For the first time in thirty years, the Russian national team was left without a skater who was supposed to represent the country in men's singles at the Olympic Games. A few minutes before the start of his short run, Evgeni Plushenko is withdrawn from the competition.
After the triumphant victory of Russian sports couples in figure skating, the audience and fans were disappointed. The only skater to represent Russia at the Sochi Olympics, Evgeni Plushenko, is withdrawn from the competition right before his performance.
A few days before, Plushenko had already entered the Olympic ice twice to help win the gold medal in the team championship. Then his performances were successful, and the Russian national team became the Olympic champion in the team competition. What happened a few minutes before the short skate that the skater had to refuse to participate in the Olympic Games?
The fact is that Evgeni Plushenko had serious back problems, and while performing difficult elements he felt uncomfortable all the time. In 2012 and 2013, the athlete underwent several operations in an Israeli clinic on the spine. The skater had to go through a long recovery process in order to return to big sport and represent Russia at the Olympics.
Before performing in the short program of the Olympic Games, Plushenko felt pain in his back after landing from a quadruple jump. And during the warm-up after completing some elements, he finally realized that he could not fight for medals with such acute pain. Therefore, he and his coach Alexei Mishin decided not to start and refuse to participate in the individual championship.
The athlete later announced that he had ended his figure skating career and thanked his fans.
