Both skaters performed well. I think it could have gone either way. Silver metal is not shabby award.

Well done Lysacek, It was a geat dance performance!

the american was graceful,russian was a robot.the jumps are only part of the program.

I’ve watched last night’s final men’s figure skating final. I do agree with Prime Minister Putin that Pluschenko should have won the Gold Metal and in fact the Russian Federation should give him the reward of a gold not silver. Pluschenko was cheated of Gold Olympic last night and that was shameful. It was great also to see his dignity on display. However, since the days of great Alexei Yagudin, Russia or for that matter the entire male figuring skating world has not produced any body with the total athletic and artistic excellence of Yagudin. I missed his masterful footwork, beautiful military uniforms and grandiose music score. Last night nobody including Pluschenko have reached the level of Yagudin’s performance in Salt Lake City which won Russia the Gold Metal. Russia should have had at two more male figure skaters in final ten skaters last night but the weight of this great nation was on Pluschenko and he did not put undisputable distance between himself and the closest rival. I sensed that he left a room for those who are predisposed bias against Russia to prop up other competitors points to harm Pluschenko and in fact did happened. However, Russia is doing badly in these games and it is about time discipline and dedication to excellence, honour and patriotism are brought back to Russia’s youth armature sports. Russia’s performance in Vancouver games is unacceptable and I am not even a Russian but I love Russia.

I agree with Count Cash, Pluschenko should have won the Gold Metal last night. This is clear even to me who lack expert knowledge in figure skating. However, we need to keep in mind that the Soviet Union was a powerhouse of athletic excellence but since the fall of the Soviet Union accumulating wealth has replaced artistic excellence in the modern Russia. This is not evidenced not in only the world of competitive sports but in the artists and music, movie making. The Soviet era Russian films are by and large more superior to the current Hollywood imitation. Russia needs to accelerate the revival of Russian culture and sporting culture in particular. The bars/publs/drinking/clubing culture needs to be replaced by health oriented the culture. The culture of extravagant living and five stare hotels needs to be replaced with affordable cheap but clean hotels. Russia can create lot of jobs by heavily investing in rebuilding the culture and the social infrastructure. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the culture of artistic and sporting excellence had been replaced with the culture of wealth massing of the oligarchs. Now, few words on gender. Russian women are doing badly in these games. Russia needs to promote popular image of strong, competitive athletic women rather than that of “exotic dangers” and “fashion models” and "overseas brides to wealth , older western men". So far, Canada has won three Gold Metals in the Vancouver Olympic Games; two of these three Gold Metals came from women. This is a lesson to Russian Sport Federation. Canadian women are known to be among "the most beautiful women in the world" but beauty is not what Canadian women want to be known so why the discourse of beauty has been pushed as way to promote Russian women?

Evan did a flawless job, I think Plushenko was showboating just a little bit, and that's what cost him. BooP!

Plushenko, what's with the sour grapes?! Very unsportsmanlike and low class. He had wobbly landings, less intricate and technical footwork, and didn't land as many jumps on the second half where there is a point boost. I agree that jumping is important, but it is supposed to be a full program that includes many sorts of technical elements. Otherwise, we would just have a jumping contest.

Lysacek like a girl with plastic face.Pluschenko is greate skaters,he is the best in the world!!look in youtube^) usa is buy first place)

The jumps are the biggest part of free skating, without them, it is all skating mums and sequins. When you can't jump, then everything else becomes important. For what basically amounts to no more than a womans program beating a mans program in the Olympics is laughable. Everyone makes a decision what they will put in a program, as a Quad is an order of magnitude higer than a triple, then a clean program with it in, MUST beat a triple program hands down. regardless if you have a slight off balance or a ragged check with a free leg. If you fall fair enough, or if you are grossly turning the jumps out on the ice. But basically you stay up with a quad against a non quad program and the SPORT requires that you win. Every child learning to skate knows they have to make the revolutions, that is the technical goal. This is what basically sorts the men out from the boys. It drives skating; to send a message that you can perform at what now amounts to normal triples level, will set the SPORT back a decade. There are options to have solo dance for the ones who can't cut it with the jumps. I certainly hope the skating community is vocal on this one, with the chants of dance dance dance and Quad Quad Quad. We want SPORT, not an adaption of rules to match skating federations that can't perform the jumps. Otherwise you might as well judge down hill for how they hold the poles. Imagine a double based program beating a triple one, that has to be the logical conclusion of this farce. This is no coincidence however, JUDGES produced a DVD criticising Pluschenko heavily on his skating, especially transitions, this was desiged to achieve the desired result of an atack on his skating, because there was no answer to his capabilities. It will be a travesty if the Russian skating union does not lodge a formal complaint, including also a complaint for the similar deliberate attack on the Russians dancers aborigine routine,on the Olympic website.

Pluschenko spent a lot of energy on head games and snide comments before and after last nights event. Perhaps he should put more energy into his training, He's consumed by the quad. The last time I checked the sport was not called "ice-jumping" it seems to have many more components than that. Katrina.. medal.. MEDAL.. Metal is what they are made of. Medals are what the athletes win. Well, some athletes.

I don't understand why people who have no idea about the new scoring system are commenting so forcefully . A quad doesnt win you an gold medal anymore it's not a jumping competition. Plushenko was wobbly throughout his own performace and looked like he was expecting a gold medal just for stepping on the ice. Stop whining it's embarrassing

@Nwakaku My thoughts exactly.... Everyone is a critic and yet have no idea what they are talking about.. Then you have KATRINA...well.....no comment Like in every Olypic event....The best athelet won....accept it and get over it...

Russia's overall performance in this olympics has been embarrassing for her. The USSR was able to field powerful teams in almost all olympic sport. I recall that Valery Borsov was an exceptional sprinter in the summer olympics. The problem for Russia today is that it can no longer collect together the best athletes from cross the many republics of the USSR. For example, the USSR team that first beat the American basketball team was composed of Lithuanians, Latvians, Ukrainians and Russians. However, the Russian Federation now is limited to the athletes within its own borders.

Lysacek cannot dance...his movement is not from the center, and it is contrived. Its an insult to ice dancers to claim he is a dancer! He did not do a quad; he did not do a quad/triple, and he did not EVEN do a 3 axel/3 toe loop, which is what is usually done if you do not have a quad! Someone in the West likes to play dirty tricks...so they give us Lysacek, a third rate skater, and call that gold! This has occurree a lot ... but every American sees the same thing in every high school ...money talks, quality walks. Will this destroy us in the end?

For all the rubbish about jumping competitions, well it isn't a moves in the field competition either! There is no Jeopardy to a simple step sequence or a spin. To have a scoring system that rewards the mediocre, rewards not reaching for the sky in the Olympics is rediculous. Just changing the scoring system to refocus the SPORT away from the spectacular, away from the height of human exertion and challenge is pathetic. You could change the scoring system in any sport, to give advantage to a facet that brings nothing to the SPORT - why not give an extra 2 seconds advantage on the downhill for great technical use of the ski edges. We would never, because it would have the rediculous consequences of the slower skier possibly winning. The embarassement is when the one who is not up to the highest level, is the Olympic champion, that is the travesty which cheats the SPORT of its very development. People want to see the SPORT progress to new heights, not turn into a dance competion with more jumps! When the SPORT loses, all the skaters lose - wow I must go and see that new triple combination, oh wait a minute I just need get my old VHS recordings out, and I can see it anyway, oh I will keep my money in my pocket. You can lie to yourselves all you like, but in the end you are only lying to the SPORT, when you do that, it won't be long before, no one has any respect for it!

Well, What can I say. Perhaps it would be better to send a Bolshoi dancer to please the judges. A new system? based on what? This is a sports competition, not just a pretty performance competition. The spirit of the Olympic Games is about sports, endurance, record braking. It is not just jumps, it is technique, it is going beyond past performance marks. But, what to expect from the bunch of judges who find pleasure in sack a Russian champions? They are experts at it; as long as it is Russian.... and this is not a cry for the results, it is just the facts about judges with subtle but effective bias. The fact is that Plushenko is out of their league, both judges and competitors.