It’s All Maya!

If you haven’t heard Plushenko crying like a baby because he didn’t win the gold medal in Men’s Figure Skating in Vancouver, then you probably don’t watch figure-skating.  Instead of Plushenko being gracious and admitting that Evan Lysacek had a much better performance in the long program, giving Lysacek the top honors, Plushenko took the low road whining and complaining that he was robbed of the gold medal!

When Plushenko was asked whether he thought he had won after his performance, he said, “I was positive that I won.  But I suppose Evan needs the medal more than I do.”  (Nope!  Apparently for your ego, you need it much, much, more!)  “Maybe it’s because I already have one. I have to share with you - two silver and one Olympic gold - that’s not too bad.”

He’s also been quoted as saying:

“Lysacek isn’t a true champion because he didn’t attempt a quadruple jump.”

“Quad is quad. If the Olympic champion doesn’t know how to jump the quad, I don’t know,” Plushenko whined afterward. “Now it’s not men’s figure skating, it’s dancing.”

….Without the quad, men’s skating is actually women’s skating.

Everyone knows that Plushenko accomplished his quadruple jump (and not very well if I may add), but is that enough to give someone a gold medal?  According to Plushenko it is!

Still, are quads all that matter in determining a winner?  His short program put him in first place and the gold was his to win, but his long program was not as difficult overall as Lysacek’s was, nor was it executed as well.  If Plushenko thinks that quad jumps are the most important, then someone should have told him that it takes more than that to be a winner!  As Evan Lysacek said so well, “If it was about doing one jump, they would give you 10 seconds and no music. But it’s about every step from the time you take the ice until the time you finish.

Lysacek’s win shows that a gold medal doesn’t go to the person who spins around four times in a few seconds and then performs the rest of his program with mistakes and no style.  Plushenko struggled with his triple axel and his combinations, his spins were heavy and slow, and the artistry was lacking in a performance that didn’t excite anyone.

On the other hand, Lysacek performed beautifully, both technically and artistically, and although he didn’t try a quadruple jump, he deserved to win.  His jumps were clean, his lines and footwork were impeccable, his spins were fast and exciting and it was an emotional performance that merited a gold!

(Just a side note:  If anyone has reason to complain about how the skaters were judged, it would be Johnny Weir.  His long program was beautiful to watch and was so full of emotion.  For him to place behind Canada’s Chan, whose skating was nowhere near as good as Weir, has left many in the skating community scratching their heads!)

No one is scratching their head, however, as to why Plushenko came in second, but more than a few made a collective gasp when during the medal ceremony, Plushenko skated out on the rink, shook hands with the bronze medalist Takahashi of Japan, and then purposely jumped onto the podium and stood on the gold medal platform before stepping down to the silver level position letting everyone in the arena know just who he thought should have won!  The audience in the arena were not pleased with his antics.

Maya Muses:  Poor Plushenko has created his own narcissistic fantasy that only he and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin believe he should have won.  The above photo on his website displays his silver, gold, and now platinum medal that he’s awarded himself! 

It’s a pity that Evgeni Plushenko could have left the world stage as one of the great figure skaters of his time and he could have been remembered as such.  Instead his poor sportsmanship and his negative comments and behavior have revealed what a poor loser he is, and this, unfortunately, is what he will be remembered as.

Photo Credits:  Google Images