- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
Plushenko is not considered just a technical skater in Russia. That is only a part of his amazing all around talent in every aspect of skating and why pcs is so high but was also high at euros 2012. He is not like the mad Aaron or Kevin vander perren or Elvis stojko of Russia. So I doubt people would be like plushenko is just kovtun. or menshov with more success. He is considered and is a great talent.
But sure if he performs so poorly that he would actually lose to voronov or kovtun or menshov he may just hang it all up!
I doubt it. It would be the right thing to do to concede his Olympic spot should the others outskate him (after all, he's been to 3 Olympics and has 3 medals... just not in Russia, though). I agree that Plushenko in Russia might be considered more than a technical skater, but I'm pretty sure elsewhere he's considered a purely technical skater. His program are elements strung together and it's really obvious. The choreography generally leaves me cold with the lack of content in between jumps or leaves me freaked out come the footwork with over the top with flailing and hip thrusts.
If he didn't land the jumps, his programs would be nowhere nearly as worthwhile to watch, IMO. However, that's a practically negligible point, since he usually did land the jumps, and had probably the best consistency of all time considering his jump layout. I'm a stickler for technical consistency, and even think Plushenko's programs in the 2010 Olympics were technically so superior that he should have won (under 6.0, that is). But his programs are just a plug and play of elements.
I would truly love for him to break out of that serious, technical, super-focused Mishin-esque side and get a program for next year that is truly different from anything we've seen or anything we would expect from him. I know he's capable of more than just a jump show.