For high-profile coach, it's all about the quadruple jump

Evgeni Plushenko, the reigning Olympic champion, has snubbed reporters since arriving last week, saying he would not speak until the men's short program Tuesday.

But his coach, Alexei Mishin, spoke in Plushenko's stead Saturday, using the opportunity to criticize skaters who are not going to attempt a quadruple jump here.

Mishin said the skater who won the gold medal in Vancouver would need to land the quadruple, skating's hardest jump, which requires enough speed and power to complete four full revolutions in the air. The last time a male figure skater won the Olympic gold medal without a quadruple jump was in 1994, when Aleksei Urmanov of Russia finished first, with seven triple jumps.

"Modern figure skating without the quad is going back to the time," he said, adding that it would set back the sport at least 10 years. "If you look at the Olympic motto, 'faster, higher, stronger,' the quad represents exactly that."

The last two world champions — the American Evan Lysacek (2009) and the Canadian Jeffrey Buttle (2008) — won without performing quads. Lysacek hopes to win here, too, without one.

Lysacek, from Naperville, Ill., said Saturday that the strength of his other moves — including solid triple jumps and complicated footwork — would make up for his lacking the quad in either of his programs.

"A positive grade of execution can make up for a quad," he said. "This is going to be my strategy. I looked back at the score sheets, saw where I gained points and saw they were more valuable than the quad."

Lysacek, who finished second to Jeremy Abbott at the United States figure skating championships last month, fell when attempting a quad in his long program at the nationals. He had not been practicing it as rigorously as he had in the past, after being slowed last year by a stress fracture in his left foot.

"For me, the quad is a risk," Lysacek said, leaving him thinking if "this is going to be the one that breaks my foot again."

He added, "I didn’t want that to be my Olympic experience."

Return trip

The American figure skaters Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu are planning to stay in Vancouver for just a few days, long enough to get their Olympic gear and to speak to reporters. Both will head back to their home rinks Monday, where they will train in peace for several days. They will return to Vancouver on Friday, several days before the women's event begins Feb. 23.

"Mirai and I are both incredibly excited," Flatt said.

Both skaters are coming into these Olympics as underdogs. No American woman has won a medal at the world championships since 2006. In addition, for only the second time since 1924, the United States will have only two women competing in the singles' event at the Olympics.

For now, though, the 17-year-old Flatt has no time to think about that. She is headed back to classes at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, where she takes Advanced Placement physics, calculus, French and English.

"I'm still trying to juggle my schoolwork with the Olympics, so it hasn't been that easy," said Flatt, who won the national championship last month. "I can't wait to get back here, so I can focus on the competition."

No hotel, no fur

Johnny Weir, the three-time United States national champion, had considered staying in a hotel during the Vancouver Games after a bad experience in the athletes' village in Turin, Italy, four years ago.

But after his very public bout with anti-fur activists last month, Weir quickly changed his mind. Those activists had protested Weir's decision to wear white fox fur on the left shoulder of his costume during his long program at the nationals last month. Afterward, he agreed to replace the real fur with fake fur.

"Security-wise, to stay in a hotel would be very difficult," said Weir, who finished fifth at the Torino Games, where he said his room in the athletes' village was too spartan for his liking.

"There have been threats against me," he said. "I didn't want to get hurt."

Weir has since changed his free-skate costume to one with no fur. He said the switch had nothing to do with the fur controversy, but was relieved to have that incident behind him.

"I don't want any outside influences to hurt my chances here," said Weir, 25. "This is my last chance to win an Olympic medal, and I want to make sure I'm giving myself the best chance to do so."