World and Olympic Champion Evgeny Plushenko is a dad. Son Kristian Evgenivich Plushenko was born June 15 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In honor of his new position, FigureSkatingMystery.com takes a look back at a 2000 interview with Evgeny where he talked about his own childhood...
2000 Russian Champion, European Champion, and Grand Prix Champion Evgeny Plushenko, 18, spent his vacation performing his first full season on "Champions on Ice."
He traveled alone, and admits he missed his parents terribly. "But, I am used to always being by myself. When I was little, I would always travel alone. My parents didn't want to travel with me, my mother gets too nervous, and so we got into the habit of them never traveling with me."
In spite of his homesickness, though, Plushenko raves, "The Collins Tour is super. I love how the people treat you so well, and how very good and kind they are to me. And I love performing in front of Americans. They are absolute skating fanatics. They love it beyond all reason."
And skating in front of such zealous fans "prepares you for competition. Having to psyche yourself up to skate well every night helps get you ready to compete."
When he has a chance, Plushenko loves talking to his fans -- "I want to tell them, thank you for liking me, and that I will try to skate better so that you will like me even more." Though he laments that his English is still "not good enough."
He hopes to improve his skills at St. Petersburg University, which he will start in September of 2000, even though he realizes that, "It will be very hard to combine school and skating. But, I will do my best. When I go to competition, I will try to study, or, at least, to read a little bit."
As for his other goals for the 2000-2001 season, Plushenko claims they are very simple.
"I want to win everything I enter. But, first and foremost, I want to be World Champion."
That goal is particularly important to Plushenko, in light of his failure to so much as medal at the 2000 World Championship.
Looking back, he says, "I think I simply wanted to win too badly. I had spent two years as the runner-up, and I was so ready for this World Championship. Plus, my opponents didn't skate very well. (Plushenko was the final skater man of the night). I was certain that I would do everything I could do, and that I would win. But, it didn't turn out that way. I tried too hard, and I burned out."
However, in spite of his disappointment in 2000, Plushenko is making no plans to change his preparation, so that such a meltdown doesn't happen again.
He confides, "I will train for next season the way I've always trained, only harder. Whoever is best prepared physically and mentally, that's who will always win."
