LONGING FOR YAGUDIN
Plushenko. No more victories

By Igor Poroshin. From izvestia.ru; January 27, 2003.

European Figure Skating Championships in Malmo once again proved itself to be a very predictable event. In all four disciplines the victory went to the expected athletes. All of them represent Russia. Despite the fact that our native figure skating has been dominating in Europe for 30 years, it�s only the fourth time in history when the entire continent�s gold went to one country. Every time it was Russia.

Lights on!

After Alexei Yagudin left, of course we were expecting the men�s singles skating to look different . But the difference to be that great was a big surprise. Not in Salt Lake City, but only now it became clear what Yagudin was to figure skating. Not only he was the best skater of the past Olympic cycle, but he was a reactor. The energy of this atomic power station was feeding many. This season, it feels like the electricity is switched off.

We could call this an effect of the post-Olympic season if not the opposite situation in the ladies� skating. There, it seems like everyone wants to let loose. The Japanese throw out triple Axels, 15 years old girl from Italy lands two 3-3 combinations in one program, Kwan and Slutskaya skate with the fire of juniors � it all looks like the beginning of the new �golden� era where both oldies and newbies can find their place.

Look what is happening with men. At the last Russian Nationals for the first time in the past few years nobody completed a quadruple jump in the free program. Okay, Plushenko was not there. But Goebel was participating in the recent US Nationals, and he is probably even a better jumper than Plushenko. Goebel, being in his right mind, states that for the first time in history he�s going to do four (!) quads in his free program, and, probably for the first time since his teen years, he completes none. Weiss becomes a Champion. Without a quad. Once in a blue moon the European Championship surpassed both US and Russian Nationals. Here, five participants landed quads in the free skate. But nobody did it twice in a program.

Figure skating has lost its best part � the rivalry between Yagudin and Plushenko. Today, the men�s event became the most predictable part of the competition, like ice dancing in its time. It is absolutely impossible to imagine the circumstances under which Evgeny Plushenko may lose somewhere, whether it�s European or World Championships, or the future Olympic Games. Salt Lake City silver medallist�s role is established for the next three years: he comes out on the ice as a monument to himself. This is a conservation of the previous achievements, but not their development. Plushenko�s new free program is not a highly creative remake of the previous ones, sort of �The best of Plushenko�. Okay. It�s a possible step for someone who really has something to be called the �best�. Only the music leaves me in a slight perplexity. It�s a soundtrack from the TV series �Criminal Petersburg�, written by a famous St Petes pop-hits producer, Igor Kornelyuk. The music is trivial; it�s not the best piece even by Kornelyuk�s standards. But Zhenya likes it. It�s not by any means a reproach to the champion. It�s only a conviction of the fact that the Prince � that�s how the coach Alexei Mishin calls his best student � is not allowed to marry for love. Plushenko and Kornelyuk � that�s a misalliance. The greatest figure skater of the modern era should be picking and choosing his musical preferences better.

Everything else is perfect with Plushenko. The fact he didn�t show the promised complexity in Malmo is absolutely understandable. No matter how much Zhenya wants to be a monument, he is only a human and goes for the victory in the easiest way. Really, why to overstrain yourself if the only one who can theoretically beat you, appears to be fighting with his fears and once again losing this battle.

Frankly speaking, Ilia Klimkin�s fourth place is the hell knows what. I can understand he lost to Joubert, although as a first man to land a quad Salchow and quad toeloop in one program, Klimkin should beat him. Klimkin should have been fighting for medals with Yagudin and Plushenko in Salt Lake City. Instead of that, he gives away the European bronze to Stanick Jeanette.

I love to watch Jeanette. In terms of rhythm and choreography he is the most original, most refined skater in men�s singles. But, alas, not the greatest feet bring those fantasies to life. Poor Stanick doesn�t have a quad and even his triple Axel-triple toeloop combination is inconsistent.

Klimkin�s programs are very nontrivial � I adore the work of his choreographer, Irina Kolganova. That�s why his loss is twice as flagrant � to stumble on a spin and to fall all of a suden! Now, that�s a bit too much. Jeanette may be formally 3 centimeters higher and probably heavier than Klimkin, but in figure skating Klimkin is a heavyweight because of the quad. And he was beaten by a middleweight in Malmo.

Klimkin is anti-Yagudin. If the 2002 Olympic Champion is an example of the complete realization of his abilities, then Klimkin is an absolute champion in non-realization of it. If I say Klimkin is more talented in terms of technique and plasticity, and far more gifted musically, I will hear whistling and hooting. Please, forward the uproar to Ilia. I�m so sorry about Klimkin I don�t even want to sympathize with him. He has only himself to blame.

What to do? Clone

So, what are we supposed to do in the absence of Yagudin, when some are way too much preoccupied with their greatness to move forward, and the others do not realize and don�t believe in their talent? We�ve got the answer faster than we could expect. The answer in the spirit of XXI century. We have to create a copy of Yagudin, his clone, so to say. The Frenchman Brian Joubert calls Alexei Yagudin his idol. But that�s not all. With his figure and the heavy style of jumping he resembles Yagudin, close to whom he managed to stand on the podium at the previous European Championships. The most wanted choreographer of our time, Nikolai Morozov (this season he created the programs for the American superstars Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan), decided to bring the resemblance to the limit where it gets the symbolic meaning. In his short program Joubert literally copies Yagudin�s footwork from the last year's SP, which many respectful observers tend to consider the best in the history of figure skating.

Of course, Yagudin fans considered it a sacrilege and quickly named it a cynical choreographic bungle, which, as we must confess, prevails in figure skating. But that�s a hasty conclusion. A skilful Morozov doesn�t bungle here, he longs for recognition. He wants this to be read as a quote, he wants two names to join in the spectator�s mind and the sight of devolution of the power to appear: �I, the God�s anointed sovereign, entrust thee, the deserving boy, with my power�.

Sure, Morozov took a big risk. But, no matter what the orthodox yagudinettes say, the French guy doesn�t vulgarize the art of the Olympic Champion, he only makes it less valuable. Because any replication belittles the original. But in general, the trick was awfully successful. The girls are screaming. The judges � those most enlightened fans - extended onto Joubert the rule they often used for Yagudin: with the second mark they put the Frenchman, who didn�t land a quad, into the second place.

At his 18 years of age Brian Joubert is already a very strong athlete. Europe didn�t have such an athlete in the last 100 years (if we consider Russia a separate figure skating continent). He can jump well, which he proved in the free program, he has the character, the strength, the anger. Nobody sees a big artist in him, the same as we didn�t see it in Yagudin four years ago. We will follow the experiment in cloning Yagudin. Everybody is interested in its success. If not Yagudin himself (I don�t believe in his comeback into sport from show-business), but at least his shadow will probably take the number one skater out of his bronze, or rather gold, tranquillity. Plushenko didn�t say a half of what he has to say in figure skating. There is a space for him to move, to develop. �We are not stuck to the victories, we think about how to make figure skating better and more interesting� � I would like to see more than just a pride of a loser in this solemn phrase the coach Alexei Mishin said in Salt Lake City.