Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (also Romanized as Yevgeny Viktorovich Plyushchenko; Russian: Евгений Викторович Плющенко) was born November 3, 1982 in Solnechny - Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist and 2002 & 2010 Olympic silver medalist, three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, four-time Grand Prix Final gold medalist and the nine-time Russian National Champion.

Early career

Evgeni started skating at the age of four.  His first coach was Tatiana Scala, later he continued to train under the guidance of Michael Makoveev.  When he was eleven years old, his ice rink in Volgograd closed. Having to choose between abandoning figure skating and leaving his family behind, he was then sent alone to Saint Petersburg to train with the team of legendary Alexei Mishin, who was already training the 1994 Olympic Champion Alexei Urmanov and the then upcoming future champion Alexei Yagudin.

Plushenko made quick progress on the international scene under Mishin's tutelage. As a 14-year-old, he won the 1997 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The following year, at only 15, he surprisingly won the bronze medal at the senior World Figure Skating Championships of 1998, causing a big hype around his name from judges and commentators - everybody started talking about the “new wonder boy”.

1999 - 2006

In the 1999/2000 season Evgeni won 7 competitions out of 9. He was the reigning and two times Russian Champion, won his first Grand prix Final and first European title.
The 2000/2001 became one of the most successful seasons in his career until then, he lost just once in a pro-am competition. Once again Evgeni was the Russian, European and Grand Prix final Champion.  
At the 2001 World Championships in Vancouver (Canada), Evgeni won his first awaited World title, and became World Champion at just the age of 18 years old.

The Olympic season started with difficulties and injuries. Evgeni changed his long program in addition to his ankle and groin injuries. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (USA), Evgeni entered the games as the favorite to win the title along with his compatriot Alexei Yagudin. In the competition that is considered one of the best rivalries in the history of the sport, Plushenko fell in his quad-triple combination and finished 4th in the short program, but skated a strong and risky free program to the music of "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall, and win his first Olympic Silver Medal.

In the following four seasons leading to Olympic Games 2006, Plushenko won 19 competitions and got silver only two times. He finished second at the 2004 Grand Prix Final, despite skating a brilliant program because he did three jump combinations in his Free Program while the IJS (ISU International Judging System), which was apllied for the first time that season, required up to 2 combinations (since 2003-2004 season three jumping combos are allowed in the Free Program). Plushenko also won silver at the European Championships 2004, before claiming his World title again at the World Figure Skating Championships 2004. He suffered through a difficult 2005, when was forced to withdraw from the 2005 World Championships in Moscow after the short program due to a serious injury that eventually required groin surgery which he underwent in Munich, Germany in spring 2005, just a year before the 2006 Olympic Games.

On June 18, 2005, Evgeni married Maria Ermak. Their son Egor was born on June 15, 2006. They were divorced in February 2008.

Going into the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Plushenko was the overwhelming favorite because of his past success under the new ISU Judging System which was now in use. He was holding already 7 out 10 top scores under this system. He skated his short program to the music of "Tosca" and finished ten points ahead of his closest rival, setting a new ISU record (90.66). His free skate was just as strong, and set a new ISU record as well (167.67). His skating music was "The Godfather" - especially arranged for him by violinist Edvin Marton. Evgeni demolished the field by finishing the competition with 258.33 points (27 points ahead of the silver medalist Stephan Lambiel) and fulfilled his childhood dream to become the Olympic champion.

2006 - 2008: Hiatus

Plushenko took a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season. He has said the off season has helped him rest and recover from past knee injuries he had battled.

In 2008 Plushenko, together with violinist Edvin Marton, accompanied Dima Bilan on stage as part of the winning Eurovision Song Contest performance "Believe" in Belgrade, Serbia. Plushenko skated on stage as part of the performance.

After seeing the poor results of Russian skaters in World Figure Skating Championships (which were the worst since 1960), Plushenko was worried about Russia losing its status as a dominant force in figure skating, and announced his return to competition which finally took place in the season 2009/2010.

2009: Return to Competition

In March 2009 Plushenko announced that he was returning to training with his long-time coach Alexei Mishin in order to prepare for the 2010 Olympic Games. Just before the beginning of the season he married Yana Rudkovskaya, Dima Bilan's record producer, on 12th of September 2009.

With the motivation to be two-time Olympic Champion, Evgeni’s long awaited international return by his fans and figure skating audience took place at the 2009 GP "Rostelecom Cup" on October 23, 2009. He led the short program earning 82.25 points, and the free skate with a score of 158.40. Overall, he won the gold medal in his comeback with a total of 240.65 points.
 
At the 2010 Russian Figure Skating Championships, Plushenko earned 100.09 points for his short program and 171.50 points in the free skate to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points, and was selected for the European and Olympic national team.
 
At the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia,  Evgeni set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points, and went on to win the Championship for the sixth time with a total score of 255.39 points.

In the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, Evgeni skated his short program to "Aranjuez" receiving a score of 90.85, breaking the previous Olympic record of his, and led the competition. In a strong and intense battle in the free program, Plushenko skated to "Tango Amore" by Edvin Marton, finished second overall, ultimately winning the silver medal with a total score of 256.36.

Achievements

Plushenko's technical achievements are numerous. He is one of the few male skaters to perform the Biellmann and Donut spin. He was the first skater in the world to perform a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-double loop jump (4T-3T-2Lo) combination in competition, at the 1999 NHK Trophy. He is the first skater to land a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop (4T-3T-3Lo) combination in competition; at the GP "Cup of Russia" 2002. He was also the first skater to land these combinations in World Championships. Plushenko has been landing a consistent quadruple toe loop in competition with 100% success, and has also landed a quadruple salchow in Samara, Russia at the 2004 Second stage of "Russian Cup". It is estimated that he has landed more than 100 quads in competition. Plushenko is also one of few figure skaters to have landed quadruple loops and quadruple lutzes in practice, but has never completed either of them in competition.
He is the first and only one with the extreme difficult combination 3axel-half loop-3flip (3A-1/2Lo-3F) which he jumped at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. So far no skater has tried it in competition. Plushenko is also the first skater to land a triple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop-double loop (3-3-3-2) combination, which was at the 2005 "Ard Gala". At the Russian Championships 2006, he landed a six jump combination (3-3-2-2-2-2) in his exhibition program. On November 2009 Evgeni started practicing a 3axel-quad toeloop. His further injuries prevented him from practising more challenging combinations.

At the age of 16, Plushenko was the youngest male skater to ever receive a perfect score of 6.0 (NHK Trophy 1998, for Presentation). He received a total of 75 6.0s, before the new ISU International Judging System was introduced under which he has also received one of the highest Technical Elements Score as well as Program Components Score setting world records in many competitions.

After winning his silver medal in Vancouver, his third Olympic Medal in three consecutive Games (Gillis Grafström having won four in the early years of the sport, 1920-1932), Evgeni has become the only male figure skater in modern history of the sport who has won three Olympic medals.  

Plushenko has announced his dream to compete at his 4th Olympic Games that will be hosted in his home country, in Sochi 2014 and he is back in training. His comeback to competitive figure skating has started at the 2012 Russian Figure Skating Championships, on December 2011 where he won the competition and became a 9-time Russian Champion.

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So far, in 86 competitions Evgeni won:

• 58 gold
• 15 silver
• 4 bronze medals

Competition Results

Olympic Games
XXI Olympic Winter Games 2010 - 2
XX Olympic Winter Games 2006 - 1
2002 Olympic Winter Games 2002 - 2

World Championships
World Championships 2004 - 1
World Championships 2003 - 1
World Championships 2001 - 1
World Championships 2000 - 4
World Championships 1999 - 2
World Championships 1998 - 3

European Championships
European Championships 2010 - 1
European Championships 2006 - 1
European Championships 2005 - 1
European Championships 2004 - 2
European Championships 2003 - 1
European Championships 2001 - 1
European Championships 2000 - 1
European Championships 1999 - 2
European Championships 1998 - 2

World Junior Championships
World Junior Championships 1997 (Junior) - 1
World Junior Championships 1996 (Junior) - 6

ISU Grand Prix Final
ISU Grand Prix Final 2005 - 1
ISU Grand Prix Final 2004 - 2
ISU Grand Prix Final 2003 - 1
ISU Grand Prix Final 2002 - 2
ISU Grand Prix Final 2001 - 1
ISU Grand Prix Final 2000 - 1
ISU Grand Prix Final 1999 - 3
Champions Series Final 1998 - 5

ISU Grand Prix
ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2009 - 1
Cup of Russia 2005 - 1
Cup of Russia 2004 - 1
Cup of Russia Gallina Blanca 2003 - 1
Trophee Lalique 2003 - 1
MasterCard Skate Canada Int. 2003 - 1
Cup of Russia Gallina Blanca 2002 - 1
Bofrost Cup on Ice 2002 - 1
Cup of Russia 2001 - 1
Sparkassen Cup on Ice 2001 - 1
NHK Trophy 2000 - 1
Cup of Russia 2000 - 1
Sparkassen Cup on Ice 2000 - 1
NHK Trophy 1999 - 1
Cup of Russia 1999 - 1
Sparkassen Cup on Ice 1999 - 1
NHK-Trophy 1998 - 1
Cup of Russia 1998 - 2
Skate Canada 1998 - 1
Cup of Russia 1997 - 2
Skate America 1997 - 2
Cup of Russia 1996 - 4

International Competition
Marshalls World Cup 2004 - 1
Int. World Skating Challenge 2004 - 1
Int. Figure Skating Challenge 2003 - 1
Campbell's Intern. FS Classic 2003 - 1
Figure Skating Challenge 2002 - 1
Campbells FS Classic 2002 - 2
Goodwill Games 2001 - 1
Finlandia Trophy 2000 - 1
Goodwill Games 1998 - 3
Grand Slam of Figure Skating 1999 - 1
Finlandia Trophy 1997 - 3
European Youth Olympic Days 1997 (Junior) - 1
Pokal der Blauen Schwerter 1996 (Junior) - 1
Finlandia Trophy 1996 - 7
Crystal Skate 1993 (Junior) - 5

Pro-Am Competition
Japan Open 2001 - 2
Keri Lotion FS Classics 1999 - 2
Japan Open 1999 - 1
Grand Slam of Figure Skating 1998 - 4

National Championships (Russia)
National Championships 2012 - 1
National Championships 2010 - 1
National Championships 2006 - 1
National Championships 2005 - 1
National Championships 2004 - 1
National Championships 2002 - 1
National Championships 2001 - 1
National Championships 2000 - 1
National Championships 1999 - 1
National Championships 1998 - 3
National Championships 1997 - 4
National Championships 1996 - 6