On the dreams that we dream while we are still children.

Winter Olympics is over.

But while I was watching the Figure Skating Exhibition on Sunday, I suddenly remembered why I love the event.

Because Evgeny Plushenko was skating.

When you were growing up, when you watched the Olympics, didn't you ever just want to be like those athletes? Maybe say to yourself, "Someday, I wanna do that."

It happened for me when I saw Archery for the first time on the Olympics, and it makes me one of the happiest people alive to know that I'm in it as a competitive sport now (although it's a bloody long shot from the Olympics, haha), and it is something that I can be good at.

I never saw Figure Skating in the Winter Olympics (in fact, I think this is the first time I'm watching the Winter Olympics, and even then, coz of the time difference between Torino and here, I can't watch most of the events); the only time I ever remember watching Figure Skating on TV when I was younger was maybe on Sunday afternoons, when they'd play random stuff to fill up the broadcast slots, and on public holidays, when they'd show skate shows. Although nowadays, they show beauty pageants more. -_-

I still remember the first few skaters that I loved-- Kristy Yamaguchi, Oksana Baiul, Victor Petrenko-- the latter two both Ukrainian, and I saw them for the first time in the same show. I still remember that I thought Baiul was amazingly pretty, and Petrenko's routines made me laugh; he had such charisma.

And I sat there, smiling with my mouth half-open, eyes fixed on the screen, and thought, "Someday I wanna do that."

Sometime later, I remember seeing Alexei Yagudin; according to what was flashed on the bottom of the screen, he was 20 at the time, although I'm not sure which competition it was. The names of all these competitions and their relevance completely escapes me as I'm not really in the loop about figure skating; I just know how beautiful these people look when they're on the ice. :)

But I remember it was Yagudin that started my obsession with Russian skaters.

Yagudin's routine then was breathtaking because he had such confidence and power, but it wasn't just something about the Russians' style and their poise and the way they carried themselves, both on and off the ice.


It helped that Yagudin was very easy on the eyes as well. :D 


Winter Olympics 2002: Salt Lake City
Alexei Yagudin-- Short Program: "Winter" by Bond 

He won Gold then, but I think that was his last Olympics though, since he retired from eligible skating shortly.


A little more gratuituous eye candy. :P
This one's from his performance of "Broken Arrow" at the 1999 Grand Slam, before the start of the routine. 

But there's also the matter of the man who won Silver in that very same Olympics: Evgeny Plushenko, also Russian-- whom I mentioned in the beginning.

The first time I remember seeing Plushenko, I thought he was amazing because his jumps always had so much height, and his stunts were always immaculate; apart from Yagudin then, I thought that it really didn't get any better than this.

So when I saw him skating in the Torino Games' Exhibition after finally winning Gold this year, it just brought back all the memories of my quiet admiration for figure skaters.


Winter Olympics 2006: Torino
Evgeny Plushenko-- Short Program: "Tosca" 


Winter Olympics 2006: Torino
Evgeny Plushenko-- Free Skate: "Godfather" 


Winter Olympics 2006: Torino
Plushenko with gold in the middle there. 

And watching him skate to "Godfather" by Edwin Marton (with the violinist out on the ice with him too), I knew then why else I loved Plushenko. Because he had charisma, like Petrenko did, and when he skated, there was such joy in it; it's true that when Plushenko skates, you can see the passion.