Russia chooses Plushenko for Sochi Olympics | Page 9 | Golden Skate

Russia chooses Plushenko for Sochi Olympics

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
Why not pre-moan, since we know 5 out of those 7 will happen:
Olympics will start - check.
Plushenko will skate - check.
Plushenko will make some mistake on some of his jumps - check. Duh.
Plushenko will get a medal - check, since as you guys keep pointing out, it's pretty irrelevant who the Russian Man is for the Team to medal.
Plushenko will award himself a medal - I guess not this time around ;)
Plushenko will be given inflated marks - triple check. Since he always emphasized the importance of quads: Quadruple check.
Plushenko will retire from an event - check. Either they still go for the foreshadowed switching identities thing, or he tries the individual SP and quits when he's not in the top 6.
Plushenko will kill anyone's cat - I swear I do not know Plushy's stance on cats. :hb:

:bow::clap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo7RfflL10 Plushenko andthe cat :)
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
My main issue with Plushenko is that he didn't have the courage to compete at Europeans. I lost respect for him because of that.

For me that is greatest courage, he is going to stand in front of the World and skates in the home Olympics, after this decision...
---------


http://www.rg.ru/2014/01/23/pravo.html google translate

Quadruple toe loop for Sochi
Strongest Russian skater Evgeni Plushenko won the right to go to the 2014 Games
Lyrics: Nikolai Dolgopolov ( member for the Figure Skating Federation of Russia)

Doors complex were open only to invitees. The rink sports facilities included on the list a dozen people : members of the Panel and several members of the Board Figure Skating Federation . Neither the press nor the fans - and one was not there.

Upcoming rental Evgeni Plushenko . Having missed the European Championships , with coach Eugene Mishin promised to get ready for the Olympics , which , if successful, could become the fourth for Zhenya . Of the 31 years of his life 18 years of selfless vkalyvaniem 16 godkov Olympic cycles , "gold" the 2006 Olympics in Turin and two " silver " , generously paid for a dozen major surgery. Few believed that after the last of them will be on skates Eugene - with its spine worn drive insanely sick .

And then further doubts - lost the December national championship young Kovtun . And immediately flew wherever and had to fly : old speed is not ground off teeth ...

He unrolls on the rink in a light black suit , and this young man exuded energy , wild confidence , to curb the desire to prove to us and the rest of their right to Sochi some warm waves reach a handful of people , sitting in fur coats on cold bleachers . Zhenya was warming as the most important before the start. And it seemed to me that during the three weeks that I have not seen him on the ice, he gained speed and lowered weight. Somehow it reminded me of action Gladiator workout . Only had to win the victory over himself in the presence of people who are able to assess each movement to the smallest detail .

Coach asked Mishin start rolling at exactly 13.30 " Marrying well warmed up , ready . Already warmed up , and it's time to start ." They all agreed : " Of course , it's time , it's time ." Then Alexei quietly told me, " We consider you part of our team ." And this - the truth. All these years, I was rooting for Plushenko.

Mishin has distributed leaflets to all of us with the elements that should make the pupil , warning : " There are variations in the direction of complexity ."

And for some reason I was filled with confidence, and that will turn out, and complicated. In my opinion, the same feelings experienced our most experienced referees and coaches .

Sitting with the luminaries of the Soviet , Russian figure skating , and even with the program in hand, it was easy to receive comments . Zhenya did two quads , one of them in a cascade with a triple, all triple , then in the program. Absolutely spotless . Sometimes happened before , that his quads were not completely vertical, and some incredible skill he still came out of a difficult situation. And now , when the frost and sun and a wonderful day , were jumping and it confirmed to me all the experts are spotless .

In the second part Plushenko like evil -wishers , inflated rate , which is not expected from him . Rotation did - probably not the strongest element of it , but quite acceptable . Mishin was terribly pleased and with his emotional thanked athlete.

Zhenya went to the applause of the people whose profession - figure skating and who are not accustomed to applaud .

Plushenko no one spoke , no contact . We sat on one side of the rink , he went to the locker room with the other choice. Yank it after such an arbitrary rental , call dopekat : " Well? Satisfied ? " - It was a sin .

He said on the ice, all I wanted. It was evident that their inner , very private he retained unspent to Sochi. And honored coach Viktor Kudryavtsev said softly aloud what everyone thought : well prepared athlete , and then add charisma , feelings and ...

All this said, then experts . There was no doubt anybody. Even in those rare , are not recognized in Plushenko hero.

I could write about it and the 21st in 14 hours, but ethics , sorry for the old-fashioned , is not allowed . Russian national team in figure skating, and for the team tournament , too , is approved and will be adopted later on January 23 Executive Committee of the Olympic Committee . That's when it will be clear that Evgeni Plushenko goes for his fourth Olympic circle.

Later, the duo appeared on the ice dancers. Katya Bobrova and Dmitry Solovyov rolled his dance . Everything was good, I liked guys with coach Sasha Zhulin did a great job . Properly done , missed the European Championships , focusing on Sochi. But after Plushenko act was oh how difficult.

by the way

Evgeni Plushenko was born November 3, 1982 in the village of Sunny Khabarovsk Krai.

With 11 years of living in St. Petersburg, and with 13 years of experience in figure skating under the famous coach Alexei Mishin . Eugene graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Physical Culture and St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics .

In 2005, Plushenko married Maria Ermak . Soon they had a son - Yegor . But after a while Plushenko divorced .

In 2009, Eugene issued his second marriage with renowned producer Yana Rudkovskoj . January 6, 2013 Plushenko and Rudkovskoj son Alexander . Besides the three Olympic medals in the account Plushenko three wins at the world championships , seven championship titles and 10 European championships gold medals Russia .
------------------------------------------

And that is very "interesting" what you are doing here. If Plushenko will skate well and he gets high scores you will say" we know he will be overscored", if he will skate badly you will say he is too old, we knew he can't do good skate..

Sometimes I really hate the figure skating forums...
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
I think Mathman is right. When time comes and the judges sit there feeling the love from the audience, hearing the crowd shouting they will reward him big. I've seen interviews with judges praising Plushenko. Judges are humans too :laugh:

OMG! What a surprise! Judges praising Plushenko????:cool: I can't believe..;) http://www.kingonice.com/evgeni6-0.htm I think those judges who gave him such a perfect scores really admired Evgeni..
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
To think if Russia had 3 spots in Nagano, Plushenko would have gone to 5 Olys, and he is like 5 months younger than Tara Lipinski. So Imagine Lipinski still competing:jaw:

I think both Plushenko and Joubert will have my respect because as singles skaters it will be their 4th Olympics that if you think of it it is insane already, of i want them to do well but I dont care if they medal, I think the applause for these two will be huge.
 

Danibellerika

Medalist
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
I could see Plushenko being gifted in PCS, say high 8s and a PCS in the high 80s, but no more than that unless he really knocks it out of the park. That said if Plushenko somehow skated 2 clean programs with quad combos (which you never know, he is an insane competitor) and Hanyu and Chan both fell more than once, and Takahashi and any other potentially better skaters didnt skate great, the judges would probably do whatever they had to do to make sure he won, even if he arguably still wouldnt deserve to. Just for the sake of their own physical safety.

I think if everybody else is falling over themselves and he is the only one to rise to the occasion then he would deserve to win and that wouldn't be far off from most past Olympic results and everybody else would have no one but themselves to blame. Sarah Hughes won the OGM with under rotated jumps but she delivered the cleanest skate. This sounds like you're getting a little worked up over a fairly unlikely scenario. Could Plushenko get on the podium? Not impossible, but that would take big mistakes from others and him being clean. And that's just the podium, an actual win is something I can't even picture. Considering that he originally was only interested in the team event for an easy medal, I think even he believes the individual event is a long shot.

Considering all of his injuries I can't fault him for trying to pace himself, especially when given no ultimatum by his federation to compete more. 4 skates at the Oympics is going to be enough of an uphill battle to deliver cleanly. I just hope he has enough gas in the tank for a compelling exhibition (that was the best part of his 2006 Olys) because you know he'll be there regardless of where he places.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
To think if Russia had 3 spots in Nagano, Plushenko would have gone to 5 Olys, and he is like 5 months younger than Tara Lipinski. So Imagine Lipinski still competing:jaw:I think both Plushenko and Joubert will have my respect because as singles skaters it will be their 4th Olympics that if you think of it it is insane already, of i want them to do well but I dont care if they medal, I think the applause for these two will be huge.

I have also thought this! People who could have gone to Nagano as their first Olympics going to Sochi!
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I know we keep saying people should leave the sport when they are good and ready and that tough on the newbies if they can`t beat the veterans but soem skaters just seem a bit tired - Plushy, Joubert (they even seem to use the same performances though Joubert is trying something different this year it would not surprise me if he uses something form yesteryear. Even Verner seems a bit tired or recycled. Some of the top skaters like Davis and White and virtue and moir though young seem to have peaked. Carolina and Brian have had many chances at the olympics and they failed like Kurt Browning. Carolina has a decent medal shot but she has been given so manhy times the benefit of the doubt it is time she left. Of course, I tend to like giving heverywone their 15 minutes - the problem is when some stay around. Jenna mccorkell is one has not developed any further artistically or technically and if she isn`t careful she might not even qualify for the freeskate - if she skates like Euros she probably won`t make it. And maybe that is okay to give some other poor soul the chance to skate.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Er.. so who do you think Italy ought to send over Carolina? and France over Brian?
 

Sasha'sSpins

Medalist
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Country
United-States
I know we keep saying people should leave the sport when they are good and ready and that tough on the newbies if they can`t beat the veterans but soem skaters just seem a bit tired - Plushy, Joubert (they even seem to use the same performances though Joubert is trying something different this year it would not surprise me if he uses something form yesteryear. Even Verner seems a bit tired or recycled. Some of the top skaters like Davis and White and virtue and moir though young seem to have peaked. Carolina and Brian have had many chances at the olympics and they failed like Kurt Browning. Carolina has a decent medal shot but she has been given so manhy times the benefit of the doubt it is time she left. Of course, I tend to like giving heverywone their 15 minutes - the problem is when some stay around. Jenna mccorkell is one has not developed any further artistically or technically and if she isn`t careful she might not even qualify for the freeskate - if she skates like Euros she probably won`t make it. And maybe that is okay to give some other poor soul the chance to skate.

My, but you do have lofty standards. Anyone who makes an Olympic team, especially from the power countries where there is more competition to reach Mount Olympus, whether they medal or not is far from a 'failure' as far as I am concerned. I should have 'failed' so badly in my athletic career, especially like those athletes that managed to make multiple Olympic Games, medal-less or no. :disapp:

Perhaps a review of the Olympic Creed might help us all to put things into perspective:

The Olympic Creed

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, Father of the Modern Olympic Games
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I know we keep saying people should leave the sport when they are good and ready and that tough on the newbies if they can`t beat the veterans but soem skaters just seem a bit tired - Plushy, Joubert (they even seem to use the same performances though Joubert is trying something different this year it would not surprise me if he uses something form yesteryear. Even Verner seems a bit tired or recycled. Some of the top skaters like Davis and White and virtue and moir though young seem to have peaked. Carolina and Brian have had many chances at the olympics and they failed like Kurt Browning. Carolina has a decent medal shot but she has been given so manhy times the benefit of the doubt it is time she left. Of course, I tend to like giving heverywone their 15 minutes - the problem is when some stay around. Jenna mccorkell is one has not developed any further artistically or technically and if she isn`t careful she might not even qualify for the freeskate - if she skates like Euros she probably won`t make it. And maybe that is okay to give some other poor soul the chance to skate.

I know this is only a side detail in your argument, but I don't think that either Davis/White or Virtue/Moir have peaked. So I don't see why they have to stand aside to make room for others. In fact, it's their efforts that have given the U.S. and Canada, respectively, three spots for ice dancing couples in both the Olympics and upcoming Worlds. So if they'd stood aside, how would newbies from their countries have benefited?

Plushenko is a special and unusual case, because he's such an idol in Russia. I'm not sure there are many equivalents to him anywhere--certainly not Carolina or Joubert, who do not have any history of Olympic medals. So the reasons for giving him the men's lone Olympic spot for a home-field Olympics are probably far more complex than they would be for anyone else in the world at this moment.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I am just saying they should retire after this season; not that someone else was more desrving right now from their nations.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
My, but you do have lofty standards. Anyone who makes an Olympic team, especially from the power countries where there is more competition to reach Mount Olympus, whether they medal or not is far from a 'failure' as far as I am concerned. I should have 'failed' so badly in my athletic career, especially like those athletes that managed to make multiple Olympic Games, medal-less or no. :disapp:

Perhaps a review of the Olympic Creed might help us all to put things into perspective:

The Olympic Creed

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, Father of the Modern Olympic Games

Yes but others deserve to have the struggle too. I just like to see everyone have a shot and evenif itis a good fight sometimes it can be tiresome.
 

Nater

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
I think if everybody else is falling over themselves and he is the only one to rise to the occasion then he would deserve to win and that wouldn't be far off from most past Olympic results and everybody else would have no one but themselves to blame. Sarah Hughes won the OGM with under rotated jumps but she delivered the cleanest skate. This sounds like you're getting a little worked up over a fairly unlikely scenario. Could Plushenko get on the podium? Not impossible, but that would take big mistakes from others and him being clean. And that's just the podium, an actual win is something I can't even picture. Considering that he originally was only interested in the team event for an easy medal, I think even he believes the individual event is a long shot.

Considering all of his injuries I can't fault him for trying to pace himself, especially when given no ultimatum by his federation to compete more. 4 skates at the Oympics is going to be enough of an uphill battle to deliver cleanly. I just hope he has enough gas in the tank for a compelling exhibition (that was the best part of his 2006 Olys) because you know he'll be there regardless of where he places.

Hughes won that because she skated under 6.0. Not even comparable. If she had skated that under IJS it would have been a Slutskaya - Kwan - Cohen podium cause the judges would have murdered her on her jumps in both the SP and the FS. It would have been similar to Mirai's performance at 2013 Nationals where it looked "clean" but the judges UR'd a bunch of jumps and killed her score.
 

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
At the end of the day, it's not Plushenko's fault that none of the others stamped their authority on that spot. It's not Plushenko's fault that none of the others have taken up his crown an become consistent, excellent senior skaters. It's not Plushenko's fault that in mind and record he remains the strongest candidate.

Kovtun has now been in four high-pressure ISU championship situations. He blew three of them. That doesn't speak well for him. All Kovtun had to do at Worlds last year was skate half-decently and he would have got the second spot and he would be going. All he had to do was hold it together at the GPF - even a midfield finish would have been better than what he did. All he had to do was medal at Euros and beat the other two Russians - and he would likely be going. But he couldn't do any of those things. If he cannot handle this pressure, then he cannot handle the Olympic pressure.

That Plushenko can not only handle Olympic pressure but defeat it is a known fact, a known quantity, and his iron will has never faltered, nor will it do so now.

Exactly. The younger Russians had plenty of opportunities to prove themselves and grab that lone spot for the Olympics. None of them established himself. Kovtun had the inside track after his win at the Russian Nationals, and Tarasova politicking for him since last year (he got that worlds spot last year over Menshov who finished higher than him at the RN). Last year's worlds was a disaster for Kovtun. This season has not been great either. He made it to the GPF but couldn't skate well there. He seems to skate OK when there is no pressure on him. At the RN, Plushenko's presence cushioned him. At the Euros he was Russia's top man entering the competition. He finished behind both his compatriots. I can't blame the RSF for losing confidence in him.

There is a risk in selecting Plushenko because he has to skate 4 programs. However, as far as the mind goes, nobody can compete against Plushenko. It's been proven numerous times. I just hope his body can handle the grueling schedule at the Olympics. His fed must have felt that he can, or they would not have selected him. There has been a lot of grumbling about Plushenko skating secretly before a committee, but Michelle Kwan did something similar in 2006, and nobody seemed to mind secrecy in her case.
 
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