions.
The International Skating Union satisfied Russia's request to allow the triple world champion Evgeniy Plushenko, who did not have the required qualifying points from international competitions during the past two seasons to compete at the European tournament in Sheffield. Let me remind our listeners that Evgeniy Plushenko made his second comeback to sport in December of 2011 at the Russian nationals in Saransk. And it took practically no efforts for the triple Olympic medalist to regain the national crown as he won the competition outscoring the silver medalist Artur Gatchinksiy by more than ten points.
By the way all of the spectators who will attend the tournament in Sheffield will have an opportunity to see the talented student of Alexei Mishin – Artur Gatchinskiy in action, as the bronze medalist of the world championship will represent the national team along with the legendary Evgeniy Plushenko.
Just a reminder Plushenko’s last appearance at the continental arena was marked with triumph as the six-time European champion, set a world record in the short program. Who knows, probably this time Evgeniy will stun all of the pundits by another outstanding performance that will be remembered for long.
Plushenko is the greatest male skater of his generation, winning three world titles and silver medals at the 2010 and 2002 Olympics in addition to his gold at the Turin Games. At his last Olympic Games in Vancouver Evgeniy failed to become two time Olympic champion losing to the American athlete Evan Laysacek. Soon after the Vancouver Games the ISU stripped Plusheko of his eligibility to take part in any sporting event as punishment for skating in exhibitions without permission from the Russian federation. He did not immediately appeal, making some of the ill-wishers believe he was going to retire.
But last April Plushenko and the president of the Russian figure skating federation Alexander Gorshkov asked the ISU to restore athlete’s eligibility, confirming Evgeniy’s willingness to compete at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The ISU decided not to create obstacles on Plushenko’s way back to figure skating summit restoring his eligibility in June 2011.
But unfortunately Evgeniy didn’t start skating immediately after ISU’s permission. The triple world champion has to struggle not only with his rivals on the ice but also with a bunch of health problems that prevent the skater from training at full strength. This simmer the leader of the Russian men’s team Plushenko underwent another surgery on his knee and didn’t have enough time to prepare for the new season
That’s why we didn’t see Evgeniy in the beginning of the figure skating season. The streak of injures made the triple world champion withdraw from one start after another. Some of the pundits even started to speculate on Plushenko’s unreadiness to compete saying that Evgeniy is too weak right now and his problems with health will not allow him to perform at the highest level.
But Evgeniy preferred not to pay much attention to the critics who advised him to retire and to forget about his dream to skate in Sochi, he concentrated on his training sessions and set his mind on opening the new 2011-2012 season at the national championship in Saransk. I have already said that Plushenko’s comeback turned out to be a huge success as the king of the ice as Evgeniy is lovingly dubbed by his supporters proved once again that he is unmatched at the national ice.
And probably not only at the national. I said that Evgeniy is on the hunt for the 7th European title. We reported in our previous editions that first place at the national championship guaranteed Plushenko participation in all the major figure skating tournaments of the year. (Europan and world championships). But due to the fact the Evgeniy didn’t compete for practically two years he didn’t collect necessary points that give skaters the right to perform at the international scene.
But the Russian national federation headed by the legendary Soviet skater. Olympic champion Alexander Gosrhkov wrote an official letter to the president of the ISU Ottavio Chiquanta asking him to allow the 2006 Olympic champion take part in the European tournament in Sheffield. Taking into account all of Plushenko’s achievements in men’s figure skating and his desire to continue his career Chiqaunta met the request of the Russian side giving green light to Evgeniy to perform in Great Britain in January.
Though Plushenko will be 31 in 2014, his return is a boost for the national skating as he stimulates young generation of athletes to work harder and achieve the highest goals. Russian skaters failed to win a single gold medal in Vancouver, and Artur Gachinki's bronze at last year's world championships was the first medal by a Russian man since Plushenko won his third world title in 2004.
No Russian man made this year's Grand Prix final, with Gachinski finishing fifth at both the Cup of China and the Rostelecom Cup.
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