Evgeni Plushenko-HIStory-Biography

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Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin, a champion's coach

Every time Evgeni wins a competition, or it's recognize by something that he has done, he thanks everybody: God, his family, his friends, his fans but also, one of the most important person on his life, his coach. It's been years since Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin took him as his student, even so, Evgeni has never forget a thing about what Mr. Mishin did for him and what he represents to him. Evgeni says "I need him everyday at every practice, without him I would be maybe no one".

When Mr. Mishin received Evgeni in 1993, he already had what you can call a "champion's field", just to mention a few names he had Oleg Tataurov, Alexei Urmanov (who a year later would become Olympic champion) and Alexei Yagudin. To make it happen, took a couple of years. It's not like Mr. Mishin was not paying attention to Evgeni, but he had priorities, in this case his first priority was Alexei Urmanov.

The first years were really hard for Evgeni, if it was not hard enough his living conditions. Evgeni did not have friends in the ice rink, maybe because he was the new one, maybe because he was the youngest one. Miguel Alegre, now one of his good friends remembers those times: "It was very, very sad. He wanted to fit into the group, but he didn't have any friends." Alexei Nikolaevich also remembers how hard it was for Zhenya: "Not everything went well at the beginning but he has never complained to me. He probably already knew that work would be the most important thing for him."

Evgeni had a dream...

Since Zhenya wanted to fit in the group, he tried all the elements that the others did, at first unsuccessfully, but he did not give up. He tried to perform all the triple jumps so hard and so much that his nose would bleed. Why did he not give up? Very simple, it was his dream and he had always had on his mind what his family had to go through to make that dream happen. Miguel knew the reason too: "Even though he was so young, you could see how much he wanted to be the best, so he and his family could have a better life. Evgeni did whatever Mishin told him. He never complained. He had everything: Jumps, presentation, spins. And he was an extremely hard worker. He would do hundreds of triple jumps in practice and try more difficult quads and continue to push himself as far as he can."

As hard as the first years were, Alexei Nikolaevich found on Evgeni a unpolished diamond since day one "He was quite a gift!, Plushenko was brought to me by his first coach, Michael Khrisanovich Makoveev, and I am very thankful to him. It was immediately obvious that the boy had talent, but he came to me when he had already begun to grow. The difficulties of growth passed, and the diamond shone as it was supposed to."

Evgeni's abilities were shown to his teammates at the very beginning, he could perform all the triples jumps when he was 12; actually he already did triples by the age of 11, but you can hardly call them triples, Evgeni knows that too "Yes, I did have all the triples- from toe loop to axel, but you could only call them triples. There was no technique, no right execution. Only my natural ability to jump high. Then, it was Mishin who made me a World Champion." Evgeni landed his first quad at the age of 14 (a quad toe loop).

Evgeni's most famous trademark, the Biellmann spin

Evgeni also performed the very rare Biellmann spin, Mishin recalls about the Biellmann in particular "The others picked on him in practice and made him cry every day. He would do his Biellmann, and they'd bop him on the forehead with their fingers and tell him to stop. The other skaters were jealous of him."
And Evgeni remembers: "I told her, 'It's so much pain. I don't need this.' But we work and stretch hard. Now I say, 'Thank you, Mommy."

Zhenya is one of the very few male skaters that perform the Biellmann spin. It's true that some male skaters know this spin, but when they grow older, they don't use it anymore. Maybe for a good reason, Evgeni says now about the Biellmann spin: "I'm still very flexible. But from doing quads all the time, I'm getting some nagging injures-groin and back pain. Biellmann is not harder for me, it's more painful." but he also said that he is proud of it.

Therefore, since Evgeni has used it since he started skating until now, it has become his trademark. Especially because men very rarely do this spin and it is fascinating to see him doing it.
The Biellmann spin is a very hard spin, even for the ladies, it consist in lift a free leg, behind the back and held it over the head while spinning. Evgeni remembers: "In the first month there I saw a girl doing the Biellmann Spin, and I wanted to learn it, it was pure magic to me" Yes, it looked like magic but it was a hard thing to do, his mother wanted Zhenya to be unique, not just one more; therefore in order that he could learn it, they practice every night in their kitchen. Her mother stood behind him and pulled his leg up into the Biellmann position, first the left one, then the right. In the past Evgeni used to show us two Biellmann spin in his programs, now he just does it once, but he also perform the donut spin and the Biellmann spiral, two very unique elements for a male skater too.

The Biellmann spin is named after 1981 World Champion Denise Biellmann who invented the spin and said she never thought it would be ever executed by a man.

Alexei Mishin takes care of Evgeni

When Alexei Mishin found out the living conditions where Zhenya lived, he moved him to Miguel Alegre; later on when Alegre left to Spain, Evgeni lived with Mishin, there were also times when the group came back for some competition and Evgeni went to live with Sergei Serezhnikov. Finally, Mishin asked Evgeni's mom to come to St. Petersburg and then he paid for the rent in a better communal apartment where Zhenya and his mother could live. On the other hand, Olympic champion, Alexei Urmanov also helped little Zhenya, he used to drove him on his jeep to try on costumes and he always congratulated him for his performances.

But Mr. Mishin was not just his coach, was a lot more than that. Mr. Mishin is sometimes seen by outsiders like a cold man that just want to win, but that's not true. When Mishin accepted Zhenya, he was not only accepted a new student, but it was like he was adopting a son. He knew Evgeni had none in St. Petersburg and therefore he made him part of his family. He helped him with everything that he could, he taught him what's good and wrong, he taught him about life. So, a lot of credit goes to Alexei Nikolaevich that he was so gracious to take care of Evgeni.

Loyalty

That's why Evgeni Plushenko is so loyal to his coach, he represented everything that Evgeni did not have but needed and all the time he has been by his side, he has never forgot about that: "When I just come to St. Petersburg he took care of me like I was his own son. Alexei Nikolaevich was very kind to me, he helped me with everything - he was a second father to me. We communicate not only on the ice, together we play tennis, billiards, go bowling, often we meet up in the evenings. He is a very good coach and a very, very good, nice person. He helps me with everything not only at practice but also in life. He is advising me what is better and what is not good, simply at everything he helps me, without him, I don't know, I would be nothing" "He fed me when I had nothing to eat, gave me money. We've always been together. He took me with him to competitions in France and Germany."

Four, five years ago, no trainer wanted to "steal" Zhenya from Mishin, but that has changed some coaches had ask him to go with them and offered him a lot of money, but Zhenya does not even think about that for a second: "I am very happy to skate under Mishin in particular, and I'm not going to go anywhere from him! Alexei Nikolaevich pulled me out of the dirt, put me on my feet, and made me into a person. To pay him with rejection for kindness? I don't think so!"

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