Plyuschenko Returns to the Ice

Plyuschenko Returns to the Ice

After a three-year absence, Olympic champion Yevgeny Plyuschenko is staging a comeback. Plyuschenko had planned a comeback as early as 2007, but injuries interfered. Or perhaps he was not mentally ready. In any event,
he decided to enter the Rostelecom Cup, a stage of the Grand Prix, held in Moscow October 23-25.
Nikolai Dolgopolov, a frequent contributor to Russian Life, recently caught up with Plyushchenko.

Zhenya, why did you come back?

I have missed sports and I know I am a strong man and I can still do something positive for Russia.

For Russia, for yourself, for St. Petersburg? What counts most?

What counts most? Well, I am coming back for my own sake, and for the people who love figure skating and who love me. I am also doing it for my coach, for my wife Yana, for my mom, for all my relatives. For all those who help me, who stand by me, who are close to me when the going gets tough. And I went through some tough moments, especially in the run-up to the 2006 Olympics.

You are not afraid of losing?

I dream of doing my best and I will certainly do that. I am proving that I can skate, that I have come back for good—and that’s good enough for me. Let me tell you this:
it makes sense to come back only if you give it 100 percent. Again: I missed figure skating big time. I need that adrenaline rush that sports gives me. You know, I really feel it’s my thing. I am still young. I still have the energy... The desire is also there. I just hope my legs and my feet will not fail me.

You mean you still have problems with that?

Well, I do have certain problems. I have been skating for so many years. Not that long ago, my foot hurt. I keep putting some balm on it, so we’ll see who will get the upper hand.

They say you cannot avoid injury in elite sports… you need to practice for such long hours to stay on top of your form. It is hard to find a world class athlete who does not have injuries.

Well, you just need to endure, to stay humble, to convince yourself that you can overcome pain. If you set a high goal, then the game is definitely worth the candle.   

And what are your plans for the season? What are you going to do after the Rostelecom cup?

In late December, I plan to participate in the national championships in St. Petersburg, knock on wood. Then in January—God help me!—I will participate in the European Championships in Tallinn. Then the [2010 Vancouver] Olympics and, if everything works well, I will add to that list the World Championships.

Quite an ambitious program. So you even want to take part in the Worlds?

Why not?

And what does your long-time coach Alexei Mishin have to say about that?

He has always been with me and is always here to help. He’s the one who instills confidence in me. I am really grateful to him—from the bottom of my heart. Just as in the years leading up to the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Alexei Mishin and I have gone through all the necessary training sessions. Our preparation plans were endorsed by the President of the Russian Federation of Figure Skating, Valentin Piseyev. So, yes, we have been preparing and training, and we have done well.

You have come up with a new short and free program. And your friend, the violinist and composer Edwin Martin, has prepared the musical arrangement. And you have… choreographer David Avdysh and manager Ari Zakarian.

Yes, this is my team and I appreciate everything they do for me. I dream of winning with this team.   

Since you mentioned it yourself, let me ask you a question athletes don’t like to answer. What do you expect to achieve at the Olympics in Vancouver in February?

Well, if I didn’t expect to achieve anything, why would I come back? I really want to win. I really mean it.

Let me congratulate you on your wedding. On September 12 you married Yana Rudkovskaya in St. Petersburg [Rudkovskaya is the producer for Russian pop singer Dima Belan, who won the Eurovision 2008 contest]. And almost right after the wedding you stepped out onto the ice to compete. This is what you call a honeymoon?

Yana is helping me a great deal. Actually, if I come back it’s in large part due to her.