Russia outraged over Plushenko not winning Gold in Men's Figure Skating

Russia outraged over Plushenko not winning Gold in Men’s Figure Skating at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and said that Plushenko was robbed. Thursday night, Evan Lysacek won the Gold in Men’s Figure Skating, and Evgeny Plushenko won the Silver for the same event.

Evgeny Plushenko won the Gold for the same event during the Torino, Italy Winter Olympic Games in 2006. Many people in Russia, Plushenko’s home country expected that he would win the Gold again. But this year, Evan Lysacek from the US won the Gold.

Friday morning, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Plushenko which read:

"Your 'silver' is as good as 'the gold,' You managed to overcome all difficulties and stumbling blocks; you committed a brave, a resolute act by returning to the big sports with splendor and showing a most complicated program on the ice of Vancouver."

But the chairman of the Russian parliament's house Sergei Mironov had this to say on a Russian radio station Friday:

"If we pass it over in silence we will forever remain in the backyard. We need to put the question bluntly why there was such refereeing. We need to get to the bottom of it."

Also appearing on a Russian radio station Friday, Tatiana Tarasova, a Russian ice skating coach who coached Evan Lysacek last year said that the evaluation of the components of Lysacek's program in Vancouver was "simply hooliganism," and added Plushenko's gold medal "was taken
away from him."

The judging system changed drastically in the last four years, and Lysacek and Plushenko both scored 82.80 points. Many people have complained that Plushenko’s jumps were better than Lysacek’s, but under the new scoring system Plushenko only led Lysacek by 0.3 points from the jumps. Lysacek spins are what won him the Gold medal. Plushenko fell 0.9 points behind in step sequences which ultimately lost him the Gold, according to the CSMonitor.com (see their link below for the complete scoring review). 
The 2002 Olympic Games were played in Salt Lake City, Utah. Many athletes for the current Olympic Games returned to Salt Lake City or Park City to get ready for the games. Apolo Anton Ohno lives in Salt Lake City and if he wins one more medal at the Winter Olympic Games, he will have won the most medals of any US athlete.

The current US medal count total is 20. To see a breakdown of medals by country and a list of US medals, click here.

For Friday’s NBC TV schedule of events at the 2010 Olympic Games, click here.

To read about Shaun White winning the Gold medal at the half pipe on Wednesday, click here.

To read about Bode Miller’s Silver medal for the Super-G, click here.

If you enjoyed this article, please click on the subscribe button above to receive an email when new articles are published by this examiner.

Sources: Chicago Breaking Sports and CS Monitor

Other articles from this examiner:
Bode Miller wins another Silver Medal at the 2010 Olympic Games Friday
Video: Joseph Stack’s wife makes public apology for the tragedy her husband caused
Video: Gloria Allred and porn star, Joslyn James attack Tiger Woods during press conference
Video: Most people accept Tiger Woods apology at its face value
US total medal count of 18 at 2010 Winter Games; and 4 medalists are from Utah
Video: Joseph Andrew Stack intentionally flies plane into IRS building in Austin, Texas
Read: Tiger Woods alleged statement for Friday leaked; NBC, ABC and CBS to broadcast statement live
Video: Kazuhiro Kokubo, Japanese Olympic snowboarder gets attention for his appearance
First confirmed photos of Tiger Woods emerge (photo link)
Shaun White wins the Gold medal in the Half Pipe at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games