Mutko on the figure skating tournament at the 2014 Olympics: “Pluschenko took part in it and his mere appearance shocked our Japanese colleagues”

Former Russian Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko in an interview with he stated that the skater Evgeny Plushenko had a huge influence at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.

The Sochi Olympic Games took place from February 7 to 23, 2014. In men’s single skating, Russia could enter one skater. The Olympic champion from Turin, then 31 years old, Evgeni Plushenko, went to Sochi, and not Maxim Kovtun, who had become national champion. In the team competition, Plushenko finished second in the short program and won the free program, which helped the Russian team win gold. He withdrew from the personal tournament due to back pain.

– Plushenko and Kovtun. A well-known and not very pleasant story, after which Maxim was so seething…

— There was no bubbling there. At the very beginning, a solution came naturally. Maxim Kovtun I had to prepare, just keep myself in shape. We were in a desperate situation as we could not find a second person.

What can we say about Zhenya Plushenko? He was leaving, and his mere appearance shocked our Japanese colleagues. You saw how he behaved after the operation, all the problems. We wanted Zhenya to perform the short program and Maxim to perform the free program. At the last moment, such a decision was made with Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin. They realized that it was practically beyond the single program, they took a long time to decide and only made their decision at four in the morning.

— When the team was formed, who had the last word?

— I would say that everything was decided together. I had a lot of respect and always trusted (who was then president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Alexander) Gorshkov, and Mishin is for me the ideal coach and person in general. Maybe Alexei Nikolaevich said the last word and we made the final decision. The application had to be submitted before 4 a.m., so we discussed it until that time,” Mutko told .