Skater of the Decade: Evgeny Plushenko

This decade saw a tranisition from 6.0 scoring to the International Judging System. It was also defined by an on going debate in men's skating, "To Quad or Not To Quad." Evgeny Plushenko was able to dominate under both judging systems and always answered with a quad. Sometimes he would put an exclamation mark on his quad-toe statements with a quad-Salchow.

He entered the decade the young challenger to Alexei Yagudin and heir to the Russian skating dynasty. The rivalry between Yagudin and Plushenko became fierce. Plushenko was the only one to beat Yagudin in a few years by winning his first World Championship in 2001. They were co-favorites going into the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. Plushenko had a rare fall in the short, and Yagudin went on to some of the highest scores in the 6.0 system history securing his gold medal.

After those Olympics, Plushenko went full steam ahead to win two more World titles, 5 European titles and the 2006 Olympics. He even became the first skater to land two different quads in a program, and quadruple toe-loop and quad Salchow during a Grand Prix event.

His off-ice life has kept in the spotlight as well. He's a Russian superstar, he's been elected to city councils, has had two weddings covered extensively by Russian media and even took time to help Dima Bilan win the Eurovision Song Contest. This is like being on American Idol here, he's a Russian Ellen Degeneres, he's everywhere. I'm sure Oprah was thinking about having him a cover of some magazine...

He's coming back this season to resurrect Russian skating. He's still hitting the quads and even attempting triple axels-quad toes. His knees will probably need to be replaced next year, but he's pushing through anyways. He returned to competitive skating after four years away with a win at Cup of Russia and then got a crazy 100.09 points for a short program that featured a turn out on triple lutz. Craziness! All the points, all the quads, all the chest-thumping leads to a lot of noise about being a medal contender and wild card in Vancouver. How you can you not consider Plushenko a Skater of the Decade?

From Russia to China

In just a few hours the Cup of China will begin in Beijing. I think the Compulsory Dance begins at 2:45 a.m. here, so it probably starts mid-afternoon there.

The Cup of China will mark the Grand Prix debut of Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto, Evan Lysacek and Joannie Rochette. They all medaled at worlds and expectations are high for them this season. High enough that Vancouver medals are expected.

This stop in the GP Series will also showcase the comeback kids in pairs: Shen & Zhao. I'm looking forward to seeing their skates. The started out as stronger technical skaters but their artistry grew over the years. They've spent the past two years touring with Stars on Ice, that only helps in growing their skills along with consistency.

Will their performances in front of their a home audience be anything like Evengy Plushenko's in Moscow this past weekend? Talk about a comeback. Since winning the Olympic gold in Torino, he's divorced, toured all over eastern Europe, gained 20 pounds, got involved in Russian politics, got married again, lost 20 pounds. He came out and landed quad combinations as naturally as walking. I never was a big fan of his before, but I respect that he truly put in the effort to comeback and be competitive for another Olympic win. He seemed to not be rushing through his footwork and covering the sloppiness with wild arm movements. He seemed to really be taking his time to make sure he was completed all the various turns to maximize the level. I hope that continues.