Althouse: "Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of the nation's top Olympic officials..."

March 1, 2010

"Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of the nation's top Olympic officials..."

... after the country's worst performance in a Winter Olympics in nearly a hundred years."

Worst performance? You mean this?

Yeah, Plushenko's "personality is unbelievable" — don't you think? (I hope you watched the whole thing.)

51 comments:

tim maguire said...: Inspired by Blades of Glory? Chaz Michaels rides again!; 3/1/10, 2:44 PM
Sarah from VA said...: That was both hilarious and terrifying. Every time I thought he was done taking things off and harrassing the audience, it just got worse! (I watched it on a computer without speakers. Maybe it makes a little more sense with the music. I doubt it, though.)

Man, those crazy Russians. I'm looking forward to Sochi and further terrifying, hilarious insanity.; 3/1/10, 2:45 PM
Angst said...: Has he been training with the East German Women's swim team?; 3/1/10, 2:45 PM
Mark O said...: I saw this once in a place on North Las Vegas Blvd.; 3/1/10, 2:47 PM
Shanna said...: But they got a platinum medal :)

Seriously, Sochi is going to be crazy. The cheating will be out of this world. I can't wait!; 3/1/10, 2:50 PM
wombat said...: "Athletes are those who bring victories, and they should become the focus of our attention."
Medvedev said he will thank the few athletes who won medals at the Olympics and give them government awards.

The official Russian way, still top down. All the better that this skater took his top off.

Stifled Russia needs a good strip tease and high camp... and so will O's America soon.; 3/1/10, 2:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Too much tootie!

(For new Althousians, Google the phrase using quotes.); 3/1/10, 3:04 PM
ricpic said...: Palladian just fainted.; 3/1/10, 3:05 PM
MadisonMan said...: It makes a lot more sense with the (Tom Jones) music.; 3/1/10, 3:05 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: LOL Althouse. Thanks for lightening up my Monday with that. I bet he gets at least one Letterman or Leno appearance.[Leno is back on right?]; 3/1/10, 3:06 PM
Chennaul said...: Everytime I see his hair when he does a sit spin i just want to go all Rahm Emanuel on this guy.

Tie on my ballet shoes, do a grand jete and kick him in his castanettes-

then shave his head.; 3/1/10, 3:07 PM
Chennaul said...: I can't even watch this but I can tell from the comments that my hypothesis last week that his choreographer is an old stripper stands undefuted.

[oooh new word-undefuted-that's Plushenko alright.]; 3/1/10, 3:10 PM
Amy said...: I would've watched the Olympics if I knew it was like THIS! Did he get a medal?

(Whew....); 3/1/10, 3:18 PM
traditionalguy said...: Was that fake wrestling or fake skating? The entertainment factor was good, but it's not a sport.; 3/1/10, 3:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: Amy...He got the new Brass Balls medal for sure.; 3/1/10, 3:22 PM
michael farris said...: The scary thing is that that's not the most disturbing thing he's ever done:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m28xZx7gp_8

Warning: if you watch it all the way through it may sap your will to live and utterly destroy your faith in humanity.; 3/1/10, 3:30 PM
Anonymous said...: If he had handed that rose to the guy in the audience, he'd have won the Gold.; 3/1/10, 3:33 PM
HKatz said...: He's definitely got a nice body, but the sexiness for me is dampened by the over-the-top shiny costume (so the overall effect is less sexy and more funny). It's like a male erotic dancer wearing a leopard print speedo and a bowtie.

Granted he sheds the costume pretty quickly... but then he looks too much like a he-man action figure :)

Anyway, it was still fun to watch.; 3/1/10, 4:02 PM
Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...: He ain't pretty

wv: insest (marriage, as spelled in WV); 3/1/10, 4:07 PM
MadisonMan said...: I will point out that the routine is from 2000 or 2001, or something like that.; 3/1/10, 4:09 PM
kjbe said...: MM, thanks. I thought it was part of the gala they did after all of the competitions are over - and that's all meant to be in fun. I think it worked.; 3/1/10, 4:15 PM
michaele said...: This was from a few years ago and was done merely as entertainment after the serious competitive routines were done and judged. After seeing how serious he was at the Olympics (and pissy when he didn't win the gold), it's nice to get a glimpse of his more humorous side. I was fooled for awhile about the upper body muscle bodysuit!; 3/1/10, 4:22 PM
kimsch said...: If you watch Michael Farris' link you'll see that that isn't his body. It's the kind of muscles my little boy wears when he's pretending to be He-Man or Superman, or Spiderman or Batman...

wv: ampte; 3/1/10, 4:31 PM
KCFleming said...: I note there were no dollar bills tucked into his gold lamé underoos at the end of the routine.

After all that work!

I hope the DVDs and air fresheners sold.; 3/1/10, 4:57 PM
Unknown said...: ew.

who lied to him and told him he was sexy ? that was gross.; 3/1/10, 5:02 PM
chuck b. said...: There is only one word for that and that word is incredibly fucking super-awesome.

"(I hope you watched the whole thing.)"

Twice.; 3/1/10, 5:24 PM
KCFleming said...: I will try this dance tonight for my wife.

I'm taking bets on the outcome:

a) Yum!
b) Eeeeeewww!
c) WTF??
d) My lawyer will call your lawyer.; 3/1/10, 5:27 PM
knox said...: He's definitely got a nice body

Isn't that a padded body suit? Maybe you're just joshing.

This is definitely the best performance I've seen in this category. I mean, consider the category. This is pretty much what you are hoping for when you watch ice dancing.; 3/1/10, 5:32 PM
KCFleming said...: Oh, and choice "e":

e) Urine drug test demanded; 3/1/10, 5:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Figure skating is not a sport anymore than ballet dancing is a sport.; 3/1/10, 5:34 PM
Phil 314 said...: I kept thinking of Hans and Franz.

and in reality he is kind of a girlie man; 3/1/10, 5:38 PM
paul a'barge said...: oh dear!; 3/1/10, 5:44 PM
paul a'barge said...: I hear he is Suze Ormand's bee-yotch.; 3/1/10, 5:44 PM
Irene said...: I give him credit for not covering his skates with flesh-toned hose. In this context, however, he looks like the man who forgot to take off his black socks.

Eew.; 3/1/10, 5:55 PM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/1/10, 5:55 PM
Palladian said...: "Palladian just fainted."

...from embarrassment.; 3/1/10, 5:59 PM
Palladian said...: " Those "muscles" look odd. I bet they are implants, not actual muscles. Actual muscles have insertion points and connections to bone and other muscles - those things lie just below the skin and do not move the way actual muscles do. Seriously, his back looks like an assortment of leftover silicone gel packs arranged in a way that only loosely mimics actual human anatomy."

IT'S A FAKE FOAM RUBBER MUSCLE COSTUME, PEOPLE.

Look at the close-ups. There's a color change boundary at the collar. The only person who's face is actually a different color than their body is Michael Jackson, and he's dead.

Plus there are loose wrinkles at odd places. If his real skin tented like that, he'd be dead on the ice of dehydration.; 3/1/10, 6:04 PM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/1/10, 7:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Well that saves me a ton of money. Now I won't need to watch him do this routine when he turns pro and joins an ice show.

WV: baracka (really!) - OBAMA! - baracka - Obama!; 3/1/10, 7:11 PM
Sorin said...: Who would have guessed...metro sexuals in Russia. Oy; 3/1/10, 7:24 PM
Methadras said...: Someone explain to me AGAIN!!! why ice dancing is a legitimate Olympic event? Kurling looks better by the day.; 3/1/10, 7:44 PM
CatherineM said...: I like when he takes a whiff of his pit at moment 1:48. Manly, yes? Reminds me of Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda; 3/1/10, 7:47 PM
Anonymous said...: I made it to :47. Awful. I felt bad for him.; 3/1/10, 9:03 PM
srfwotb said...: That muscle top is rather grotesque . Other than that, I liked the routine. At first I wasn't sure whether he had just gotten precision fake tan brushed on or was wearing something. Theatrical muscles.; 3/1/10, 9:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Hilarious!!! I loved it! Evgeny sure heated up the joint. He brought some much needed outrageousness (apart from that caused by cheating) to the Olympics. Go, Evgeny!; 3/1/10, 9:25 PM
Kurt said...: Until I noticed that it was a fake muscle top (for all of the reasons Palladian outlines), I was wondering what happened to him in the intervening time period between this event and this year's Olympics because he was much, much skinnier.

In fact, that's one reason why men's figure skating is very different from other men's sports. Most men's figure skaters are skinny guys with a talent for twists and spins and jumps and such things on the ice. Most of the other male Olympians had much more impressively developed-looking bodies than the figure skaters.; 3/1/10, 10:56 PM
chuck b. said...: Where can I find a better quality clip of this dazzling performance?; 3/2/10, 12:39 AM
chuck b. said...: (Did this actually happen in real life, or is it make-believe?); 3/2/10, 12:51 AM
Nora said...: Thanks!! That was fun. Who could think that the guy has so many talents and great sense of humor too. He is definitely a very talented clown and mime in addition to being a great skater and good dancer.; 3/2/10, 4:07 AM
Roger J. said...: At the risk of over-analysis, I saw this as a parody of of the current status of olympic skating--I will give the guy credit for chutzpah--that's for sure.

Now to resume my training program for refereeing women's beach vollyball.; 3/2/10, 7:32 AM
The Den Mother said...: Evgeni Plushenko superlatives:
1. Biggest ego
2. Sorest loser
3. Ugliest haircut (he should be thankful the judges didn't exercise the little-known mullet deduction); 3/2/10, 10:37 AM