Emily Newell and Steven Peek
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What happens when a top-level professional athlete doesn’t get his/her way? What happens when that athlete trains to the best of his/her ability and falls short of the top spot? When the unexpected happens, will he/she act graciously or react immaturely?
In the case of Evgeni Plushenko, the latter is true. Plushenko, a male figure skater from the Russian Federation, won the silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games and a gold medal at the 2006 Torino Olympics.
Plushenko was favored to win gold in Vancouver this year, but he was shocked when his scores placed him 1.31 points behind American Evan Lysacek, the 2009 World Figure Skating Champion, in the Feb. 18 men’s singles competition.
Lysacek unexpectedly skated away with gold, while Plushenko ended his run at the Vancouver Games with another silver—the second of his career.
Let the immature reaction begin.
After the competition was finished, Plushenko, who was apparently unable to accept that he had come in second place, jumped onto the medal stand’s gold position.
“I stepped on the gold medal position because I forgot that I came in second,” Plushenko said. “To be fair, I felt that I had stepped onto my position. It wasn’t planned, of course, it was just that in my brain, I’d actually won.”
In a post-competition interview, Plushenko attacked the scoring system. He said quadruple and triple jumps were being rated at the same level and that the sport of figure skating, unlike others, was not moving forward but backward.
He continued by saying U.S. figure skater Lysacek won the medal by performing a less technically complicated routine.
Plushenko then proceeded to award himself the fictional “platinum medal,” which he created on his personal Web site, www.evgeni-plushenko.com.
While Plushenko may have had more difficult elements in his routine, and though he deserved the gold medal in the eyes of some, that is no excuse to react in such a way and make a personal attack on an opponent.
But, even Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin sided with Plushenko.
“Plushenko performed the most accomplished program on the Vancouver ice,” Putin said.
He told Plushenko that in his eyes, the silver was worth gold.
Vitaly Mutko, minister of sport, tourism and youth politics for the Russian Federation, has a different view on the issue.
“Judging is an eternal problem,” he said. “But, the system of judging is the way it is, and one has to fit into it instead of criticizing it.”
While Plushenko has become a model of poor sportsmanship, Lysacek responded to the issue graciously.
“I guess I was a little disappointed that someone that was my role model would take a hit at me in one of the most special moments of my life,” Lysacek said. “But it’s tough to lose. It’s not easy. Especially when you think no matter what you’re going to win, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Lysacek said, in his opinion, the score is a reflection of the performance as a whole and not just one single element among hundreds.
“If it was a jumping competition, there would be no music or anything,” he said. “They would give you 10 seconds to do your best jump and that would be it.”
Plushenko’s actions are just one of the many examples of poor sportsmanship in modern athletics.
In today’s world of sports, the new mentality is if you’re not first, you’re last. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find top-level athletes who handle defeat with composure and grace.
Most recently, in a Feb. 27 game versus then-No. 12 New Mexico, Brigham Young basketball player Jonathan Tavernari began yelling at officials and opposing players as he was upset with a no-call during the waning minutes of play. A few minutes later, he shared a few choice words with part of the New Mexico coaching staff.
After referees let Tavernari finish the game, the conflict ended with an altercation between Tavernari and New Mexico head coach Steve Alford during the postgame handshake.
Though Tavernari later apologized to Alford and his team, his actions demonstrate the lack of maturity.
Another example of poor sportsmanship came from the women’s 2009 U.S. Open.
No. 1 seed Serena Williams was called for a foot fault and then proceeded to scream profanities at and threaten the life of the line judge who made the call.
In a post-match interview, Williams refused to admit to any wrongdoing.
When asked about the incident, Williams replied with a shaky response: “I don’t remember anymore to be honest. I was in the moment.”
But there is still some hope for good sportsmanship in athletics.
In the 2008 U.S. Open, golfer Rocco Mediate handled defeat by world’s best Tiger Woods after an exhausting 91-hole tournament with poise.
After missing his final putt, Mediate said, “I just yanked it a touch. But I can’t really complain. I did the best I could.”
Unlike Plushenko, Tavernari and Williams, Mediate seemed happy with a second-place performance.
“I got a chance to beat the best player in the world,” he said. “I came up just a touch short. [But] I almost got it done.”
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