Important

I'm not sure if I should open for that a new topic but I want your opinions! I found a video on Youtube from Evan doing "El Tango de Roxanne" and a in the comments a few people said they never had seen him so much skate like Plushenko! I'm not similiar with Plushenko but I saw a little and I don't know why they said that! What do you think?

In my opinion I think they are way off base.

In all the times I've seen Evan skate it would never occur to me to compare the two in any way whatsoever!! Each has a style totally unique to himself.

I agree with what Mary said. Just because they skate to similar music or do some similar moves doesn't make them the same. Other than the fact that they're both FABULOUS skaters, I don't think they're much alike.

I agree with the others. I don't see the similarities.

I don't see the similarities. The main difference, I think, is Plushenko does a lot less footwork than Evan. Plushenko focuses more on getting from one jump to the next, while Evan will put in some footwork. Very different styles in that regard.

As I said before I'm not the biggest skating-expert in the world but I like to watch it!
What I can say is that I have the impression that Plushenko is very focused do to one jump to another! This is for him figure skating and he is well known for jumping like crazy!
I also think that he is very smart to stylize himself, for example to be the first man who did (I don't know the name of this figure) this woman figure, skating on one foot and holding the other backwarts in the high of his neck! It's maybe very easy to stylize in this Sport! Plushenko is surly a great skater but also someone who knows how to stay in the limelight!

I'm curious if he will be at the next Olympics in Russia, I mean he surly wants to be in his country but I heard his knees are very destroyed and it can happen much in three years! I'm also not happy to make Olympics in Russia, it's not much a democratic country, it has big problems of corruption for example! I'm not sure if there will be fair Olympics!

I understand your concern about corruption in Russia, JessSari, but I think the Russians MUST be fully aware that if they really want to make a GOOD impression on the world, then the last thing they'd want to do is tarnish the Olympics with corruption and cheating. Just my two cents.

Plushenko could compete at Sochi, but he will definitely NOT be a factor. Seeing as there is currently one strong male skater, it could be possible for Plushenko to (barely) make the team. Then again, by time the 2014 Olympics come around, there probably will be a couple of skaters who will make the team. Besides, I think he's probably through (physically) with competition, although his heart would love to be there.

I think the reference about skating so much in the style of Plushenko, could be referring to the intensity with which both of them skate. I think they definitely have different styles, but they both attack the ice with a lot of confidence and don't hold back and know what their goals are. When they are out there they own the ice and everybody knows it.

nooooooo way. evan is the best skater in the world and they dare compare his unique and amazing style to evgeni mullet plushenko? i would hope not. pluhenko is talented but nowhere near as amazing as the incredible grace and accuracy that is evan. <_<

Ellen, I seriously think that Plushenko WILL be there, and with very loud bells on (in Sochi). The man is a TANK!! he won his medal in Torino with such a bad back that most skaters would not even have bothered to skate. To skate without some kind of serious pain is foreign to this man. And he's only about 2 years evan's senior, so age should not be a factor. I remember Todd Eldridge winning Nationals at a geriatric 30!! It CAN be done.

As for the comment that he will not be a factor, many a mistake has been made by the fool competing against him who underestimated this man!! He was 3 months off MAJOR knee surgery when he won the Russian Nationals and the European Championships already this year!! I cannot imagine how a healthy man of this character would skate! For most skaters out there, skating was an option, a much loved past-time that turned into an obsession. For THIS man, there was no question about it-he MUST win. It was a matter of survival. Seriously. Without the prize money from skating, there would be NO life. One cannot sustain themselves on 1/2 an apple for breakfast, and the other half for dinner, with nothing in between) and truly survive. When you develop THAT kind of mindset at THAT young an age, it's difficult to break away clean from your way of thinking. He is so driven that I see in him still the little boy collecting bottles with his mother to be able to afford bread. He had to steel himself from a cruel and painful world. The ethic he has for this sport shows me he's still wearing that armor.

And as a very wise man named Ghandi once said "Strength does not come from physical capacity. it comes from an indomitable will". In Russia, they say "If I can crawl, I will be there.."


Right now, I think Patrick Chan is rated #1 in the world. And I'm NOT a fan of his-cannot understand how he keeps winning when he spends at least ONE jump landing playing Zamboni. It doesn't look real artistic when he falls, either. But, at least he's consistent..he does it MOST of the time.. He's a sweetheart of a kid, and even bashes the IJS, although to me it's like biting the hand that feeds him. Evan can, and did, function well in both worlds, the 6.0 and the IJS. If..I mean WHEN he comes back (can any of you see Linus cowering under his blanket, saying "I mean WHEN the Great Pumpkin comes...) he's a sure thing for Sochi, as long as he stays healthy. Plushenko's main rival is also his training partner-a bleached blond surfer looking kid named Artur Gachinski, who is armed with a powerful quad, but who is right now, plagued by inconsistency. LOVE to watch him when he gets it right, although he lacks the maturity of a Lysacek, Plushenko, Chan or Weir.

I adore our Evan, and simply cannot wait for his competitive return. (PLEEEEEEESE, Evan....)Plushenko is back, although he's more recently had another surgery to repair the left meniscus, and hasn't been training the quad. Weir is back (saw him land an amazing quad toe the other day)..So..the only unanswered question is Evan.

I am SO ready for his answer...but understand that he must take the time to decide what is right for him, and to reach an agreement with USFS that is satisfactory to him. He deserves better than the way they've treated him. Lord knows they NEED him... :hourglass:

No competitor in his right mind would ever underestimate Plushenko. and most certainly Evan will not. He knows that on any given day, any of those on the ice currently and maybe some coming up, are and will be forces to be reckoned with in 2014. At any given time, each has beat the other at various competitions. He and Plushenko are the champions of a competitor's mental toughness to get the job done. No one equals either of them in that department.

I do not for one minute doubt EP's determination to be there, regardless of the condition of his body. While I think it's foolish in the long run for him to continue to abuse it, that's no one's call but his own.

That said, I do think EP learned from Vancouver not to dismiss the "new" IJS and will apply himself to making the most of the opportunity to gather points. And he now knows that it is sometimes necessary to compete and indeed possible to win a competition without a quad - having had to do so himself recently - hopefully he has learned not to scoff at others who have done so. Did he call his win "dancing?" I doubt it. (Sorry to bring that up again, but while Evan may have forgiven that, it still rankles with me.)

Anyway, where I think EP will face difficulties is in the GOE!! With an older body in pain, those are bound to suffer. He'll also have trouble, imo, in being able to back load his program with jumps for bonus points with a failing body. Throughout his career he has never exhibited the stamina to be able to do so even when he was younger and in better shape physically. He'll most likely execute the elements, but the quality will be in question and that's where Evan beat him in 2010 - in the technical grades of execution.

Plus, none of us know what kind of tweaking the ISU will do to the Code of Points between now and then. We have to remember, the ones currently in place are different from those that Evan competed with. Higher base points on some jumps, lower on others - and more lenience in under-rotations and downgrades.

It's for sure the next two years leading up to Sochi will be very interesting. We're all in for a fantastic ride. Now all we have to do is trust that USFS will accept the new realities for figure skating in the 21st century and re-word the athlete agreement(s) to a mutually acceptable form that Evan will not have to compromise his principles to sign. The ultimate win for everyone is to have him back on the competition ice.

:skating: I do not see that they skate alike, but ITA that they both have that hard driven determination to get out there and DO IT! I also cannot wait to see Evan back on the competitive ice. We are soooo missing him :wub:

Excellent points, ladies! :thumbup:

I know in my heart that Evan WILL compete in the next two years up to and including Sochi.

And it WILL be quite a ride. So looking forward to it all! :skating2: :skating:

I simply cannot wait to see what the next 2 years will bring!! I know as well that Evan WILL be back, to bring to the ice once again his own special magic!

I sure hope they do SOMETHING about the COP system..it's fatally flawed!! Any system that drops both a skaters highest and lowest scores (okay, that's fair and eliminates bias) THEN drops another score..one chosen at random by the COMPUTER...is ridiculous. A computer actually chooses the winner. Things become clearer when I learn more about Vancouver, and WHY Plushenko was so upset over the scoring..it wasn't that he thought he'd skated SO much better than Evan..it was that with this random score chosen by the computer, Plushenko lost his best and worst scores (as did Evan) but when the computer dropped that random score, it was Plushenko's SECOND HIGHEST mark!! So, he'd lost his 2 best scores! (Evan was treated much better by the random computer than was Plushenko, as his random score was down among his lower ones (third from lowest.) If I'd lost by no more than Plu did and this was the case, I'd be singing from the rafters!! Add to the fact that his Federation would not even appeal on his behalf made for one frustrated athlete! I admit, as an IJS program, Plushenko's was far less than Evan's program in being packed with elements, and Evan truly deserved that win. But add to the volatile mix an American and Canadian press, both famous for dogging athletes and baiting them until they break, (I still remember the way they went after Johnny Weir following his implosion at Torino-even asked him IMMEDIATELY after the most catastrophic failure of his career if he was GAY..I was like "WHAT??!! Look at how devastated this kid is, and you pull THAT out NOW??' To me, they're all a bunch of classless tabloid idiots.) THEN you your get comments taken out of context, and finally, you get the kinds of comments that Plushenko made following Vancouver. I don't condone what he did or appreciate the things he said that were more 'personal' attacks (especially on Evan) but I do understand, after reading the statements he made in chronological order, what happened-how he began criticising the SYSTEM, and was systematically baited into those more personal statements. The press wanted to see blood. They finally got what they had asked for. His initial complaints were about the IJS, the lack of accountability, and especially about losing those top 2 scores, while Evan did not. Frankly, I'd be pissed off too. I know. It is what it is. It is the IJS, and a skater knows that going into competition these days. Evan works the system to it's full advantage, and Plushenko did not. But I think if the results had gone the other way by the same margin, at least USFS would have appealed on Evan's behalf. Come to find out, that the Russians didn't want to make a big fuss because they were "saving" their support for the Ice Dancers!! Corruption still exists in this sport..it's just buried a little deeper these days.

I know, it's old water under a very narrow bridge, but it seems the more I find out, the less I like the IJS. When the judges are not accountable for their scoring because it's all anonymous, and a computer can determine the winner, it's just not Figure Skating to me. Seems intrinsically wrong somehow.

So hopefully, before Sochi, the system undergoes a major overhaul. It certainly needs one. Evan has skated successfully under both systems, which is why I know he'll represent in Sochi!! Plushenko's new programs (which, of course at this time are still in progress) are VERY IJS..he has, as you suggested, Merri, taken Vancouver on board as a learning experience, and has upped the ante accordingly. He's working with Kurt Browning (choreography), Alexi Mishin, and his spin coach (always one of his weaker points) is Stephane Lambiel!! This guy wants it BAD... :shocking:

But our Evan wants it worse..and as it was once said about a famous character named Lola, whatever Evan wants, Evan GETS!! :success:

(BTW I LOVE peppering y messages with these little Evans!! Whoever thought of those emoticons is BRILLIANT!! :jumpforjoy:

Sochi is going to be very interesting, for sure...I miss seeing Evan competing, and doing shows. His lack of participation on the SOI tour this year cost them dearly, I'm sure. I know I didn't go because Evan wasn't there... :sigh:

Thank you ladies on here for engaging me in some very clever conversation, for always treating me and my somewhat polarizing opinions with respect. I know I can always come here and be met with intellegent, relevant conversation, and I truly adore and appreciate you all for it!!

Evan Lysacek, his ELFFs and this board is a situation made of WIN!! :thankyou:

I'm SO glad you're back 3BAHs!!

I love your insightful posts and, yes, we're all about WIN over here!

:hug: