Plushie talks disqualification
Click to viewOlympic champion Evgeni Plushenko continues to serve his suspension, imposed on him by the International Skating Union. Evgeni, who missed the World Championship, was punished for the fact that he took part in the shows without the permission of the national federation. Currently, he is actively practicing, planning to continue representing Russia in international events. Our correspondent in St. Petersburg meets the main characters of the drama - Evgeni Plushenko and Alexei Mishin; they, like the true heroes, spare no words.
Evgeni Plushenko is actively working on the ice on a new show number to the music he had already used. Olympic champion and two-times Olympic silver medalist, together with choreographer David Avdysh, prepares for the show, where Zhenya will perform with his entire team, which has won the Eurovision Song Contest, but now for another audience - Asian.
Evgeni: Many of our artists were in Japan and had the honor to perform there, Dima will perform in Japan and it is an honor for him, I'm proud to say this, and much has been done to make it possible both by me and by my wife Yana Rudkovskaya.
There is really no need to worry about Evgeni Plushenko's future as a showman, but his future as a sportsman is indeed worrisome. A week ago ISU informed that the decision to ban Evgeni Plusheko from competitions for refusing to participate in the World Championships and at the same time performing in the show had became final, because of the lack of an appeal in due time. It doesn't mean he lost his eligibility forever - especially in light of his statement here:
Evgeni: I want to say that this October, October 2nd, I am taking part in ISU competitions, there are competitions that are held by the International Skating Union in Japan - ISU Open, they are team competitions. Now there is the buzz, but since we both, the ISU and I went to meet each other, it was decided that I will compete. Disqualification applies to other competitions, but they admitted me to this one. It's funny, I can take part in some competitions while in the others I cannot, although they are all ISU tournaments.
Still, the ISU Open - it's more of a show than a serious tournament, where the teams of different continents compete against each other. Plushenko talks quite frankly about his future in sport, referring primarily to the functionaries of the Russian Figure Skating Federation.
Evgeni: You know, I'm an athlete, my job is to skate, to please the fans. I have a team, coach, and for the paperwork, bureaucracy there is a federation, it is their duty. I have no wish to enter into any debate, I have not filed an appeal, because I think I have been working with the ISU, and to fight with them - it wouldn't be to my favor. Wait and see, of course. My task is to train, my goal is to compete, and my dream to compete in Sochi in 2014. No one had tried to contact me, and I'm not eager to contact them either. But once again I want to say, we continue to work together, but the very least I can say, I'm going to fight for my spot in the team and I will make every effort to compete in Sochi-2014. I think that my desire is not enough, because I'm not an ISU favorite and nobody really wants to see me at the international competitions too badly, because yes, I am uncomfortable, yes, I'm complicated, yes, I can sometimes skate well. Yes, many people don't really need that. Yes, we need new names. I understand it very well. But I intend to be in Sochi, and not as a tourist, I want to fight.
The monologue is really passionate, and you can trace a resentment, after all, Evgeni has given so many years to Figure Skating. But there are also words of coach Alexei Mishin that are worth a listen - sometimes a bad peace is better than a good war.
Mishin: My optimism is based on the fact that not only Evgeni needs International Skating Union, but I certainly believe that the International Skating Union also needs such brilliant athlete as Evgeni.
ISU rules do, in fact, allow to restore eligibility in case of the violations which are incriminated Plushenko, if the National Federation of Skating and the athlete apply to ISU. And probably not without reason at the very end of the conversation Evgeni confirmed: by the end of this week, he is planning to address the Skating Union asking them to remove the sanctions imposed on him.