81 Facts About Evgeni Plushenko

Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko is a Russian former figure skater.

Evgeni Plushenko is a four-time Olympic medalist, a three-time World champion, a seven-time European champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final champion, and a ten-time Russian national champion.

Evgeni Plushenko won a record total of 22 titles on the Grand Prix circuit.

Evgeni Plushenko was born on 3 November 1982 in Dzhamku, Solnechny District, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union.

Evgeni Plushenko's mother was originally from Volgograd, Russian SFSR, and his father, a carpenter, was born in Donetsk, Russia.

Evgeni Plushenko lived in Volgograd before moving to Saint Petersburg in 1994.

Evgeni Plushenko's surname is most commonly romanized as Plushenko but other variations exist.

Evgeni Plushenko's given name is romanized as Evgeni or Yevgeny.

Since Evgeni Plushenko frequently suffered from colds, his mother decided he needed exercise and enrolled him in figure skating lessons at age four.

Evgeni Plushenko trained in Volgograd, Russia until his ice rink closed when he was 11 years old.

Evgeni Plushenko became the youngest ever World Junior Champion and World medalist at age 14, winning the 1997 World Junior Championships.

Evgeni Plushenko developed a rivalry with Alexei Yagudin, with whom he trained under Mishin until Yagudin left in 1998.

In 2000, Evgeni Plushenko defeated Yagudin at the 2000 European Championships, but finished fourth at the 2000 World Championships.

Evgeni Plushenko finished 4th in the short program after falling on his quadruple toe loop, but skated a free skating to "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall.

Evgeni Plushenko won most of the competitions he entered in the following four years.

Evgeni Plushenko underwent surgery to correct the problem in Munich, Germany in spring 2005.

Evgeni Plushenko skated two solid programs and became the Olympic champion.

Evgeni Plushenko finished the short program ten points ahead of his closest rival, setting a new ISU record for the short program.

Evgeni Plushenko took a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season.

Evgeni Plushenko has said the off-season helped him rest and recover from past knee injuries he has battled.

Evgeni Plushenko stated that he planned to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In March 2009, Evgeni Plushenko announced that he had returned to training with longtime coach Alexei Mishin in order to prepare for the 2010 Olympics.

Evgeni Plushenko led the short program in his return to skating at the 2009 Cup of Russia on 23 October 2009.

Evgeni Plushenko earned 82.25 points for the short, and won the free skating with a score of 158.40.

In December 2009, Evgeni Plushenko signed a partnership agreement with the international management agency FlashLight led by the sports agent Andreas Goller.

At the 2010 Russian Championships, Evgeni Plushenko earned 100.09 points for his short program.

Evgeni Plushenko received 171.50 points in the free skating to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points.

At the 2010 European Championships, Evgeni Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points, and went on to win the event for a sixth time with a total score of 255.39 points.

Evgeni Plushenko skated at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and received a score of 90.85 for his short program performance, breaking the Olympic record and leading all competitors.

Evgeni Plushenko finished second in the free skating and second overall, ultimately winning the silver medal with a total score of 256.36,1.31 points behind the winner Evan Lysacek.

Evgeni Plushenko became the only living single skater to have won medals at three Olympics.

Evgeni Plushenko withdrew from the 2010 World Championships citing injury.

Evgeni Plushenko skated in exhibitions soon after his withdrawal from Worlds.

On 28 June 2010, the International Skating Union announced that Evgeni Plushenko had lost his eligibility due to participating in skating shows in March and April without the Russian figure skating federation's authorization.

Evgeni Plushenko was given 21 days to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which he did not do.

Evgeni Plushenko skated in ice shows around the world while continuing to train for a possible return to competition by practicing quad Salchows and quad loops.

Evgeni Plushenko said he hoped the ban was not a retaliation of his criticism of the judging at the Olympics and that he would like to return to competition with a clean slate.

On 12 June 2011, Evgeni Plushenko said that he had undergone knee surgery due to a meniscus problem but would be back on track within two weeks.

In December 2011, Evgeni Plushenko competed at the 2012 Russian Championships.

Evgeni Plushenko won the short program with a score of 88.24 and then won the free skating with a score of 171.43, to win his ninth national title.

Evgeni Plushenko was named to the Russian team for the 2012 European Championships, although he had not competed internationally recently enough to have the minimum technical elements scores.

In January 2012, the ISU released a statement confirming that Evgeni Plushenko had been allowed to participate in the 2012 European Championships.

On 26 January 2012, Evgeni Plushenko confirmed that he would undergo additional surgery on his meniscus after the competition and would be unable to compete at the 2012 World Championships.

Evgeni Plushenko competed at the 2012 European Championships, his first international competition since 2010.

Evgeni Plushenko earned a score of 84.71 for his short program and a personal-best score of 176.52 for free skating.

Evgeni Plushenko's overall competition score of 261.23 points was a personal best and earned him his seventh European title.

Evgeni Plushenko became only the third men's skater to capture seven European titles and the only one to do so in modern history.

Evgeni Plushenko is surpassed only by two skaters from the early history of the sport, Sweden's Ulrich Salchow, who won nine titles from 1898 to 1913, and Austria's Karl Schafer, who won eight from 1929 to 1936.

Evgeni Plushenko underwent surgery on his left knee to clean up the meniscus and repair a cartilage on 23 February 2012 in Germany.

In February 2012, Evgeni Plushenko mentioned a back problem due to spinal disc herniation.

Evgeni Plushenko lost some of his jumps but got them back before the 2013 Russian Championships in Sochi, Russia.

Evgeni Plushenko said his plan was to compete at the 2013 European and World Championships if his health allowed him.

Evgeni Plushenko withdrew from the 2013 European Championships after the short program due to his back problem.

Evgeni Plushenko underwent surgery on 31 January 2013 in Tel Aviv, Israel to replace a spinal disk with a synthetic one.

On 7 November 2013, Evgeni Plushenko returned to competition at the 22nd Volvo Open Cup in Riga, Latvia where he won the gold medal with an overall score of 263.25 points.

Evgeni Plushenko landed a 4T, 3A, 3A-3T in the free skating and obtained the minimum TES needed to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Evgeni Plushenko had one Grand Prix assignment, the 2013 Rostelecom Cup, but withdrew due to a minor knee injury.

At the 2014 Russian Championships, Evgeni Plushenko placed first in the short program and second in the free skating.

Evgeni Plushenko finished second overall behind Maxim Kovtun, his first loss at Nationals since placing third in 1998.

On 22 January 2014, it was announced that Evgeni Plushenko had been awarded Russia's men's spot for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics, Evgeni Plushenko competed in both the short and free skating segments of the team figure skating competition.

Evgeni Plushenko placed second in the short program with a personal best score of 91.39 behind Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan.

Evgeni Plushenko placed first in the free skating portion with a score of 168.20, garnering 19 points for his team.

On 2 March 2014, Evgeni Plushenko announced that he was going to have another back surgery citing a snapped pin in his back, and ended any plans for a return to professional competition.

Evgeni Plushenko expressed interest in coaching when he ended his skating career.

Evgeni Plushenko was the coach of Adelina Sotnikova, Russia's controversial 2014 Olympic champion, from April 2017 until she retired in 2020.

Evgeni Plushenko is the coach of Stanislava Konstantinova and Ekaterina Ryabova.

Evgeni Plushenko has won four Olympic medals, which, at the time, tied with Gillis Grafstrom's record for most Olympic medals in figure skating.

Evgeni Plushenko is known for his dynamic performances, and technical advancement of the sport.

Evgeni Plushenko is the first male skater to perform the Biellmann spin in the senior competitions.

Evgeni Plushenko first landed the combination at the 2002 Cup of Russia and has since landed it four times.

Evgeni Plushenko is the first skater to complete the 3A-3F combination.

Evgeni Plushenko performed a 3A-3T-3Lo combination at the exhibition finale of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Evgeni Plushenko has consistently landed 4T in competitions and landed a 4S in Samara, Russia during the 2004 Russian Cup series.

Evgeni Plushenko has worked on and landed 4Lo and 4Lz in practice, but has never completed any of them in competition.

At the age of 16, Evgeni Plushenko became the youngest male skater to ever receive a perfect score of 6.0.

Evgeni Plushenko received a total of seventy five 6.0's before the new Code of Points judging system was introduced.

Evgeni Plushenko has advocated the position that both men and women should be equally allowed to use the quad jump in skating competition without gender discrimination.

In 2006, Evgeni Plushenko joined the political party A Just Russia, and in March 2007, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg.

Evgeni Plushenko quit A Just Russia and said he had no plans to join another political party.

On 18 June 2005, Evgeni Plushenko married Maria Ermak, a sociology student at the Saint Petersburg State University, in a ceremony at the Hotel Astoria in Saint Petersburg.