Evgeni Plushenko

Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (Евгений Викторович Плющенко, born 3 November 1982) is a Russian former figure skater.

Plushenko was born on 3 November 1982 in Dzhamku, Solnechny District, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union.

His mother was originally from Volgograd, Russian SFSR, and his father, a carpenter, was born in Donetsk, Russia.

He has an older sister.

Plushenko lived in Volgograd before moving to Saint Petersburg in 1994.

In 1994, his mother took him to Saint Petersburg to train under the guidance of Alexei Mishin.

Plushenko made quick progress on the international scene.

He became the youngest ever World Junior Champion and World medalist at age 14, winning the 1997 World Junior Championships.

A 1998 graduate of school No. 91 in Petrogradsky District, he began studying at the Lesgaft University in 2000, graduating in 2005, and at the Faculty of tourism and hospitality of the Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics in 2004.

His surname is most commonly romanized as Plushenko but other variations exist.

The Cyrillic shcha ("щ") may be transliterated as 'shch' (scholarly šč), but the simplified variant 'sh' is often used for convention.

The letter "ю" is pronounced "yu", so a more accurate transliteration would be "Plyushchenko".

His given name is romanized as Evgeni or Yevgeny.

Since Plushenko frequently suffered from colds, his mother decided he needed exercise and enrolled him in figure skating lessons at age four.

His first coach was Tatiana Skala.

He trained in Volgograd, Russia until his ice rink closed when he was 11 years old.

The following year, at age 15, he won the bronze medal at the 1998 World Championships.

Plushenko developed a rivalry with Alexei Yagudin, with whom he trained under Mishin until Yagudin left in 1998.

In 2000, Plushenko defeated Yagudin at the 2000 European Championships, but finished fourth at the 2000 World Championships.

Plushenko had a very successful 2000–01 season, winning every event he entered, including his first World title.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Plushenko and Yagudin were considered co-favorites.

Plushenko finished 4th in the short program after falling on his quadruple toe loop, but skated a free skating to "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall.

Plushenko won most of the competitions he entered in the following four years.

He finished second only twice.

The first time was to Emanuel Sandhu at the 2003–04 Grand Prix Final for misunderstanding the new ISU Judging System which was now in use.

The second was the 2004 European Championships, where he lost to Brian Joubert.

He had a difficult 2004–05 season.

At the 2005 World Championships in Moscow, Russia, an injury forced him to withdraw after the short program.

He eventually required groin surgery.

He underwent surgery to correct the problem in Munich, Germany in spring 2005.

He is a four-time Olympic medalist (2006 gold, 2014 team gold, 2002 & 2010 silver), a three-time World champion (2001, 2003, 2004), a seven-time European champion (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012), a four-time Grand Prix Final champion (1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05), and a ten-time Russian national champion (1999–2002, 2004–2006, 2010, 2012–2013).

Plushenko's four Olympic medals once tied with Sweden's Gillis Grafström's record for most Olympic medals in figure skating, which has since been surpassed by Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue.

He also won a record total of 22 titles on the Grand Prix circuit.

Going into the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Plushenko was the overwhelming favorite because of his past success under the new judging system.

Plushenko skated two solid programs and became the Olympic champion.

He finished the short program ten points ahead of his closest rival, setting a new ISU record for the short program.

His free skating was just as strong, and also set a new ISU record.

Plushenko's free skating music was specially arranged for him by violinist Edvin Marton.

Plushenko took a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season.

His mother died on 10 July 2015.