Athletistic / Figure skating. Today, the powerhouse of figure skating in Russia is girls. It was they who invariably won the gold medals of the last three Olympic Games and won all international competitions until Russia was eliminated. But at the turn of the century, everything was different in Russian figure skating. At the end of the 90s of the 20th century and in the first two years of the current century, the confrontation between two Russian figure skaters Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko rumbled. These two fought for many years, not disdaining caustic comments, joy from the opponent’s falls and even dirty fighting methods. The peak of their confrontation was the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (USA).

After his victory at the Olympic Games in Nagano (Japan) in 1998, Ilya Kulik turned professional. After that, Alexey Yagudin came to first place in the world rankings. His failure in Nagano 1998 (5th place) had the best effect on his results, which resulted in three consecutive victories at the World Championships (1998, 1999, 2000). However, the 2001 Pre-Olympic World Championship in Vancouver, Canada remained with Plushenko. Therefore, the situation before the Games in Salt Lake City in the fight for gold was confused, which only added fuel to the fire.

The history of hostility between Yagudin and Plushenko began long before these events. Who is right and who is wrong, where is the truth and where is fiction – only Alexey and Evgeniy know. However, the intensity of their enmity, both sporting and personal, brought the situation to the point that Yagudin first left his coach Alexei Mishin for Tatyana Tarasova, and then prepared for the 2002 Olympic Games separately from the rest of the Russian team. All this had only one goal: to see Plushenko less often.

Photo source: personal archive of Evgeni Plushenko

After arriving in Salt Lake City, Yagudin again tried to minimize contact with Plushenko. In the Olympic village, the second bed in Evgeny’s room was free, and Yagudin himself lived that week in a room with Maxim Marinin. Alexey avoided contact with his main rival

Short program

Before the tournament, experts agreed that if Plushenko performed his programs properly, he would be the one to reach the top step of the podium. But Yagudin had his famous “Winter” in his arsenal. This program is not stuffed with an incredible number of difficult jumps, but its inclusion in music, choreography and beauty fascinates figure skating fans to this day. On February 12, 2002, he performed a magnificent short program and was applauded by the standing arena for several minutes.

Alexey received excellent marks from the judges. However, Evgeni Plushenko entered the ice after him. From the first jump – his favorite quadruple sheepskin coat – Plushenko falls and returns to fourth place, leaving behind not only Yagudin, but also the American Timothy Gable and the Japanese Takeshi Honda.

— When Plushenko fell in the short program, I jumped up and shouted: “Yes! I don’t think it would make me happy, but at that point there was too much at stake. At that moment, I could not and did not want to hide my joy. In those moments I realized that I would become Olympic championYagudin will say it later.

Later, Plushenko and Alexei Mishin accused psychologist Rudolf Zagainov, who was part of Yagudin’s team, of hypnosis.

“I knew the quadruple sheepskin coat by the name of the Lord’s Prayer. » And then suddenly, as I was walking towards him, I noticed Zagainov’s silhouette and met his heavy gaze. I pushed hard and flew off smoothly, but then the unexplainable happened. It was as if someone was ordering me: “Go and land!” » And I took it and obeyed, even though it was still too early. It was as if I was being pulled along by an incomprehensible force.– Plushenko will say.

The singles tournament final was scheduled for February 14. According to tradition, the honor of closing the competition will go to the winner of the short program – Alexey Yagudin. He will already know that Plushenko will demonstrate the highest level of competence and seize middle leadership. However, the gap that had accumulated between them in the short program could only be made up by Evgeniy if Yagudin started making mistakes.

Shortly before going on the ice, Alexey will ask Tatyana Tarasova a question about the complexity of her program. Yagudin will think about whether he should jump two quadruple jumps or whether it is better not to take risks and calmly do the minimum he needs for the final victory. Tatiana Anatolyevna, as an experienced mentor, will leave everything to the athlete. As a result, Alexey will perform both quadruple jumps and once again receive a deafening ovation from the stands.

After Plushenko’s skating, it seemed that he would be the one who would score the most points in the free program, but Yagudin would also decide everything in his favor here, receiving incredible marks from the judges.

Less than a month after the Salt Lake City Olympics, Alexei Yagudine will become world champion for the fourth and final time in his career and complete his amateur performances as the king of figure skating. Well, Evgeni Plushenko, together with Alexei Mishin, will continue to conquer new heights and will be able to become a double Olympic champion (gold in individual competitions in Turin 2006, as well as a team victory in Sochi 2014), as well as a silver medalist at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Yagudin, I and Plushenko, at the end of their careers, wrote autobiographies in which they repeatedly spoke about each other. In recent years, they have tried to speak about each other with restraint and sometimes even in a positive way. Their confrontation is a battle of opposites. But this “sports war” brought figure skating to a new level and gave Russia two Olympic champions.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic


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