By Britta Koerber Feb 17, 2006, 1:45 GMT
Turin, Italy - The musical choice of 'The Godfather' suited the occasion as Evgeny Plushenko of Russia skated to an overwhelming victory for gold in the Olympic men's figure-skating competition Thursday night at the Turin Games.
Evgeni Plushenko of Russia performs during Men's Free Skating finals at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games, Thursday, 16 February 2006. EPA/SERGEY CHIRIKOV
'It was my dream. When I was 4, I saw a competition and said to my Mum 'I have to be there.' I said that I wanted to be an Olympic champion,' said Plushenko.
Boosted by a safely landed quad toeloop-triple toeloop-double Rittberger combination early on Plushenko captured the gold with a record 258.33 points under the new cumulative scoring system.
The 23-year-old could even afford to skate a bit hesitantly in the final minute of the free programme.
'I am happy with my numbers. I did my job,' he said. 'It was not the best I did today, but it was quite enough.'
Reigning world champion Stephane Lambiel got silver for Switzerland - the nation's first in the event in 58 years since Hans Gerschwiler also got silver in 1948 - with 231.21 points.
Bronze went to the 2005 worlds runner-up Jeffrey Buttle of Canada with 227.59 points, up from sixth after the short programme.
The night clearly belonged to Plushenko, 23, whose career has featured Olympic silver in 2002 and world titles 2001, 2003 and 2004. He quit during the 2005 worlds over a groin injury that later required surgery.
He is the fourth consecutive Russian to win the men's event, following Alexei Urmanov (1994), Ilya Kulik (1998) and Aleksei Yagudin (2002).
'I worked a lot. It was really very hard because of the operation, and my dream came true,' he said.
The draw made Plushenko the first man out of the top six competitors. Already 10 points up after the short programme, the Russian ended the competition as a contest in his four and a half minutes, which brought the house to its feet.
With American Johnny Weir (second after the short programme) and Frenchman Brian Joubert (fourth) and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi (fifth) faltering, Buttle could even afford an early fall to secure bronze in a stunning three-position rise, which is now much easier than under the old 6.0 judging system.
'I don't even now how I feel right now. I thought I skated very well, and I was happy with what I did. I never really thought I would come back after the short programme,' said Buttle.
Lambiel said that he could have skated better but was also immensely proud to have for the first time managed a quad-triple- double toeloop combination followed by the most difficult job in the sport, the triple axel.
'The medal is the dream I always had. The dream of the medal gives me the strongest belief in myself,' he said.
Plushenko's victory keeps Russia on course toward a first-ever sweep of all four figure-skating gold medals.
Tatyana Totmiyanina and Maxim Marinin won the pairs event, and Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov are top favourites in the ice dance as reigning two-time world champions. The sweep will likely hinge on whether Irina Slutskaya can win the women's gold against stiff American opposition.
Russia (successor to the Soviet Union) have never won the women's gold.
Plushenko vowed to be back in 2010 in Vancouver, shrugging off any retirement speculation.
'I am thinking about the next Olympics now. I am only 23. In four years I will only be 27. It's a good age for a skater,' he said. 'I love skating, I love winning. It's my life.'
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