Men's Figure Skating Stunner: Lysacek Upsets Plushenko For Gold

Sports News - February 19th, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

It was supposed to be another day at the office for the Russians. Dominating the figure skating category of the Olympics has become a forgone conclusion for so long that many of their competitors forgot what it was like to Evan earn a gold. So forgive Evan Lysacek if he found it surreal to hear the United States anthem playing during the medal ceremony after men's singles.

"I saw that American flag go up," Lysacek said, "and I couldn't believe it was for me."

But it was. For the first time since 1988, it was an American who took gold in the men's singles, beating the Russian Brett Favre by a mile. Lysacek recorded his best-career score of 257.67, to edge out retired -- then unretired -- Evgeni Plushenko.

Plushenko had been retired for three years, but won gold in his last two Olympics and was favored by nearly all of the Online Sportsbooks. He thought he had won a fourth after his final routine, waving his index finger in the air.

"I was positive that I won. But I suppose Evan needs a medal more than I do," Plushenko told the Associated Press. "Maybe it's because I already have one."

But the judges felt otherwise, presenting a score far lower than Lysacek, and USA fans realized what that meant almost instantly.

"I said to him, 'My compliments, you are the Olympic champion'," coach Frank Carroll said to him.

"I could have stood up there for hours and thought about every moment of training that I was thinking, 'God, what if one day?" Lysacek said. "And it kept me going and it pushed me."

Pairs gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were by Lysacek's side as well, after becoming the first non-Russian pair to win since 1964.

Fan favorite Johnny Weir fell back to ninth.

Lysacek won the title for technical superiority, pulling off tighter spins and jumps. It's a rarity because Plushenko usually thrives in that category.

"Plushenko was brilliant in the jumping. He did some brilliant, very difficult things," Carroll told the AP. "But if you think of his skating, he was very brilliant, then down. And very brilliant, then down. It was going in waves. Evan just sort of stayed in a straight line and kept going at a certain level from the start to the finish."

Plushenko's routine oozed confidence as he pleased the crowd with a tango that was part playful part boastful. He had made a living pulling off technical moves and showing unmatched personality, and Thursday night was just another medal-winning routine to him. But he had to constantly correct his landings, and keep his balance to avoid a messy spill. He never fell, but wasn't as perfect as Lysacek.

"I knew I would accept any outcome," he said. "After this defeat, I'm not going to put my hands down and stop."

But it didn't come without it's share of controversy. Lysacek didn't pull off a quadruple, skating's staple, in his routine because of a sore foot, and some are calling foul.

"Lysacek skated slow and his jumps weren’t close to the technical ability of defending Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko," Yahoo! Sports' Elvis Stojko vented. "How can you be Olympic champion when you don’t Evan try the quad? If you’re going to take the quad out, why not take out another triple axel and just have more of the other stuff so the International Skating Union can make it more into an 'art' recital."

Plushenko agreed.

"If the Olympic champion doesn't know how to jump a quad, I don't know," he said. "Now it's not men's figure skating, now it's dancing."

But Lysacek made no apologies, arguing that judges should consider the entire routine, not one jump.

"If it was a jumping competition, they'd give you 10 seconds to go do your best jump. But it's about 4 minutes and 40 seconds of skating and performing from start to finish," Lysacek responded to the AP. "That was my challenge tonight, and I feel like I did quite well."