It's not difficult to understand by Lysacek won gold. 1. Lysace's programs were more technically difficult than Plushenko's, even without the quad. Lysacek was the first skater smart enough to backload his programs and bank up the extra 10% on a lot of elements. Now, everyone is doing it! Traditionally, Plushenko put all his heavy tech elements up front and just coasted through the last 1.5-2 minutes of his program. Because Lysack's base value was higher in both programs, and he skated flawlessly with zero deductions, he beat Plushenko on the technical mark, even without the quad. They were essentially tied on PCS with Plushenko only having a 0.1 advantage there. So, no one can say Lysacek's victory was a subjective one or that Plushenko was "robbed". He wasn't. Mandatory base points and the extra 10% add up, and they did just that for Lysacek. 2. Eight years ago, the guys who were able (and there weren't many) were mostly doing one quad in each program. In those days, it wasn't difficult for a challenger who skated flawlessly with zero deductions and no quads to defeat a defending champion who landed a couple quads but with other mistakes. At that time, the quad toe Plushenko was doing was only worth 10.3 points, while a triple-axle, triple-toe was worth 12.8 points, and Lysacek had a 3A+3T and a 3L+3T in his LP. He also got higher levels on his footwork and other elements. 3. Plushenko was seriously out of shape. It must be remembered that after winning gold in Torino, Plushenko went into semi-retirement. Between 2006 and 2010, he didn't skate in a single competition. In fact, the ONLY competition he skated in prior to the 2010 games was Russian Nationals. Now, I don't care how talented someone is--if you don't use it, you're going to lose it. How could Plushenko think he could come back after four years of not skating competitively and walk right into the Olympic games?! His lack of conditioning showed. His jumps were very crooked in the air with wild landings and a wide swinging leg on one. A couple of times, only his muscle memory kept him from falling. To all those who don't know how to add up base points and understand why Lysacek won, I say, "Go back and compare Plushenko's LP's from Torino and Vancouver. His performance and conditioning is markedly decreased in 2010." Even so, the judges did NOT hit Plushenko with the -GOEs he deserved, while at the same time, they showed Lysacek almost no +GOE love that he should have earned. In the end, Lysacek won that gold all by himself with no help from the judges either in +GOEs or PCS. He won it basically on base points alone, and he totally deserved it. 4. Plushenko knew he hadn't done enough to win. I always tell people who bitch about Lysacek's win to watch Plushenko's Vancouver LP and pause the video after the camera gets a close-up on him with his arms over his head during the applause. You can tell by the worried expression on his face he KNEW what he laid down wasn't enough to win, even with the quad...and yet, he somehow still expected it. Such an entitled narcissist. 5. Lysacek's gold also is NOT the first time a skater with no quad defeated a defending champion who landed one in each program. Two years BEFORE Vancouver at Worlds 2008, Canada's Jeffrey Buttle defeated France's Brian Joubert, who landed two quads but with other errors, while Buttle with no quads had two incredible skates. Watch it. Buttle is amazing and deserved his gold, too. Yet somehow, certain people lost their minds when Lysacek won gold in Vancouver. The bottom line is that Plushenko seriously underestimated the competition and overestimated his capability after four years off going into the 2010 games. He thought he could sail right in there and walk away with the gold like 2006. He expected his reputation and not his actual performance to do the heavy lifting for him, but he wasn't counting on a better and smarter skater with a strategically planned program skated flawlessly defeating him that night. His ego got the best of him. Even in Sochi four years later, the top guys were still only doing one quad in the SP and just two quads in the LP. That's it. Men's skating didn't become quad heavy until Nathan Chen hit the scene in 2016-17 and forced all the guys to try and keep up with him. Now, you simply can't win without two quads in the SP and at least 4-5 in the LP...but back in 2010, it was a VERY different story.
You made a really good point! Thank you for your explanation! I guess lots of people still don't understand the principles in new scoring program of figure skating executed since 2006. Even in 2022 Beijing olympics, Anna Sherbakova's gold medal was controversial among some figure skating fans who claimed that Trusova deserved gold, since she "landed" 5 quad jumps in free skating program. (Yes she landed without falls but she did not perform many of those quad jumps flawlessly without any mistake. And Trusova's pcs elements including choreography and skating skills are definitely in low quality compared to other medalists. If she were to win gold medal, at least, Trusova should have landed all quads 100% successfully without two-foot landing and attention marks on her flip.) Plushenko is a legendary skater, of course, and he also did a great job in Vancouver 2010 considering career gap before the olympic games. But the skaters' score must be judged according to the rules, not solely by their past reputation. Though Evan did not perform quad jumps, he and Frank coach planned well and successfully composed his program with various transitions and choreography.
Perfectly summed up. Evan only had one semi-wonky landing (2nd triple axel) but it wasn't a huge break so it probably only resulted in a 0 or -1 GOE, everything else was clean as a whistle. Plushenko on the other hand, had to save multiple jumps (first triple axel was way tilted to the wrong side, the triple lutz + 2 toe etc). Plushenko later said he should've been way ahead of everyone, which I disagree, because a quad toe wasn't worth as much as people would think it is. With Evan's triple axel + 2 toe in the 10% bonus region, the base value is 9.50 compared to Plushenko's 9.80 quad toe
Even though Evan's not my fave, he clearly deserved the gold. His program was much cleaner and more elegant. It doesn't matter that he didn't have the quad. If Evegeni had skated a clean program with the quad then I would have been all for Evgeni winning but imo he didn't even try.
ashli674 I agree. Plushy even when acting douche was always one of my guilty pleasures. But he wasn't as good as Evan at this competition. Overall Plushy is the better career skater but it wasn't his night.
I agree. Plushenko did perform a quad but only one quad program could be beaten by other technical and composition elements. Due to his career gap before Vancouver olympics, Plushenko seemed quite conservative with his skating especially in FS. Lack of choreography and transition, slower skating than usual, some awkward landings etc... I think Plushenko's performance looked much better in 2014, even though he made a few mistakes in jumps but still filled his program with plentiful transitions and choreography so that the entire audience could truly enjoy it. It's a shame that some Russians mention Lysacek and Plushenko when they are trying to defend Sotnikova winning (=robbing) gold medal from Yuna Kim 2014. Evan was just about to achieve "Grand Slam", only missing olympic gold medal. He was the best skater back then, different from Sotnikova who hadn't won any gold medal in major competitions before Sochi 2014.
Unfair decision-Plushenko deserved gold.Evan won without quad with his boring program.Everybody talks about russian ban and cheating.Who cheated in Vancouver and took gold from Plushy?.Shame! The biggest unjustice in history of figure skating was happened in Vancouver.
It's not difficult to understand by Lysacek won gold.
1. Lysace's programs were more technically difficult than Plushenko's, even without the quad. Lysacek was the first skater smart enough to backload his programs and bank up the extra 10% on a lot of elements. Now, everyone is doing it! Traditionally, Plushenko put all his heavy tech elements up front and just coasted through the last 1.5-2 minutes of his program. Because Lysack's base value was higher in both programs, and he skated flawlessly with zero deductions, he beat Plushenko on the technical mark, even without the quad. They were essentially tied on PCS with Plushenko only having a 0.1 advantage there. So, no one can say Lysacek's victory was a subjective one or that Plushenko was "robbed". He wasn't. Mandatory base points and the extra 10% add up, and they did just that for Lysacek.
2. Eight years ago, the guys who were able (and there weren't many) were mostly doing one quad in each program. In those days, it wasn't difficult for a challenger who skated flawlessly with zero deductions and no quads to defeat a defending champion who landed a couple quads but with other mistakes. At that time, the quad toe Plushenko was doing was only worth 10.3 points, while a triple-axle, triple-toe was worth 12.8 points, and Lysacek had a 3A+3T and a 3L+3T in his LP. He also got higher levels on his footwork and other elements.
3. Plushenko was seriously out of shape. It must be remembered that after winning gold in Torino, Plushenko went into semi-retirement. Between 2006 and 2010, he didn't skate in a single competition. In fact, the ONLY competition he skated in prior to the 2010 games was Russian Nationals. Now, I don't care how talented someone is--if you don't use it, you're going to lose it. How could Plushenko think he could come back after four years of not skating competitively and walk right into the Olympic games?! His lack of conditioning showed. His jumps were very crooked in the air with wild landings and a wide swinging leg on one. A couple of times, only his muscle memory kept him from falling. To all those who don't know how to add up base points and understand why Lysacek won, I say, "Go back and compare Plushenko's LP's from Torino and Vancouver. His performance and conditioning is markedly decreased in 2010." Even so, the judges did NOT hit Plushenko with the -GOEs he deserved, while at the same time, they showed Lysacek almost no +GOE love that he should have earned. In the end, Lysacek won that gold all by himself with no help from the judges either in +GOEs or PCS. He won it basically on base points alone, and he totally deserved it.
4. Plushenko knew he hadn't done enough to win. I always tell people who bitch about Lysacek's win to watch Plushenko's Vancouver LP and pause the video after the camera gets a close-up on him with his arms over his head during the applause. You can tell by the worried expression on his face he KNEW what he laid down wasn't enough to win, even with the quad...and yet, he somehow still expected it. Such an entitled narcissist.
5. Lysacek's gold also is NOT the first time a skater with no quad defeated a defending champion who landed one in each program. Two years BEFORE Vancouver at Worlds 2008, Canada's Jeffrey Buttle defeated France's Brian Joubert, who landed two quads but with other errors, while Buttle with no quads had two incredible skates. Watch it. Buttle is amazing and deserved his gold, too. Yet somehow, certain people lost their minds when Lysacek won gold in Vancouver. The bottom line is that Plushenko seriously underestimated the competition and overestimated his capability after four years off going into the 2010 games. He thought he could sail right in there and walk away with the gold like 2006. He expected his reputation and not his actual performance to do the heavy lifting for him, but he wasn't counting on a better and smarter skater with a strategically planned program skated flawlessly defeating him that night. His ego got the best of him.
Even in Sochi four years later, the top guys were still only doing one quad in the SP and just two quads in the LP. That's it. Men's skating didn't become quad heavy until Nathan Chen hit the scene in 2016-17 and forced all the guys to try and keep up with him. Now, you simply can't win without two quads in the SP and at least 4-5 in the LP...but back in 2010, it was a VERY different story.
lcowles Thank you for presenting a concise perfect analysis of why Evan deserved to win the gold! Very impressive!
Brilliant summary. Regarding 4 Robin Cousins commentating for BBC also called Lysacek the champion mid-way through Plushenko's programme.
You made a really good point! Thank you for your explanation! I guess lots of people still don't understand the principles in new scoring program of figure skating executed since 2006. Even in 2022 Beijing olympics, Anna Sherbakova's gold medal was controversial among some figure skating fans who claimed that Trusova deserved gold, since she "landed" 5 quad jumps in free skating program. (Yes she landed without falls but she did not perform many of those quad jumps flawlessly without any mistake. And Trusova's pcs elements including choreography and skating skills are definitely in low quality compared to other medalists. If she were to win gold medal, at least, Trusova should have landed all quads 100% successfully without two-foot landing and attention marks on her flip.)
Plushenko is a legendary skater, of course, and he also did a great job in Vancouver 2010 considering career gap before the olympic games. But the skaters' score must be judged according to the rules, not solely by their past reputation. Though Evan did not perform quad jumps, he and Frank coach planned well and successfully composed his program with various transitions and choreography.
Correction: Nathan Chen wasn't the start of the quad revolution. It was the year before his senior debut, with Boyang Jin and Shoma Uno.
Perfectly summed up. Evan only had one semi-wonky landing (2nd triple axel) but it wasn't a huge break so it probably only resulted in a 0 or -1 GOE, everything else was clean as a whistle. Plushenko on the other hand, had to save multiple jumps (first triple axel was way tilted to the wrong side, the triple lutz + 2 toe etc). Plushenko later said he should've been way ahead of everyone, which I disagree, because a quad toe wasn't worth as much as people would think it is. With Evan's triple axel + 2 toe in the 10% bonus region, the base value is 9.50 compared to Plushenko's 9.80 quad toe
Soooooooooooo happy for him and Frank!!!!!
Lysacek may have won Olympic gold, but Plushenko's mullet really won that night.
No se puede ganar una olimpiada con saltos torcidos!.. por favor
Even though Evan's not my fave, he clearly deserved the gold. His program was much cleaner and more elegant. It doesn't matter that he didn't have the quad. If Evegeni had skated a clean program with the quad then I would have been all for Evgeni winning but imo he didn't even try.
ashli674 I agree. Plushy even when acting douche was always one of my guilty pleasures. But he wasn't as good as Evan at this competition. Overall Plushy is the better career skater but it wasn't his night.
I agree. Plushenko did perform a quad but only one quad program could be beaten by other technical and composition elements. Due to his career gap before Vancouver olympics, Plushenko seemed quite conservative with his skating especially in FS. Lack of choreography and transition, slower skating than usual, some awkward landings etc... I think Plushenko's performance looked much better in 2014, even though he made a few mistakes in jumps but still filled his program with plentiful transitions and choreography so that the entire audience could truly enjoy it.
It's a shame that some Russians mention Lysacek and Plushenko when they are trying to defend Sotnikova winning (=robbing) gold medal from Yuna Kim 2014. Evan was just about to achieve "Grand Slam", only missing olympic gold medal. He was the best skater back then, different from Sotnikova who hadn't won any gold medal in major competitions before Sochi 2014.
Evan is so captivating
I was at the edge of my seat then.
Me encanta ver la felicidad del Campeón Olímpico !!!! Es hermoso contagiarse de esa alegría!! 💪🏻🥇👏🏻👏🏻
é claro que ele foi o último homem americano a patinar com paixão
very good!!! uau!!!
Gorgeous
У Плющенко номер яркий!!!!!!
Another scandal
Unfair decision-Plushenko deserved gold.Evan won without quad with his boring program.Everybody talks about russian ban and cheating.Who cheated in Vancouver and took gold from Plushy?.Shame! The biggest unjustice in history of figure skating was happened in Vancouver.
Nenena sveks There was no cheating. Plushenko’s performance had zero artistry and poor execution. Lysacek was the better skater.