Tribute to Alexei Yagudin---Passion for Skating

CzarinaAnya · Feb 18, 2006

Alexei Yagudin

Alexei Yagudin (born March 18, 1980 in Saint Petersburg , Russia (Russia: A federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia; formerly Soviet Russia; since 1991 an independent state) ) is a four-time world champion and 2002 Winter Olympics champion in figure skating . Yagudin was coached by Alexei Mishin from approximately age twelve to age eighteen at which time he relocated to the United States and began training with Tatiana Tarasova (Tatiana Tarasova: tatiana tarasova (born february 13, 1947) is a russian figure skating coach.

Alexei was given four perfect 6.0's for artistry at the 2002 Winter Olympics. No other man has scored more than one perfect mark in the history of the games. He is also the first man to win the triple crown in skating in one year — the European, Grand Prix, and World competitions, and winning the Olympics made him the first person to win all the major titles in one year. At the World Championships in Nagano, Japan in 2002, he became the first skater to receive six perfect 6's and the first to receive a perfect 6.0 for required elements.

A congenital hip disorder forced him to retire from eligible competition in 2003. He is currently touring with Stars on Ice.

Source: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/alexei_yagudin

Shanti · Feb 18, 2006

Thanks for the thread!

I still miss him (and Sasha Abt :love:

) so much whenever I watch Men's events

Dee4707 · Feb 18, 2006

I miss his competitive skating too.

Dee

Germanice · Feb 18, 2006

I've always missed him, but I've never missed him as much as Thursday's Olympic Men's event - I like Plushy, but somebody has to kick his butt ....

Dee4707 · Feb 18, 2006

Germanice said:
I've always missed him, but I've never missed him as much as Thursday's Olympic Men's event

Germanice, good point!!!

Dee

Kelly22 · Feb 18, 2006

When Alexei Yagudin skated his competitive programs, I was riveted. When he skated the Olympics programs, I couldn't breath. I doubt a skater will ever have that affect on me again.

I'm not a Plushenko fan, I don't care for his "style" at all. I don't see grace, artistry or heartfelt passion in his skating. But he deserved to win and I'm happy for him because he didn't stand a chance against Yagudin in SLC.

The only reason I watched the men's (usually my favorite) this year was because it's the Olympics and I love figure skating. To me, the only sitrring moment of the men's event, was Evan L.'s (sorry, I can't begin to spell his name) long program.

Pairs was boring, for me. Sale/Pelletier and Elena/Anton (can't spell their names either) were thrilling. I love both of these pairs, although their styles are totally different. And I always enjoy watching John Zimmerman, though I can't say the same for his partner.

Ladies should be interesting. Once again, Irina Slutskya's style is the problem for me, but her personality makes up for it. I hope Mao Asada stays healthy enough to compete in Vancouver.

Sorry I got off topic...

Zanzibar · Feb 18, 2006

Back on topic, LOL.

For those of you who haven't seen the NEW photo album I put up of Alexei last week (it wasn't linked to from Golden Skate) the link is:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4297984&a=32080033&f=0

Will have a new real photo website up after the Olympics with plenty of space devoted to Mr. Yagudin.

Enjoy.
(p.s. for Shanti and other Abt admirers, there will also be plenty of Sasha.)

bloozywoozy · Feb 18, 2006

I'm really looking forward to your new site Zanzibar!:agree:

When Alexei Yagudin skated his competitive programs, I was riveted. When he skated the Olympics programs, I couldn't breath. I doubt a skater will ever have that affect on me again.

ITA!! :yes: I missed Alexei sooo bad this Olys *sob* , there was just no comparison with artistry and total package (although I did enjoy al lot of the guys skates, and technically, Plush was the best jumper out of the bunch

).

And I also really missed Jamie and David, and Anton and Elena!:yes:

JaeJ · Feb 18, 2006

I originally became interested in figure skating because of Alexei. I saw him at Europeans 98 and, like Kelly, was absolutely riveted by his athleticism and his presence on the ice. His jumps were so high that I thought he'd go through the rafters a couple of times! I felt so bad for him in *cough* Nagano *cough* when he was so sick and Mishin was so awful to him.

It was such a pleasure to watch his transformation from jumper to athlete/artist under Tarasova's tutelage. His short and long programs in SLC were magical. When he had to leave competive skating, even Plushenko said something like, "I look behind me now and no one is there." A little presumptious to imply that the reigning Olympic and World gold medalist was chasing him, but hey, things get lost in translation, and I completely understand the sentiment. You only had to watch the men's FS in Torino to recognize the truth of Plushy's statement.

Thanks for the thread and the link!

CzarinaAnya · Feb 18, 2006

Zanzibar said:
Back on topic, LOL.

For those of you who haven't seen the NEW photo album I put up of Alexei last week (it wasn't linked to from Golden Skate) the link is:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4297984&a=32080033&f=0

Will have a new real photo website up after the Olympics with plenty of space devoted to Mr. Yagudin.

Enjoy.
(p.s. for Shanti and other Abt admirers, there will also be plenty of Sasha.)

*jaw drops* He's so beauteeful! lol :agree:

Comedy relief!
Salute!

Dee4707 · Feb 19, 2006

Kathleen, were you giving him directions in this picture. :laugh:

I Can't Hear You!!!

Dee

ladysarahchatto · Feb 19, 2006

Germanice said:
I've always missed him, but I've never missed him as much as Thursday's Olympic Men's event - I like Plushy, but somebody has to kick his butt ....

The skates that I've seen so far at these Games have not been Olympic worthy I'm sorry to say. In 2002 and before-now THOSE were Olympic calibre skates.

I believe Yags SP and LP at SLC is the best of any of the men I had ever seen in the Olympic Games. His opponent Plush apart from the fall in his SP in '02 was superb as well. Much better than in 2006.

Brian Boitano's skate versus Brian Orser in 1988 comes the closest for excitement to me.

Yags "Winter" is my all time favotire Men's SP. Just about all of his LP's are right up there too. I miss you too Yags!

Shanti · Feb 19, 2006

Zanzibar said:
Will have a new real photo website up after the Olympics with plenty of space devoted to Mr. Yagudin.

Whee !!!

Zanzibar said:
Enjoy.
(p.s. for Shanti and other Abt admirers, there will also be plenty of Sasha.)

Whee x 10000 !!!

Vash01 · Feb 19, 2006

Kelly22 said:
When Alexei Yagudin skated his competitive programs, I was riveted. When he skated the Olympics programs, I couldn't breath. I doubt a skater will ever have that affect on me again.

I'm not a Plushenko fan, I don't care for his "style" at all. I don't see grace, artistry or heartfelt passion in his skating. But he deserved to win and I'm happy for him because he didn't stand a chance against Yagudin in SLC.

...

Style is a matter of taste. Plushenko has more drama, passion and conviction in his skating than any other skater today (although his LP this time was lacking in these). I totally disagree that Plushenko did not stand a chance against Yagudin. Plushenko has won more head to head competitions between these two. The reason he did not stand a chance of winning in SLC was that he was 4th in the SP (due to a fall), and needed either Goebel or Honda to beat Yagudin in the LP. That was not going to happen unless Yagudin fell at least twice. Had Plushenko not fallen in the SP, my guess is that he would have been 2nd going into the long, and he had as much chance of winning the gold as did Yagudin. IMO it would have put more pressure on Yagudin and who knows how he would have skated under that?

Yagudin skated very well, but I thought four 6.0's were way over the top. It was not a 6.0 peformance, but since Plushenko got high marks for presentation (some 5.9's which forced the 6.0s for Yags). Yagudin was the last skater, so some of the judges may have thrown in 6.0's. They were not indicative of the performance (not the way T&D's all 6.0's were), although it was skated very well and the gold was fully deserved.

BTW I am a big Yagudin fan but I am also a big Plushenko fan. These two raised the level of mens skating (Elvis made the start, by landing a quad-combo) and made it very exciting. What was missing this time was an equally strong opponent for Plushenko. If Yagudin did not have to retire due to injury, these 4 years would have been fantastic, watching them battle against each other.

Vash

JaeJ · Feb 19, 2006

Vash01 said:
I totally disagree that Plushenko did not stand a chance against Yagudin. Plushenko has won more head to head competitions between these two. Vash

Vash01, do you have citations to support the contention that Pluskenko won more head to head comps than Yagudin? I'm really interested because -- except for the Russian Nationals, where Plushenko was always favored -- my impression was just the opposite -- I could be thinking only of international comps, though ... I'll check for sources as well and share if I find any. Thanks!

ETA: Okay, here is what I found at the US Figure Skating Association: out of ten international figure skating events in which both Yagudin and Plushenko participated between the 1998 Worlds and 2002 OLYs, including GPFs and Goodwill Games, Yagudin outscored Plushenko seven out of ten times. The three times that Plushenko outscored Yagudin all occurred in 2001 -- Worlds, GPF, and Goodwill.

I was unable to find results of European Finals because ISU's website shows the results in the language of the country that hosted the Finals. I do know that Yagudin never won a Russian National title, so I assume that those results would favor Plushenko.

If you are able to find the European Finals website w/English translation, I'd love to see it (I know, I'm a total geek!). Thanks!

Zanzibar · Feb 19, 2006

Dee4707 said:
Kathleen, were you giving him directions in this picture.

I Can't Hear You!!!

Dee

Hee-hee...I think the conversation was something like:

Me: Can you believe how adorable Sasha Abt is? Have you ever see a Russian as adorable as that man? Maybe we should take some pictures of you and Sahsa TOGETHER! Sasha, Sasha, Sasha!

Alexei: (Heavy Russian accent): "My ears are going to bleed, please stop saying that word!"

mzheng · Feb 19, 2006

Watching man's competetion in Turino. I definitely miss him.

Germanice · Feb 19, 2006

JaeJ said:
I was unable to find results of European Finals because ISU's website shows the results in the language of the country that hosted the Finals. I do know that Yagudin never won a Russian National title, so I assume that those results would favor Plushenko.

If you are able to find the European Finals website w/English translation, I'd love to see it (I know, I'm a total geek!). Thanks!

I don't have a website, but I've got it in my mind; it's a tie:

1998 - Yagudin 1st - Plushenko 2nd
1999 - Yagudin 1st - Plushenko 2nd
2000 - Plushenko 1st - Yagudin 2nd
2001 - Plushenko 1st - Yagudin 2nd

2002 - Yagudin 1st - Plushenko didn't participate.

Anke

JaeJ · Feb 20, 2006

Germanice said:
I don't have a website, but I've got it in my mind; it's a tie:

1998 - Yagudin 1st - Plushenko 2nd
1999 - Yagudin 1st - Plushenko 2nd
2000 - Plushenko 1st - Yagudin 2nd
2001 - Plushenko 1st - Yagudin 2nd

2002 - Yagudin 1st - Plushenko didn't participate.

Anke

Thank you, Anke! Yagudin also took 2002 Worlds, but I didn't count that because Plushenko didn't participate in that one either.

So ... in international comps/European Finals where Yagudin and Plushenko went head to head, Yagudin won nine out of fourteen.

Assuming that Yagudin participated and Plushenko won all five of the Russian Nationals between 1998 and 2002 (do you know this info also?), they would be virtually tied ... interesting!

On a side note, I've always wondered why Yagudin never won a Russian title, even when he was winning everything else in sight ... seems odd, but people probably wondered the same thing about Sasha Cohen until last month!

Kelly22 · Feb 20, 2006

Zanzibar,

Are you in Torino?

Tribute to Alexei Yagudin---Passion for Skating

CzarinaAnya

Shanti

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

Germanice

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

Kelly22

Zanzibar

bloozywoozy

JaeJ

CzarinaAnya

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

ladysarahchatto

Shanti

Vash01

JaeJ

Zanzibar

mzheng

Germanice

JaeJ

Kelly22

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