Plushenko has declined Grand Prix

Russian article on Plushenko and the Grand Prix, mainly from Mishin. Boy, does this guy (I mean Mishin) go on in the most convulted sentences. Wew!


Russian skater Evgeny Plushenko plans declining the Grand Prix events. ITAR-TASS reports that his coach Alexei Mishin made the announcement on Wendsday.

"Looking at last year's results, Plushenko and I are satisfied", says Mishin. "The skater competed seven times, and won five; he missed only twice, at Grand Prix Final and at Europeans. The season before that was also jam packed -- we took part in and won five championships. However, Evgeny and I now realize that too many competitions cannot bring optimal results. Considering the illness, the remnants of which should be healed, as well as to comply with the doctors' recommendations and to avoid risk, we chose a different strategy." According to the coach, they deliberately give up the "long fight approach", and will not "skate in each major championship". "The upcoming season will be very long, and will stretch to a full year and a half, all the way to 2006 Olympics," reminded Mishin. "We must peak at Turin's Olympics. That means developing a new preparation scheme. We will take the new startegy into account when deciding to take place in any competitions. So we must refuse many lucrative deals (one Grand Prix event can bring as much as $50K). I'd like to emphasize that we consider the 2005 Worlds in Moscow and 2006 Olympics to be the important events. Accordingly, we'd like to appologize to ISU, the Russian Figure Skating Federation, and to foreign federations for bein unable to represent our country at international competitions. We hope to be properly undertood: we sacrifice medals and prizes in the name of a higher goal. We announce this openely and in a timely manner. We hope to not deny the audience Plushenko's skating, so the fans will definitely see Evgeny at the exhibitions", concluded the coach.

From what is written, I would assume that the 'knee' problem is being well taken care of although I do not know what the 'remnants' are. Mischin wants more practice time to peak at Torino (Turin). OK.

Joe

Ptichka said:

Accordingly, we'd like to appologize to ISU, the Russian Figure Skating Federation, and to foreign federations for bein unable to represent our country at international competitions. We hope to be properly undertood: we sacrifice medals and prizes in the name of a higher goal. We announce this openely and in a timely manner. We hope to not deny the audience Plushenko's skating, so the fans will definitely see Evgeny at the exhibitions", concluded the coach.

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OK, so the coach wants Plushy to rest, heal, and prepare for the 2005 Worlds and 2006 Olympics. That's a wise decision, given that Plushy had a nagging knee injury and needs to take time off. On the other hand, he can't just assume that he's going to sail into the Worlds and Olympics and win the gold medals by default. The men's field contains a few guys who are absolutely up to the task of winning those two titles. IMHO Brian Joubert has the jumps and the artistry to match Plushy, and if Johnny Weir can land at least one quad in each of his programs, he's a threat as well, given his superior artistry.

SkateFan4Life said:

On the other hand, he can't just assume that he's going to sail into the Worlds and Olympics and win the gold medals by default. The men's field contains a few guys who are absolutely up to the task of winning those two titles. IMHO Brian Joubert has the jumps and the artistry to match Plushy, and if Johnny Weir can land at least one quad in each of his programs, he's a threat as well, given his superior artistry.

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Um... where in that article did it give any mention of them thinking Plush can just sail in and win by default? I read it as meaning that they recognise that he needs rest (and a change from the jam-packed competitive schedule that he's had for the last few years), and that they want to concentrate on peaking for Worlds and Olympics, which they consider to be the most important competitions.

"However, Evgeny and I now realize that too many competitions cannot bring optimal results. Considering the illness, the remnants of which should be healed, as well as to comply with the doctors' recommendations and to avoid risk, we chose a different strategy"

Which means, to me, that they know that he can't always win when he's competing too much and is also injured (also they mentioned his losses at the GPF and Euros), so they're cutting back a bit (different strategy), in pursuit of the biggest goals, which is Worlds and Olympics. Nowhere does it imply that they think he's a lock-in for the golds - in contrast, Plush himself has mentioned several other skaters in interviews as being big threats and very accomplished (the ones I can remember him mentioning are Joubert and Lambiel, I think there was someone else too but can't remember who).

Yeah, he also mentioned Tim, and "Chinese, Japanese, Takeshi Honda for example."

Something tells me he might be working on another quad after his rest...

Plush has stated that he will do Cup of Russia, but if by some chance he makes the GPF (which could happen like MK) he won't go there.
As for the quads, he says he has the salchow ready and he is trying again the quad lutz. He did try the salchow on the Russian Skate Test but unsuccesfully.

Whoops, and I picked him for Fantasy Skating on USFSA! oh well...

Hopefully Plushy won't get the types of nasty remarks that were targeted at Mchelle when she chose to only do Nationals and Worlds. I noticed that after Campbell's even Sasha commented on how building toward Nationals and Worlds was what's important.

The "remnants" Mishin speaks of relates to the infection that put Plushy in the hospital this past summer. He had a severe sinus infection that had spread into his mastoids.

The doctors told him he had to stop the air travel because it was making the condition worse. That is the main reason why he isn't doing the GP--too much travel. By doing only Cup of Russia and Worlds (in Russia) this year, he won't have to travel by plane.

New article on ESPN - it quotes him as saying that his knees are the issue.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=1894928

Seeded skaters cannot opt to do one event; they must do two or three. For Plushenko, a seeded skater, to skate CoR only,

a. The ISU must make an exception for him OR

b1. b. Klimkin or Griazev have to pull out of CoR with an injury or illness, and he would have to replace one of them, like Kwan did for Hughes a couple of years ago at Skate America. Posters on FSU claim that Klimkin will have surgery, although he's also scheduled for shows, and it's not clear when he'd have the operation.

b2. Plushenko would have to have declined (pulled out) of his GP invites by whatever the deadline is.

I don't imaging that the ISU necessarily would be that anxious to start a precedent of having seeded skaters figure out ways to circumvent the rules to skate only one event. Imagine what next year's GP roster will be like if that happens.

hockeyfan228 said:

Seeded skaters cannot opt to do one event; they must do two or three. For Plushenko, a seeded skater, to skate CoR only,
I don't imaging that the ISU necessarily would be that anxious to start a precedent of having seeded skaters figure out ways to circumvent the rules to skate only one event. Imagine what next year's GP roster will be like if that happens.

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I certainly do not want Klimkin to pull out of skate, and I hope whatever surgery he is having will be successful and he will skate. Anyone know about his conidition"

Back to point. If either Klimikinor Griazev do pull out of CoR, it will be interesting to see what the ISU will do. In Kwan's case, it was ticket sales.

Joe

Ilia is out for the entire season, he will have surgery aftre Plush show and he has to recover for 6 months, which is one of the most saddest news I heard this week.

I guess then that is how Plush will manage to do CoR.
I know a lot of articles has stated his knees, however the reason of his withdrawal is to prevent another injury, Mishin made a communication where he said that Plushenko is healthy and training normally but for doctors orders he is not doing any complex jumps.

If he is not practising any complex jumps, how will he land them come competition time? I am quite concerned that he has to go two full seasons on that injured knee.

here's another take... this means they have to show a different guy in Plushy's spot here on US TV... so we'll get to see someone new!

ok this thread was a downer and it was my lame attempt at humor... while I think it's good that he's resting... I wonder if the Olympic season would be better for him if he took this season off for surgery and a chance to heal? I am not a dr. by any stretch of the imagination, but the stress of completing next season might be more of a strain than they think

Ximena said:

Ilia is out for the entire season, he will have surgery aftre Plush show and he has to recover for 6 months, which is one of the most saddest news I heard this week.

I guess then that is how Plush will manage to do CoR.
I know a lot of articles has stated his knees, however the reason of his withdrawal is to prevent another injury, Mishin made a communication where he said that Plushenko is healthy and training normally but for doctors orders he is not doing any complex jumps.

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I am absolutely flawed by the news of Ilia. I wanted so much to see him skate as I know he can and possibly win gold.

I'm not that concerned about Plush. From reports that come in on his condition it seems that he is managing it. I think he just might not want to do the GPs. They can be tiring.

Joe

It would seem to me that someone like Plushenko who can have his choice of the best sports medicine specialists as well as ENT specialists (referring to his prior mastoid infection) in the world should be able to have gotten the appropriate medical information and care for both. I get the feeling that we dn't know the full details on either ailment. Just hope that whatever Plushenko decides doesn't adversely impact his health for the long term (and I don't mean just the 2006 Olympics)

It's official: Plushenko is listed for Cup of Russia only on the ISU Grand Prix sheets:

http://www.isufs.org/events/gp2004/gp_entries_men_2004.pdf

(Adobe required to read the doc.)

Timchenko is out of CAN, and Klimkin is out of FRA. I wonder if Timchenko was pulled in anticipation of covering Klimkin (or Plushenko) as the third Russian skater for Cup of Russia.

(They've also removed Djordjevic from FRA, Lambiel from CAN, and Weiss from edited to say CHN, although the latter two withdrawals are old news.)

That means the ISU has changed its rules or made an exception. This could have interesting impacts downstream:

1. I expect other top skaters, particularly in an Olympic year, to limit the number of GP events and to bypass GPF. Top skaters/teams may want to avoid head-to-head match-ups before the Olympics, and they may want to be rested for their all-important Nationals and Euros/4C's qualifying events. Why peak for GP, except for the money?

2. I think that increased TV exposure for skaters beyond the usual suspects could be great for the sport.

3. This could be a great opportunity for the ISU to promote its younger up-and-coming skaters at live events and give exposure to some veterans.

4. I don't think attendance will necessarily suffer at most of these events because a few top contenders and local skaters should be enough of a draw and/or there are "cult" skaters with great fan bases that could be invited (Japan, especially) and/or they'll become even more regional competitions. I think Cup of China might have it the roughest, because it's a long plane ride and geographically isolated, and it doesn't have hoards of teenage fans. (Not a hop on a train to France, for example.)

Weiss has withdrawn from Skate America?? I thought it was from Cup of China.

I have seen a clip of Plush performance at PIW in Japan last friday and he seemed ok, true is that he didn't do any quads or any combinations jumps and the hardest jump he did, and only did it once was a triple axel, however he did look healthy to me.

I don't know why Ilia is still listed for Cup of Russia though.

Weiss is still listed for SA