Translated material
Evgeni Plushenko: Three judges put me in the third ten
— Now that several days have passed since the competition and passions have gradually subsided, how do you evaluate your performance at this Olympics?
— After the short program, three judges put me in 21st and 22nd place for “skating skills,” that is, for skating. These people thought that I couldn’t skate at all. In this situation, I cannot understand where our judges and our leadership of the Figure Skating Federation were looking. Why couldn't a protest be made after the short program? This had to be stopped immediately, because I don’t think that my skating corresponds to such a low level. And about the free program... You see, in figure skating now there is such a stupid system. After the short program I should have had three points to spare. Even if the judges took into account that Lysacek jumped in the second half of the program (which is more valuable - O.E. ) and his jumps were cleaner, then they could have given the same score. I did a quadruple jump! The step patterns of many athletes became the fourth, highest level of difficulty, although they had not skated them to this level all season. And here for some reason they got it. My spins were rated at the third level, whereas at the European Championships in Tallinn they were at the fourth level. It was possible to find fault with me and with others. It’s just that other countries defend their athletes, but this doesn’t happen here.
—What conclusion did you draw after these Games?
- We have to do our job. Jump quads. There is already music for next season. We will do “transition” - connections between elements - much better. But I say again, there is a system in figure skating that you can find fault with any little thing. If you make a “transition”, they will say that it was not done well enough. If you perform a “loop” - you changed the edge during rotations in the wrong way. That is, the system is not fully developed.
But I am very pleased that I was supported by Patrick Chan, Elvis Stojko, Philippe Candeloro, the entire French federation, many Canadians, athletes who still believe that figure skating should move forward and quadruple jumps should be performed. These jumps just need to be assessed differently.
- If you say that you have chosen music for the next season, does this mean that you have returned to the sport seriously and for a long time?
- In the summer I need to have two operations. Remove the cyst on the right Achilles and heal the knees. I will undergo surgery and treatment in Germany. There is already an agreement with the doctors. Then we need to see how it will heal, how it will recover. But I already know who I will work with on general physical training. And I will pay much more attention to general physical training. I have my own ideas about exercises on ice. In short, I know how I will act next.
— After this Olympics, will you change anyone on your team?
- I won’t change my team. Perhaps we will invite some specialists. But in general everything will remain as it is. Maybe I'll change my image. However, I think this entire season has been perfect. I love my programs and my team.