Singles, Men

After winning the 2006 gold medal, Yevgeny Plyushchenko had taken a sabbatical from competition and did not return until October 2009, only a few months before the Vancouver Olympics. Despite his lack of competition, he was still considered the man to beat. At the end of the short program, Plyushchenko led with 90.85 points from Daisuke Takahashi (JPN), just 0.55 points behind and Evan Lysacek (USA), a further 0.05 points behind. These were to be the three medallists, although not in that order. Lysacek, skating first, performed almost flawlessly to take the lead with 257.67 points. Takahashi’s chances ended when he fell attempting a quadruple jump in an otherwise well presented free skate. Skating last, Plyushchenko had a couple of minor errors, and a tense wait followed while the judges marked his performance. In the end Lysacek won the gold from Plyushchenko by 1.31 points. A disappointed Plyushchenko was quick to make reference to what he perceived as poor judging, noting Lysacek didn’t include a quadruple jump in his program, as he had, but the result stood. Former Russian premier Vladimir Putin, a close friend of Plyushchenko, also proclaimed that Plyushchenko was the real winner, for what that was worth.