Yagudin, Plushenko compatriots but not friends
S A L T L A KE C I T Y, Feb. 11 -- Somehow, some way, it always comes down to the Russians.
Alexei Yagudin just hopes it comes down to him.
Yagudin, a three-time world champion, will be locked into a brutal struggle for gold with his eternal rival, countryman and reigning world champ Evgeni Plushenko. Flip a coin, roll the dice, draw a card -- chances are, one of them will be standing atop the podium.
Fact is, barring a major meltdown by those two, the Americans, Tim Goebel and Todd Eldredge (ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the world, respectively), and Chinese quad-meister Chengjiang Li might be fun to watch, but they'll probably battle for bronze.
U.S. coach Frank Carroll would blame that likelihood on a judging bias that he believes favors the Russians -- a theory Yagudin would scoff at.
"The Russian Federation doesn't even back me," he said. "It's pretty sad. Even now, the Russian judge puts me in second to Evgeni. I have no idea why they prefer him to me."
Yagudin's confusion over that favoritism, compounded by last year's long losing streak to Plushenko, once tore him up. So last summer, after Plushenko deposed him at the 2001 worlds, Yagudin stopped eating. Sloughing off 18 pounds in five weeks, Alexei limited himself to one tiny meal a day while battering his body by running and weightlifting obsessively and enduring two-a-days at the rink. He hoped to jump higher, skate faster and control everything that was weighing heavily upon his brain: a bout with pneumonia in Nagano that required IV's in both arms, leaving him too weak to finish higher than fifth; an absentee dad who's been gone for over a decade; and, well, that pesky Plushenko.
Instead, Yagudin crashed into the boards at the Goodwill Games in September.
"There was blood everywhere," he said. "I was so scared to lose, but I'd basically already lost."
Realizing his perfectionism was hurting him, he snapped out of his fog, resuming his old ways -- eating, arriving late for practice and partying in NYC (he moved to Newington, Conn., in 2000).
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