Actually that's you paraphrasing and adding much more to what Pluschenko said than what he actually said. I'm fairly certain he just said that Evan has some technical issues with the triple axel (given that he's had mistakes and downgrades on it) that's absoltuely true. Pluschenko's one of the few skaters who hasn't been telling the judges how they should and shouldn't mark. Why would he when he mostly benefits from the way they judge!
Ant
Here is what I said yesterday (from memory):
"I remember how Plushy declared Evan needs to be penalized because his 3A's are pre-rotated."
Here is what Plushy said:
"Or Lysacek, who rotates half a turn of his triple axel on the ice, which is also considered a mistake, but he gets good marks."
The quotes are not exactly the same but their meaning/message is most certainly the same. I don't think I added anything that deviated from the meaning of Plushy's words. Since I was recalling this from memory I am actually pleased that my memory is still working so well.
This is an example of judge baiting. Mishin has also said the same thing, just as both of them have picked on Brian's quad.
It is just part of the sport, perhaps more prevalent in Europe, and nobody was ever better at it that Katerina's team. Tat is also known to make remarks like this heading into competitions. The goal of such comments is to get the judges thinking about a perceived weakness or flaw in an opponent.
Say something often enough and the hope is that people, or in this case judges, will start looking for it.
Last season there was "talk" from a certain federation about Yuna's flip in her opening 3x3. She finaly did get a ! call on it. Orser complained about it, shouted in anger at the tech caller, and for a few weeks he made it a big issue. Yuna did not get called on it again for the rest of the season.
This season Orser changed her jump layout removing the flip from her opening 3x3. He said one of the reasons was that Yuna gets more points with her new layout. The real reason for changing it was that he didn't want her thinking about an edge call during an Olympic season. He also knew the talk would continue and judges would focus on it.
Reputations - good and bad - have always played a big role in judging skaters.
Comments made by skaters, coaches and Federation officials are sometimes innocent, spur of the moment things. Other times they are extremely calculated and said for reasons I mention here.
..Yes he was stunning bright
