Lysacek Wins 2010 Olympic Gold in Men's Figure Skating

The finals of the men's Olympic figure skating saw an American win the gold for the first time since 1988. Evan Lysacek proved that you don't need a quad if you know how to skate!

USA's Evan Lysacek proved that it's all in the quality of the elements! His technical excellence and artistry trumped Evgeni Plushenko's quad. Lysacek entered the free skate with a 90.30 for the short program. Skating to "Sheherazade," he took the ice with a nervous but contagious energy. He nailed his opening triple combination, and subsequent triple axel and salchow. He salchowed into a circular step sequence, and ended with a flying sit spin. Lysacek landed all but one of his jumps perfectly, cleanly and softly, gliding out of them with long extension, in contrast to Plushenko whose jumps were all landed like sledgehammers, and with obvious effort to hold onto them. After landing his jumps, Lysacek charged into his graceful and dramatic foot sequences, and ended with a combination spin that emanated his joy at the best performance of his life. His free skate score was 167.37, for a total of 257.67 and the gold medal.

Lysacek needed to land his triple axels cleanly because of his lack of a quad, and he needed to land them in the second part of his program where there is a 10% bonus added to the grade of execution for completed jumps. Only one triple axel/double toeloop combination was not landed cleanly, but he hung onto it. Lysacek was described as a little tight in the warm up, and being the first one in the last group to skate was a difficult position. But he loosened up and delivered the performance of his life. As Lysacek and his coach watched the monitor anxiously for Plushenko's scores, Scott Hamilton quipped that Lysacek "looked ten years younger" when he realized he had won the gold.

Russia's Evgeni Plushenko came into the free skate in first place with a score of 90.85. Quite frankly, I thought Plushenko's performance was sloppy. Skating to "Tango Amore," his opening quad combination was not clean, with an obvious attempt to hang onto the landing. Scott Hamilton remarked that Plushenko was "like a cat," barely landing his jumps when it appeared he was about to fall. In all of his jumps, Plushenko landed hard, and his position in the air was often tilted and awkward. Plushenko's axels were nowhere near the quality of Lysacek's. He did have intricate and entertaining step sequences, blowing kisses to the crowd and actually smiling once. But his spins were slow, and he almost two-footed the landing on his triple lutz/toeloop. It just wasn't Evgeni's night. His free skate score was 165.51 for a total of 256.36, and the silver medal.

Japan's Daisuke Takahashi was third in the short program, with 90.25. Skating to "La Strada," he fell on his opening quad, earning a zero for that jump. He hadn't landed a quad all season and was foolish to try it at the Olympics. He recovered with determination, however, and nailed the rest of his jumps cleanly, and really played to the crowd during his step sequences. His spins were slow but well executed. His free skate score was 156.96, for a total of 247.23, and the bronze medal.

USA's Johnny Weir was in 9th place with an 82.10 after the short program. His coach decided against a planned quad, and Johnny delivered an entertaining and almost perfect technical program. Skating to "Fallen Angel," his only slip was a bobble on a sit spin, off all things! He nailed all of his jumps perfectly. Weir's step sequences were full of spins and hops and intricate footwork, again highlighting his dance ability, choreography and showmanship. Nonetheless, the scores didn't reflect it. The audience booed Johnny Weir's low scores, just as they did after the short program, the only boos I've heard during the entire competition. While the announcer said that his program was not as technically challenging, she did concede that he deserved higher scores for his Program Components. Weir's 156.77, gave him a total score of 238.87, for 6th place. Oh, well, he gets to go home to Tanith Belbin tonight and they don't!

In my humble opinion, the quad has ruined men's figure skating. Too many skaters are concentrating on that one jump, and the rest of their program suffers. But, as Evan Lysacek just proved, it isn't everything.

More Olympic Stories by This Writer: Olympic Trivia; Johnny Weir Rooms with Tanith Belbin; 100,000 Condoms to be distributed at Olympics
Sources: Viewed competition on NBC-TV 10 Philadelphia; Men's Long Program results