Plushenko Denies Platinum Claim

RFE/RL
February 25, 2010

It’s been widely reported that Evgeni Plushenko’s silver medal in Vancouver
apparently isn¹t what he wished for.

On Plushenko¹s personal website his recent accomplishment in ice skating was
listed through February 23 as "Platinum of Vancouver."

But Plushenko¹s agent Ari Zakarian is now denying that the ice skater had
anything to do with it. Zakarian says that "no one had authority to do this
stupid thing,² and Plushenko himself was unaware of it.

The 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist from Russia continues to deny though
that the true winner of men¹s figure skating in 2010 is American Evan
Lysacek.

The 27-year-old Plushenko is dicing the 24-year-old Lysacek for not
performing a quad jump, which Plushenko says is expected of gold-medal
winners.

The Russians aren’t happy about it. Even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has
stepped into the fray saying in his congratulatory message to Plushenko that
he should have been awarded gold.

— Nikola Krastev