Plush in or out of CoR?? | Golden Skate

Plush in or out of CoR??

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
There is a posting at FSU with a link to a Russian article, which apparantly (there is no translation, and my Russian is about as good as my Swahili) says Plush may choose NOT to do Cup of Russia. It supposedly quotes Mishin as complaining about his "lost training time, in useless travel" or some such thing. Does anyone have anything more definitive about this yet? I don't know, I think I will believe it (him NOT doing CoR) when his name is called for the short and he's not in the arena! ;)

Kasey
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Welcome mbi00!

And I echo Mathman's appreciation for your offer to translate.

I've had a funny feeling he may not show, but like everyone else, I'm interested in finding out for sure.

DG
 

GlitterTwist

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
I would like to know too! If he IS going I'd have to pick him for Gold Picks....but if he's not that makes it a whole lot easier on me lol I'd pick Johnny :)
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Plushenko is very patriotic. He has always shown gratitude to the Russian skating federation for the opportunities that he has had, and to the Russian fans for supporting him. I don't think he would skip Cup of Russia unless he really is injured.

If he goes to Marshalls I think he'll go to CoR.

MM
 

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
I agree. Either he will do both (COR and Marshalls) or none. If he is a no show in both, I would be very concerned about his health and the remainder of his season.

Vash
 

mbi00

Spectator
Joined
Apr 10, 2004
I'm not a professional translater, but the article goes something like this:

Is Plushenko going to skip Cup of Russia?

It came to the attention of the journalists of "sovsport" that the threetimes world champion Evgenij Plushenko maybe won't participate in the the sixth event of grand prix, cup of Russia which will be held 25-28 november in the moscow sport arena "Luzhniki".

The reason -- unprepareness to the only gran prix event in which Plushenko originally wanted to participate at.

Based on the information which we posses, the athlete intented to prepare for the event by participate by doing a series of commersial skatings. However, just like sovsport allready informed, despite the letters from the president of the Russian skating union, the Internation Skating Union forbade the champion to be a part of any such show. Otherwise, he would be discvalified. That is the reason why the russian chose not to skate in Prag 5th november and in Budapest the 6th and was forced to return from Prag to Moscow.

When last thursday, we called Aleej Mishin, the trainer of Plushenko , he straighforwardly stated "We only finished our second practise after the break! The time which Plushenko spent in appereantly meaningless travel is lost. But the competition were training, repeating the elements. If I see that Zhenja (Plushenkos nickname) isn't prepared to execellently skate in the cup of Russia, then I think it is pointless to start. We cannot lose"

The athlete only has a number of days in order to make a final decision about skating in Moscow. And appereantly they are leaning towards skipping. Of course, without Plushenko the tournament will lose its appeal, like it did at the fourth grand prix event, NHK coup in Japan. The viewers then bought tickets to see Plushenko and when they found out he could not make it, they returned them.

From the other side, like Mishin correctly noted, we cannot risk. In Moscow, Evgenijs main competition will be Joubert, and also a strong american skater Weir. (By the way, the first one is being trained by Yagudin and the second by Tarasova). And defeat might result in psycological problems for Evginij. We can remind you that Plushenko, who lost the Grand Prix final to Sandhu last season and then the European championship to Jourbert appereantly suffered from some complexes. It was possibly not a coincidence that he was joined by a psycologist at his competitions.

For Plushenko, the European championships are ahead (24-30 january, Turin) and the world championship (14-20 march, Moscow) at which the tickets to the olympics will be at stake. According to Mishin, his pupil is also plaining to compete in the Russian championships, 4-7 january in Saint-Petersburg.
--------------------------------------------

Was happy to help :)
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
He's been using a sport's psychologist? I guess Mishin's "If you need a psychologist, you're crazy" theory (advanced previously toward Yags in the Olympic year) is out the window now!

Kasey
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Thanks so much for the excellent translation, mbi00.

I can't believe that Plushenko has any "complexes" because he lost a couple of contests. He seems totally grounded. Sure, he likes to win -- who doesn't? -- and he expects to win --why shouldn't he? I hope he is not wasting any money having his head shrunk.

I wonder if the author of the article is correct that many people in Japan bought tickets to the NHK competition, but then returned them when Plushenko dropped out.

Mathman
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Mathman said:
I wonder if the author of the article is correct that many people in Japan bought tickets to the NHK competition, but then returned them when Plushenko dropped out.

Mathman

I don't know....Skate America (being there), attendance was LOUSY. But from what coverage I've seen on TV of the other events, I don't think it was great anywhere this year...

Kasey
 

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
I am very disappointed but it may be a smart thing to do to skip COR. He cannot afford to lose his ranking to either Weir or Joubert. If he is not ready, he is better off not competing. He could skip Marshall's and focus on getting ready for the Russian Nationals.

It's going to be a boring COR but I would rather see him skate well later than lose at home.

Vash
 

missflick

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Kasey said:
He's been using a sport's psychologist? I guess Mishin's "If you need a psychologist, you're crazy" theory (advanced previously toward Yags in the Olympic year) is out the window now!

Kasey


How wonderfully ironic! :rofl:
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
My concern with Evgeny is the knee. How is that? He should not be down trodden over Joubert and Weir. Evgeny has a style, something Brian should work on. Evgeny has more than one quad, something Johnny should work on at least one quad.

This is sad news, and whatever it is that is keeping him from all these competitions, I hope he gets over them. Hope, too, he makes Euros. He's too good a champion not to be in the mix.

Joe
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
ITA Joe...

Joesitz said:
My concern with Evgeny is the knee. How is that? He should not be down trodden over Joubert and Weir. Evgeny has a style, something Brian should work on. Evgeny has more than one quad, something Johnny should work on at least one quad.

This is sad news, and whatever it is that is keeping him from all these competitions, I hope he gets over them. Hope, too, he makes Euros. He's too good a champion not to be in the mix.

Joe

It seems more logical that the knee is a problem than needing his head shrunk is the problem. He's been such a consistent competitor over the years that somehow him all of a sudden having fears of competing and getting beat. But of course, logic doesn't always apply, and I'm not his doc or his shrink or his sister.

Now if the same article talked about E-man needing his head shrunk, that would make more sense. (and BTW I LOVE E-man's skating when the great skater shows up!!) This just doesn't seem to fit Plushy.

Makes me wonder if something else (i.e. the knee) is going on.

mbi00 - thanks a million for taking time to translate this article and share it with us!!

DG
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Curiosity question...

Can anyone think of any top Sr. skaters that had years worth of consistent performances, and then suddenly became head cases? The most noteable head cases coming to my mind right now I THINK were head cases the whole time they were "top potential" seniors. (i.e. Bowman, Niclole, etc.)

I realize many top athletes do utilize sports psychologists along the way to help them deal with issues along the way, etc. So if Plushy is seeing a sports psychologist, I don't find that shocking, as many athletes do. I'm just questioning him pulling out of a competition in some fearful sort of way. Just doesn't seem like him.

DG
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Plushenko has been a top skater since he was 15 years old and won bronze at Worlds. He more than made up for his losses at the GPF and Europeans by winning Worlds 2004 decisively. A headcase? I don't think so.

I think what has happened is that Plushenko wasn't doing a competitive program while on tour, and has had little time to get those programs in shape. It's a matter of pride that he doesn't want to lose to Joubert (especially Joubert!) or to Weir.

OTOH, I don't think he needs to worry much about BJ. Weir trounced Joubert at LeBompard rather easily, mostly because Joubert seems to be regressing rather than improving. I think a 60% Plushenko could beat Joubert with no trouble at all, and could still beat Weir. Plushenko has been getting PCS scores as high or higher than Weir, and he has the quad. What Plushenko lacks in smoothness and refinement, he more than makes up with speed and power.

Interestingly, I have heard rumors that Weir may not be going to CoR. There have been rumblings that he's been having visa problems. The competition begins Thursday, and if Weir hasn't resolved the visa problem, he won't be going to CoR OR the GPF.

If both Weir and Plushenko skip CoR, there could be some interesting results, and a very unexpected man could slip into the GPF picture.
 

mbi00

Spectator
Joined
Apr 10, 2004
Doggygirl and mathman, you're welcome :)

I don't really understand why you're are necessarily considered weird if you consult a psychologist, I know I would use a team of them if I was a figure skater of that level :) maybe that is just me :biggrin: . Besides, the performance in general would be much higher at big competitions if more figure skaters used help. It is such a shame when talented skaters do mistakes simply because of their nerves...just remember the olympics 2002.

As to Plushenko participating at CoR or not, is it anyone besides me who finds the reason unacceptable? "We can't participate because we haven't trained enough" Sound to me very much alike the classic "my dog ate my homework" .I mean, an injury is serious but laziness...? Well, it’s his loss.
 

sk8m8

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I am afraid that all of this makes sense to me (and that has me worried! :cry: )

If I am correct in understanding, many Russian skaters don't practice complete run throughs of complete programs until they are near the time of competitions. Instead, they do "element" work...that is to say that they work on the componants and "piece " them together working their way up to many of the connecting steps and moves and eventually "assembling" a complete competitive program. I also seem to catch some of the Russian "ideology" that comes through culturally. It is natural for most Russian atheletes to desire to DOMINATE their respective sports.

That being said, if Zhenya has not been allowed to perform so he could tweek these programs with elements that are to included in full run-through programs, then his training method would have generally worked against him in a major way. It would certainly shake my "confidence" if I hadn't been able to train full out and in a manner I'm used to.

I don't think he's afraid of losing TO the other skaters as much as losing THE DOMINANCE of the Sport. His last two defeats were due to either injury or technicality. That being said, the next loss could likely be viewed as his loss of legitimate dominance in his sport. Zhenya has multiple world titles and all colors of World's medals along with a hotly contested Olympic Silver. However, like Michelle Kwan, he has a passle of kids (really really GOOD kids) standing in his shadow, ever admiring him and also willing to dethrone him at any turn. His only saving grace is the lack of depth at this time of the men's Russian teams. Something that Klimkin and Greizev(sp?) are both looking to fix.

As for a sports Psychologist, hmmm. Maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn't. EP seems more like the self contained type to me, but lord knows, he also seems bright as they come and perhaps some more of that Russian culture is coming out in that it's ok to "do" something, as long as you don't talk about it. OR...if Mishin can find a way to legitimately call it something else, perhaps "cognitive correction practices" with a "coach" lol

I do agree with the poster that say he'll either do both or he'll do neither. My guess is that since he's lost money on a bunch of these ventures and because he truely loves to win in Russia, I think he'll skate both.
 
Top