REVIEW-Olympics-Figure skating-Russians dominate endless drama

By Pritha Sarkar SOCHI, Russia, Feb 24 (Reuters) - An ageing, moody leading man, a doomed little girl in a red coat, a shocking cliff-hanger finale - figure skating at the Olympics had the melodrama to rival a soap opera. Add in the international outrage over judging that followed the surprise gold for Russian teenager Adelina Sotnikova and you have a plot that will live long in the memory. Drama was assured once Yevgeny Plushenko decided he needed to be centre stage - albeit without an open audition. The 31-year-old usurped younger and fitter rivals for the sole spot in the Russian men's team for Sochi through a secret test skate rather than beating them in competition. Mission accomplished, he flung his battered body around to bag a record-equalling fourth Olympic medal for a figure skater when Russia began its gold rush by winning the inaugural team title. While the 2006 champion lapped up the applause and the plaudits from a grateful nation, it was clear to impartial observers that the Russian showman got his hands on gold thanks to the efforts of a supporting cast of Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov and 15-year-old dynamo Julia Lipnitskaya. Lipnitskaya's stirring portrayal of the tragic little girl in the red coat from Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List was hailed the world over. "We all know Plushenko got a gift. He got a lifetime achievement award rather than being rewarded for what he did on the ice that day," 1980 Olympic champion Robin Cousins told Reuters. LAST-MINUTE EXIT Plushenko, however, was not done and stage managed his own dramatic exit from Sochi by pulling out of the individual event at the very last second. When his name was called out as the next performer, the chants of "Ru-ss-ia, Ru-ss-ia" suddenly fell silent as Plushenko hobbled up to the officials, clutching his stricken back, to announce he could not skate. Angry fans accused him of being "a "a spoilt and selfish diva" as his withdrawal left the host nation without a single Russian representative in the men's competition. While Plushenko wiped out the host nation's medal prospects in his event, the motherland had plenty to celebrate. In addition to the team gold, Volosozhar and Trankov became the first figure skaters ever to win two golds at the same Olympics when they led a Russian 1-2 in the pairs. There were several other firsts. Meryl Davis and Charlie White became first Americans to win the ice dance title - setting world record scores in each segment. Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu won a men's competition littered with spills and falls to become the first Asian to win the men's Olympic title. He triumphed despite crashing to the ice twice but there was no major uproar about his win since nine of the top 10 men staggered and stumbled their way through the free skate, including three-times world champion Patrick Chan. "These guys weren't given much of a chance. Ten of those skaters had to compete in the team event, then they made them compete late at night," Canadian great Kurt Browning told Reuters. "The very next morning they had early, early practices and that same night they have to compete their long (programme). So they were dead," he added. "They should have put the team event at the end. It was ridiculous." TALE OF THE UNEXPECTED Nothing was as startling as what transpired a few days later among the women. A competition that had been billed a showdown between 2010 Olympic champion Kim Yuna, twice world champion Mao Asada, 2012 world gold medallist Carolina Kostner and European champion Lipnitskaya ended with the crowning of the unheralded Sotnikova. It was an upset of epic proportions and there was confusion and outrage outside Russia about a result that seemed biased. "Yuna Kim outskated her, period. I'm shocked," said Browning. "What, suddenly, she just became a better skater overnight? I don't know what happened. I'm still trying to figure it out." If a four-times world champion could not work out how or why Sotnikova managed to dethrone Kim, neither could any other neutral fan. What was even harder to fathom was how did Sotnikova - who became the first Russian to win the women's event - improve on her own personal best by more than 18 points in just a month? Her mark of 149.95 was just 0.11 of a point shy of Kim's world record free skate score of 150.06 - which the South Korean earned for a blinding performance at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. To compound matters, Sotnikova was the only one of the leading trio whose free programme contained an obvious mistake - a two-footed landing from a double loop - but as far as the nine-member judging panel were concerned, she was superior to the more graceful Kim and bronze medallist Kostner. While Sotnikova's camp was eager to point out that she performed one more triple than Kim, hence the 5.76 point margin, that did not explain why the Russian was 7.34 points ahead of Kostner who also performed seven triples. "The fact that Adelina improved ... so dramatically over this season proves that she has advanced at really, really high speed. Judges appreciated the progress and rewarded her with great marks," said Russian team choreographer Peter Tchernyshev. There was anger in South Korea where more than 1.5 million people signed an online petition demanding an inquiry into Kim's defeat. Considering the sport is still tainted by the 2002 Olympics judging scandal, it is little wonder that people started to scrutinise loyalties and past records of those on the nine-member judging panel. One judge was identified as having served a one-year suspension for trying to fix an event at the 1998 Olympics, while another, Alla Shekhovtseva - the wife of the general director of the Russian figure skating federation - was caught on camera hugging Sotnikova moments after the win. However, nothing could ruin Russia's celebrations. "Maybe there is speculation overseas (that Adelina was not the deserving winner) but we don't feel it here," added Tchernyshev. "We're very pleased with the result and we were following the rules ... and we won this game." (Editing by Keith Weir)