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It turns out that Evgeni Plushenko is as gracious after the men's figure skating competition as he was before it. Despite the fact that it was Evan Lysacek who had the gold medal around his neck during Thursday night's, Plushenko says Lysacek is not the champion because Lysacek didn't attempt a quad jump.
“Just doing nice transitions and being artistic is not enough because figure skating is a sport, not a show,” he said.
It's true that Plushenko completed a quadruple jump, but Plushenko probably should have looked at the score sheets before commenting.
If he did, he'd see that he earned the exact same score as Lysacek in program components, the score that meansures artistry. Both skaters scored 82.80. It was the technical component score that won it for Lysacek.
You know, the score that measures things like jumps.
What won the gold for Lysacek was execution and strategic choreography. He executed his jumps near flawlessly, earning high grades of execution. Lysacek was also smart enough to back load his routine, putting several difficult jumps in the second half of the skate, when a ten percent bonus is added to every element. Lysacek is able to jump so well at the end of the routine because he is one of the best conditioned skaters in the Olympics.
The above was taken from Yahoo sports.
I am delighted that Lysacek was awarded the gold. His grace on and off the ice made it all the sweeter. Do not get me wrong...I like sass and arrogance as much as the next submissive girl but only when it is warranted. There was a lot of build up with Plushenko returning after three years and having won the gold at the last winter games. His practices showed him to be a powerful skater full of pride and certainty. I enjoyed watching him perform and thought he might pull it off but alas American skater Lysacek proved to be the better man on and off the ice.
Something about men in tight outfits jumping and gliding on ice that gets my motor going :)
