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Russian skater turns in a display for the ages
By Jenifer K. Nii
Deseret News Olympic specialist
Wanna talk Olympic figure skating scandals?
And no, we're not talking about the pairs event.
Russian Alexei Yagudin handily won his first Olympic gold medal Thursday evening. His performance, a magical interpretation of "The Man in the Iron Mask," had it all: big jumps, incredible footwork and drama, drama, drama.
The four 6.0s he received set a new individual record in the history of the Olympic Winter Games. Previously, no individual skater had received more than one perfect mark in Olympic competition.
It was a dream come true for the three-time world champion, who fought his way through illness to a fifth-place finish at the 1998 Nagano Games.
"Actually, I began to dream about this four years ago, when I went to Nagano," Yagudin said. "There, I finally realized, 'I can do it.' "
The real race was for second place, between American Timothy Goebel and Evgeny Plushenko, the reigning world champion from Russia. In another life, Goebel would have had the upper hand. His three quadruple jumps were stratospheric, his spins not quite so mediocre, and his presentation of "An American in Paris" seemed more and more charming as excitement rippled over the Salt Lake Ice Center crowd.
But in this life, and in this sport, performances of the day do not necessarily win the day. And so it was with Goebel. Though Plushenko's "Carmen" was a vast improvement over the choreographic catastrophe he unveiled at the recent ISU Grand Prix Final, it had its flaws. Plushenko stepped out of his quadruple toe loop/triple toe/double loop combination, put additional steps between a planned triple Axel/triple toe loop combination and doubled a triple Salchow.
Add to that the fact that Plushenko had to come from behind — and some said he should have been placed farther behind than he was, after his fall in the short program Tuesday night — and Plushenko's silver medal was a triumph.
"I feel good, very happy," he said. "Silver medal, second place. That's OK. It's not first, but it's the first Olympic Games for me."
Medal color aside, Goebel said he was elated over his performance.
"I feel great," he said. "I skated as well as I can skate, and I was just so happy to go out there and put it out under pressure. I have the hardest program of anyone, so I have a lot to think about. I just try to land the jumps and I'll think about the rest later."
His coach, Frank Carroll, said he was less than pleased with the judges' second mark, for presentation. Though he did not say the result reached the level of scandalousness in the pairs event, he did say he wanted to talk to the judges about their marks.
"I think people were on their toes tonight in the judging panel," Carroll said. "I think they did a good job. I'm a little disappointed in Timothy's second mark. I don't think he deserved a 5.4."
Fellow Americans Todd Eldredge and Michael Weiss both improved on their standings with gutsy, veteran performances. Weiss finished seventh, while Eldredge moved up to sixth.
It was an emotional performance for Eldredge, who announced this would be his final Olympics. As he finished his program, having fallen once on his quad toe loop, Eldredge took a few extra seconds to relish his time on Olympic ice. Then, as he skated toward the boards, he turned and waved one last time to the crowd — and the Olympic rings.
"Being old, and still being able to do what the youngsters out there are doing . . . obviously, it's a great feeling, to see all the hard work come together," Eldredge said.
"You'll see me in four years, but not on the ice."
E-MAIL: jnii@desnews.com
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February 15, 2002
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