Catching up with Evan Lysacek on the 10th anniversary of his Olympic Gold

MacMadame

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That was a fun piece. Hearing how Lysacek took advantage of IJS to rack up points makes me feel a bit better about his win. (Wasn't a fan of his skating. Preferred Dai and Plushenko.)

The part where he reconnected with Dang after Dennis Ten's death was also interesting and made more sense to me than this whole "we are soulmates" stuff that outlets like People like to push.
 

skatesindreams

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The part where he reconnected with Dang after Dennis Ten's death was also interesting
Indeed it was.
However, it may not have resonated with the general reader; unfamiliar with the context/history, so PEOPLE focused on their chosen angle.
 

VGThuy

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There was a IG video a few months ago of Kwan skating at an ice rink in LA and Evan was there and he just pulled off a triple flip super casually.

ETA:

It was September and he did it from a spread eagle:

 

skipaway

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I’ve always been a fan of Evan. I first saw him live at Calgary Worlds, saw him around his fans and was able to compliment him on his skate. He was very gracious and acknowledged my compliment. I saw him win at LA Worlds and was so happy with his Olympic gold. I wish him all the best.
 

A.H.Black

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I remember first seeing Even win Novice at 1999 Nationals in Salt Lake City. At the time I thought he had a chance to be something great. I was one of those who wondered what happened during his first years at Senior level and was very happy to see him get it together. I was thrilled to see him win the Olympic Gold Medal. I was almost as happy for Frank Carroll.

Good article from Phil Hersh.
 

dinakt

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Such a good, insightful article. Glad to hear more from Evan about his experiences. Every time I saw him live, whether at a competition or Stars on Ice, I got wrapped up in the energy of his performance. He might not have been the most sensitive skater artistically, but he was attentive to detail and he did not spare one bit of himself when performing. His energy carried to the audience. Wishing Evan a wonderful life.
 
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Garden Kitty

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Skate America in Atlantic City was the first competition that my parents attended. They had watched events on tv a lot, but they never attended one in person. After the men's event, we saw Evan and his Mom walking back to the hotel on the Boardwalk in the rain. He looked tired and was carrying all his stuff. That one image stuck with my Mom ever since as a perfect depiction of the lack of glamor in the sport. No matter how exciting things are in the arena, they're still trudging along in the rain struggling to carry all their stuff.

I know every athlete has their "trudging in the rain" moment, and Evan isn't unique in that respect, but for years he personified the hard work aspect of the sport to my Mom.

That article was interesting and covered some topics I hadn't heard before. I hope Evan and Dang are able to enjoy this next stage of life together.
 

Lacey

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Evan was never my favorite male or American male skater. But, the reflection of ten years cushions his achievement. This is a very well written heartfelt article.

If one is ever one's country, World or Olympic Champion, no one can ever take that away. What he did was amazing. Congratulations to Evan.
 

aftershocks

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It was September and he did it from a spread eagle:

Michelle's Instagram post appears to reference a previous occasion when she skated with Evan and Vera. Though Michelle posted this throwback photo in September 2019, these three did not go skating together in September 2019.

Last September, Evan was surely somewhere with Dang planning their December 2019 wedding.


ITA this is a lovely article reflecting back on Lysacek's career which culminated in his 2010 Olympics gold medal victory. Phil Hersh has gotten better at writing about figure skating since his retirement. I can't help but think he took heed of some advice given to him on FSU a few years ago. ;) Perhaps also, not having to write under deadline, has given Phil more time to reflect. :D

It's interesting that Johnny Weir isn't at least mentioned in passing in the article. I recognize that Evan's and Johnny's accomplishments stand alone, and it isn't crucial for either to be mentioned in a write-up about their separate careers. However, with the mention of other rivals, even Jeremy Abbott in passing, and of course Plushenko (who is cited more extensively in connection with the 2010 Olympics), I think that Johnny not being mentioned is a bit of an omission.

Early in their careers as juniors and as seniors domestically, Johnny & Evan experienced a direct, yet respectful rivalry. I think it was an important rivalry in particular for Evan. This, in the sense of Evan realizing he had to push himself even harder to compete against a skater like Johnny who was so naturally gifted. Whereas Johnny seemed in some respects to take his talent for granted, Evan never took his skating for granted. Evan had to work extremely hard and then some to reach the pinnacle of his career.

Along the way, Evan and Johnny had some crucial match-ups on the ice. It was sad that the media and U.S. figure skating propelled their respectful rivalry into something that it wasn't, which IMO in some ways detrimentally impacted the U.S. men's discipline. The good thing is that the real, underlying generous-spirited impact of the Evan/Johnny rivalry, heavily influenced the friendly sportsmanship the U.S. men's discipline has epitomized ever since those not-too-distant days of 'wine and roses.' Or more aptly, days of 'grind and bruises, and of hard-won victories.'
 

caseyedwards

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Disgusting trash article. Yeah russians did the PR campaigns when lysacek supporter inman used his position in ISU to email all judges to give Plushenko low scores. It was such a disgusting disgraceful political win of no value or merit and now girls do quads so lysacek would lose to girls now not to mention men
 

Yazmeen

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Disgusting trash article. Yeah russians did the PR campaigns when lysacek supporter inman used his position in ISU to email all judges to give Plushenko low scores. It was such a disgusting disgraceful political win of no value or merit and now girls do quads so lysacek would lose to girls now not to mention men

Wow, what took you so long???? You're slipping here.
 

Habs

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A former international judge was a casual acquaintance of mine many (many) years ago. I was interviewing her for an article on the changes to the judging system and we were chatting afterwards. I asked her off the record who (at the time) would benefit from the change to IJS from 6.0. Without hesitating, she said Evan Lysacek because he had everything he needed to be successful in a points system. She also couldn't stop raving about him and what a nice person he was.
 

Yazmeen

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A former international judge was a casual acquaintance of mine many (many) years ago. I was interviewing her for an article on the changes to the judging system and we were chatting afterwards. I asked her off the record who (at the time) would benefit from the change to IJS from 6.0. Without hesitating, she said Evan Lysacek because he had everything he needed to be successful in a points system. She also couldn't stop raving about him and what a nice person he was.

Evan and his team worked to maximize his points under the 2010 IJS and he benefited even without a quad. And despite other "opinions," he was smart, unlike his opponent who arrogantly thought his quad was all that mattered and skated a 2006 program in 2010 and paid for it.
 

caseyedwards

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Evan and his team worked to maximize his points under the 2010 IJS and he benefited even without a quad. And despite other "opinions," he was smart, unlike his opponent who arrogantly thought his quad was all that mattered and skated a 2006 program in 2010 and paid for it.


I have never denied that Plushenko would have been smarter to do a program with no quads and that he should have done 3/5 and hired Lori nichol and be coached by Frank Carroll! The problem there is that their whole method of wining was disgusting trash and takahashi agreed because everyone agreed he should never ever do a quad post injury but he did because he felt he had to to be a real athlete for himself


A former international judge was a casual acquaintance of mine many (many) years ago. I was interviewing her for an article on the changes to the judging system and we were chatting afterwards. I asked her off the record who (at the time) would benefit from the change to IJS from 6.0. Without hesitating, she said Evan Lysacek because he had everything he needed to be successful in a points system. She also couldn't stop raving about him and what a nice person he was.
People always rave quadless journeyman for some reason and want them to win
 

aftershocks

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A former international judge was a casual acquaintance of mine many (many) years ago. I was interviewing her for an article on the changes to the judging system and we were chatting afterwards. I asked her off the record who (at the time) would benefit from the change to IJS from 6.0. Without hesitating, she said Evan Lysacek because he had everything he needed to be successful in a points system. She also couldn't stop raving about him and what a nice person he was.

:lol: As I recall, most people back then felt it would be Johnny Weir who would benefit most. Albeit most of those people apparently were not judges, and not U.S. fed officials, and especially not the myriad back-in-the-day Johnny-haters on FSU. :rofl:
 

Simone411

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I have never denied that Plushenko would have been smarter to do a program with no quads and that he should have done 3/5 and hired Lori nichol and be coached by Frank Carroll! The problem there is that their whole method of wining was disgusting trash and takahashi agreed because everyone agreed he should never ever do a quad post injury but he did because he felt he had to to be a real athlete for himself



People always rave quadless journeyman for some reason and want them to win

Well, my goodness. It must have been so mind boggling and shocking for you to watch the Men compete in Figure Skating at competitions like the Worlds, Nationals, Europeans, Olympics before the days of Quadruple jumps. It must have really been hard for you with all the 'quadless journeyman jumps' from men back in the 70's, 80's and part of the 90's. It must have been so boring to you. You poor thing! :cool::summer:
 

caseyedwards

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Well, my goodness. It must have been so mind boggling and shocking for you to watch the Men compete in Figure Skating at competitions like the Worlds, Nationals, Europeans, Olympics before the days of Quadruple jumps. It must have really been hard for you with all the 'quadless journeyman jumps' from men back in the 70's, 80's and part of the 90's. It must have been so boring to you. You poor thing! :cool::summer:

Not at all!!! It’s like once a man won an Olympics with a triple axel I don’t believe after 1988 a man won without a triple axel again!!! So once a man won the Olympics with a quad in 1998 there were quads in 2002 and 2006 so why wasn’t quad like triple axel?!?!

I think dick button won his Olympic golds with jumps men didn’t do in the next few Olympics. I’m not sure
 

Carolla5501

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:lol: As I recall, most people back then felt it would be Johnny Weir who would benefit most. Albeit most of those people apparently were not judges, and not U.S. fed officials, and especially not the myriad back-in-the-day Johnny-haters on FSU. :rofl:

I always thought Weir should have benefited more from IJS. But the truth is he didn't deliver... he seemed more caught up in "being Johnny Weir" then making sure he was maximizing his points.

As for Plushy, sorry that pelvic thrusting isn't a recognized skating skill. Plushy thought that his "sex appeal" would make up for the fact that his program was empty. Too bad, so sad! But it gives CaseyEdwards something to look foolish over LOL!
 

Yazmeen

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This is the part of the article that got to me:

“In 20 years of competing, I don’t think I ever competed in a field where I would say I was the best skater, but I never doubted I could win,” Lysacek said. “To me, sport was about strategy, and I would think I could use it as a way to beat everybody."

Were both Plushenko and Weir overall, better skaters and more talented? Yes to both. However, Plushy let his massively inflated ego overcome him in 2010, and @Carolla5501 hit the nail on the head with Johnny - if he had spent even 25% of the time he gave to his ego and getting attention for everything but skating to actually practicing and working hard, the outcomes in 2006 and 2010 could have been very different. Evan never let his ego get in the way of working hard, and he got the spoils to show for it.
 

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