Plushenko will honour us with his presence in 2010!

[Nadine]

THANK YOU, YANA RUDKOVSKAYA, FOR BEING THE IMPETUS BEHIND THE KING'S RETURN TO THE ICE!!!!!!!

Lol, yes, I've been doing some research on The King's beautiful wife, Yana, and all she did to encourage The King to return to the ice this past year. I can't thank her enough ~ Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Yana! ~ because without her we would have never had the pleasure of Mr. Plushenko's magnificent return to the ice this past year, and all the joy & pleasure & thrills he has given us. It makes me feel truly humble.

I can't imagine what Yana must have had to endure this past year while her husband was focused & set on his return to the Olympic ice. Not many wives would have been as encouraging & selfless & devoted as Yana has been. My only hope is that she continues to encourage him to return to the ice in Sochi in 2014 ~ their mutual gorgeous homeland ~ the site of the first Olympic Winter Games to be held in Russia.

In honor of Mrs. Plushenko, whom I think looks like one of America's most stunning actresses from the 1960's ~ Carroll Baker (click here: http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/1...rrollBaker.jpg) ~ I give you Yana & The King together:

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20100217/i/r265904485.jpg

http://www.stav.kp.ru/upimg/logo/155739.jpg

***Always By His Side, Always Supporting Him!****

[Mafke]

nb, I've never been a Plushenko fan, but I do mean the following in a positive way.

1. His comeback was amazing, actually I'm more impressed that he got back real sitspins than the quad, but that's me. he should be proud that he could manage to medal at three consecutive olympics - given the current state of things that's far more impressive than many earlier achievements that involve more wins.

2. I think the kwantifiable link has part of the problem (though that's more a symptom than the problem). The real problem was I don't think he had anyone who could tell him he wasnt making the best, or even very good, choices. I don't think even Mishin was able/willing to. Part of the role of coach (IMO) is to bring you back down to earth when you start to think you can do no wrong. If the coach won't or can't, you're setting yourself up for the judges to do so.

3. CoP is a demanding mistress and you can't turn your back on her for a minute. I think the whole Plushenko team was preparing more for 2006 or 2007 worlds instead of 2010 olympics. Winning under CoP requires keeping up with your math homework and his team fell behind, Lyacek's team kept up with theirs. Like CoP or hate it (I do more of the latter) to win you have to skate for the system as it is at any particular time and not what you wish it is or think it should be.

4. As for the other link. Yeah, there has been, is and will be politics in skating but something tells me Mishin and Plusehnko both play that game with gusto (in other words they're not helpless lambs surrounded by wolves but part of the wolf pack fighting for their share of the prey). That's not a dig, I assume every medalist has people playing politics for them. It's not enough to win, but it's necessary if you want to stay in the mix.

5. If Plushenko goes to worlds (I for one hope he does) he needs to apply what he's learned. If he's serious about competing at Sochi (as opposed to lighting the torch - I think he'd be a great choice for that honor) he needs to have people keeping up with CoP and figuring out how to maximize his strengths with regards to it however it happens to be at that time.

[seniorita]

what is kwantifiable link??

Plushenko recently had a test fan etc and he hardly remembered the precise value of quad. Maybe he was joking. This plus the fact that he said numerous time I completely trust Mishin and my team, made me bang my head against the wall last week (the head still hurts). I dont know if Mishin cant change his mind, he changed his mind for the Chopin Sp, and at this point Chopin was much better choice.
I know how much he is attached to his team since 15 and I like it, but the choreographer is beyond me why he stayed the same this time. He can help but they needed someone cop expert for his comeback for the choreo. What happened to Melisha and Dennis I ll never know..
I still have my doubts he will go to the Worlds. He has a tone of shows with Stephane and Co.

I laughed with CoP= Mistress . It seems Plush sort of turned his back cause he is married?

I m starting to love his silver medal by now (after a tone of salt) and it is fast becoming my fav for sentimental reasons because of the 1. of your post! I cant thank him enough for the effort of coming back. For me it is inspiring. He said the last few days in those infamous videos "without my fans I m nothing"!

[Mafke]

what is kwantifiable link??

uh .... you linked to it (as "Plushenko's problem", look at the address)

[Nadine]

I was doing some research on Sochi here ~ http://sochi2014.com/en/ ~ and got so po'ed at myself because I saw that beautiful "Russian House", which I kept passing by in downtown Vancouver because I got lost looking for the Pacific Coliseum. Lol, at one point I thought that was it because it reminded me of an ice cube.

Anyhow, to find out it was thee "Russian House", and we missed touring it upsets me. *sad, very sad* It actually looks like an Imperial Faberge Egg, all golden & lovely. And to see all those gorgeous pics of The King identified as Figure Skating Hero Becomes Face of Russia's First Winter Games is simply fantastic! What an honor!

Oh yeah, before I forget, I found this interesting article about how the IOC is having a hard time finding a network that will cover the 2014 & 2016 Olympic Games respectively: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...14-2016-games/

[seniorita]

I really cant be the bigger person all the time. This hurts

[Nadine]

I was just thinking how great it would be if Russia still had an imperial family, like Japan still does, and of course Britian, and some of the smaller principalities. It would make the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games that much more special IMHO, solely in terms of opulence & splendor. As with Shizuka Arakawa's 1998 Winter Olympic FS, wherein the Emperor & Empress of Japan attended to see her perform, I could imagine a similar scenario at the figure skating event in 2014, in particular as regards The King, lol. *smile*

Yes, I have a romantic view of Russia, always have, most likely inspired by movies, Disney, books, et al (lol, kinda like they have of America). I'm sure the reality will be something much much different, especially since the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Everything went down after that, especially their notable sports regime in gymnastics. Hopefully one day they will be the power in the world they used to be.

Here's hoping a great Worlds for The King, and a thread in his honor every year hence, though I think it unrealistic unless he actually competes, which I honestly don't see happening until at least a year before the next Olympics in Sochi, Russia!

Until then, Au Revoir, Zhenya, au revoir.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, KING, GOOOOOOOO EP!!!!!!!!

[Tonichelle]

Disney,

what movie inspired you? they normally had very WW1/WW2/coldwar stereotypes

[seniorita]

what movie inspired you? they normally had very WW1/WW2/coldwar stereotypes

Well in Plush case maybe Peter Pan, The princess and the frog or Pinocio?

****

weeeeeee, i cant sleep, i m with my roommate and we watch the rebroadcast of the gala online, if watching skating is supposed to make you happy, I m in paradise

No gold medal in the world could make me more happy than the gala of Evgeni there! Yeap, Still the King!

ah, je suis malade :o

And since Plush is réservé... Stephane please marry me.

[seniorita]

Wow I m jumping up and down!
Plushy show KOI took not only Stephan but also Johnny and Dennis Ten in his cast, I hope Johnny stays for all the eurotour!

full cast skaters and acrobats I think

Evgeni Plushenko, Stephane Lambiel, Johnny Weir, Dennis Ten, Jason GRAETZ, Fleur Maxwell, Alena Leonova, Ksenia Makarova, Elizabeth Tuktamysheva, Adelina Sotnikova, Yuko Kawaguchi - Alexander Smirnov, Maria Mukhortova - Maxim Trankov, Tatiana Volosozhar - Stanislav Morozov, Meryl Davis - Charlie White, Sergei Yakimenko, Elena and Alexander Chesney, Fiona Zaldua - Dmitry Sukhanov, Alexei Polishchuk - Bert Kordin, Violetta Afanasyev and Peter Duck.

[snowflake]

Wow I m jumping up and down!
Plushy show KOI took not only Stephan but also Johnny and Dennis Ten in his cast, I hope Johnny stays for all the eurotour!

full cast skaters and acrobats I think

What is KOI?

[seniorita]

Kings On Ice

[snowflake]

A show with only men then? Isn't that dull

[seniorita]

A show with only men then? Isn't that dull

err..you lost me here

[Ximena]

Actual the cast (at least for the two shows in Russia) for KOI is

Evgeni Plushenko
Stephane Lambiel
Johnny Weir
Dennis Ten
Jason GRAETZ
Fleur Maxwell
Alena Leonova
Ksenia Makarova
Elizabeth Tuktamysheva
Adelina Sotnikova
Yuko Kawaguchi - Alexander Smirnov
Maria Mukhortova - Maxim Trankov
Tatiana Volosozhar - Stanislav Morozov
Meryl Davis - Charlie White
Sergei Yakimenko,
Elena and Alexander Chesney
Fiona Zaldua - Dmitry Sukhanov
Alexei Polishchuk - Bert Kordin
Violetta Afanasyev
Peter Duck.

The cast changes depends on where the tour is going, I do know that Plushenko (well duh! it's his tour) and Lambiel are doing the full tour

S&S are on some dates and in the shows in Sweden there will Kristoffer and Adrian.