Alexei yagudin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg). He started skating at the age of four, learned all the two-week jumps before the age of ten, mastered all the three-week jumps before the age of twelve, and successfully did the three-week Axel jump (also called Axel three-week jump or three-and-a-half-week jump) before the age of thirteen, which is regarded as a difficult action by adult athletes. His first coach was Alexander Mayorov, who moved to Sweden in 1992. Before he left, he introduced Yagudin to the famous Russian figure skating coach alexei mishin. During the six years from the age of twelve to eighteen, Aguddin studied in Mishin.

Yagudin 1994 began to participate in international competitions, and 16 years old won the world junior figure skating championship. 1997 participated in the World Championships for the first time and won the bronze medal. In the following 1997- 1998 season, Yagudin won the European Championship, which was his first international title after entering the adult group.

1998 At the Winter Olympics in Nagano, he performed well in a short program before he was 18 years old, but then he suffered from severe pneumonia due to the flu. He had a high fever and made frequent mistakes on stage, and finally won the fifth place. A month later, he took part in the world championship held in Minneapolis, USA, and won his first world championship. He is the first Russian men's single skating world champion after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Moreover, when he won the championship, it was 18 15 days, only six days behind Canadian Donald Filson, the gold medalist of 1963 World Championships, and he was the second youngest world champion in history. /kloc-in the summer of 0/998, Yakudin decided to leave Mishin and join another legendary Russian coach, tatiana Tarasova. Tarasova is called "Champion Maker" because he has trained many Olympic champions and world champions, and he is called "Iron Coach". Her cooperation with Yagudin began in the summer of 1998, and it didn't come to an end until he retired due to injury in 2003. So far, they are still mother and son.

1998- 1999 season, yagudin was a great success. He participated in 13 events, and won 1 1 3 events: not only won the FINA Grand Prix Finals, the European Championships and the World Championships, but also unexpectedly defeated the experienced and expressive Canadian Kurt Browning in the World Professional Figure Skating Championships, becoming the only amateur who won the professional World Championships. At the same time, evgeni plushenko, who trained with Yagudin under Mishin, grew rapidly, and the two began to compete fiercely in various competitions. In the next three years, they pushed the technical level and artistic expression of figure skating men's single skating to a peak that is still insurmountable.

1999-2000 season, yagudin won the world championship for the third time under the condition of continuous low fever, and achieved an impressive record of three consecutive championships in this project. However, his injury gradually worsened. Knee injury and broken skates forced him to miss the grand prix finals in Lyon, France this season. In the European Championship, although he ranked first in short program performance, he slipped freely and failed to defend the European champion for the third time in a row.

In 2000-200 1 season, Yagudin adopted a more difficult program arrangement, added rich and varied connections and novel footwork, which will become his signature strength in the future. However, with the maturity of artistic expression, his jumping stability is inevitably affected, and he is plagued by injuries, and his state has declined this season. He won the silver medal in the Grand Prix Finals and the European Championship. 200 1 World Championships, the right foot was severely sprained before the game. With the qualification for the 2002 Winter Olympics basically guaranteed, he decided to compete for the third place in Russia regardless of his pain. In the qualifying round, he played an unprecedented disorder, and the group only ranked fifth. Facing the unfavorable situation, he insisted on taking the stage with five needles before the short program and staged a passionate "revolution". The audience was deeply impressed by the whole program in one go. The audience stood up and applauded. Some critics think that his performance completely transcends the technical elements such as jumping and spinning, "all by sincerity and courage." In the free skating competition, he sewed six stitches again. Although he made mistakes, he completely conquered the audience with his extraordinary fighting spirit, perseverance and enthusiasm. Finally, it successfully overcame the disadvantage of abnormal ranking and won the silver medal in 200 1 World Championships. The 200 1-2002 season is a crucial Olympic season. After the relative low tide of last season, Yagudin changed his training mode and adjusted his personal state. After successfully overcoming the low tide at the beginning of the season, he ushered in the most brilliant season in his sports career. He was invincible in all competitions, and even won all the gold medals in the Grand Prix Finals, European Championships, Winter Olympics and World Championships, becoming the only "Grand Slam" winner in the history of men's single skating.

In the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA, Yagudin and plushenko were the two players with the highest voice to win gold in the men's single skating event of figure skating. Their strong collision in Salt Lake City is regarded as one of the most classic peak confrontations in the history of winter Olympics flower skating, and it is still talked about by people today. When the scandal of Russian double skating referee broke out and the media opinion was obviously unfavorable, Yagudin and plushenko lived up to expectations and finally jointly defended the dignity of a skating power. Although plushenko made a big mistake in his short program, he won the silver medal for his outstanding performance in free skating. Yagudin won the gold medal in the men's single skating event by virtue of the perfect performance of the short program "Winter" and the gorgeous interpretation of the free skating "Man in the Iron Mask". Yagudin is the first male figure skater in the past 50 years. His short program and freestyle skating were unanimously rated as the first by all nine judges. In the freestyle skating competition, he scored a perfect score of 6.0 in four artistic performances-before that, no single male skater in the history of the Winter Olympics had scored a perfect score of 1 times, and this record will be maintained forever as the judging rules of figure skating 6.0 become history.

After plushenko retired from the Winter Olympics, Yakudin went on to participate in the World Championships held in Nagano, Japan, and won his fourth world championship to ensure the Russian World Championships next season. In this competition, he got six full marks of 6.0 in short programs and two full marks of 6.0 in free skating, setting a new record: he was the first player to get six full marks in short programs and the first player to get full marks in a required element in short programs. As if he were a jealous genius, Yagudin was diagnosed with congenital hip defect shortly after the Olympic season, which troubled him for a long time and eventually led to the early termination of his competitive career. In June 5438+October 2002 10, he was forced to abstain due to injury when he ranked first in the short program. This is his last amateur competition.

In June 5438 +2003 10, Yagudin officially announced his retirement and gave a farewell performance in Skate Canada, when he was only 23 years old. In the same year, he was rated as the "best athlete" in Russia and won the "honor" award; In addition, because of his "outstanding achievements in sports and contributions to Russian culture", he was awarded the fourth-class "Medal of Honor of the Motherland" by then Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yagudin's competitive career is short, but it is extremely brilliant. From the season of 1996- 1997 to the last season of 200 1-2002, in just six years, he not only won the Olympic champion, but also won four gold, one silver and one bronze from all six world champions including 1998-2000.

Exquisite and comprehensive skills: the jump is explosive and full of momentum, especially good at Axel three-week jump (3A, also known as three-and-a-half-week jump). He can easily and stably complete high-quality difficult jumps such as back-point ice jump (4T), Axel jump (3A), 4T-3T-2Lo, 4T-3T and 3A-3T, especially in practice. His rotation technique is solid, his posture is standard and standardized, and he can join the corresponding novel action arrangement in combination with the program content; His footwork is his trademark advantage. Especially after moving to Tarasova, the follow-up steps of almost every program are excellent, innovative and distinctive, and often win applause from the audience.

In addition to his solid technical foundation, he also has unparalleled artistic appeal. Even today, long after his retirement, many classic programs he left behind continue to capture countless audiences. He turned speed and strength into masculine beauty between gestures. His interpretation is always "150%" from the inside out, which is not only his vivid interpretation of music and characters, but also his true understanding of life and struggle-the road to glory is full of thorns of injury, frustration, malice and prejudice; Only true fighters can break through obstacles, overcome themselves and reach the peak of success.

Alexei yagudin, the eternal gladiator on the ice, is an immortal legend.