RUSSIAN REVOLUTION PLUSHENKO CONTINUES STREAK OF RUSSIAN GOLD MEDALISTS.

Byline: Paul Oberjuerge Staff Writer

TURIN, Italy - Evgeni Plushenko kept his feet when everyone around him was falling over theirs, gliding to the Turin Olympics gold medal in men's figure skating Thursday night.

``When I was 4, I saw a competition and said to my mom, `I have to be there.' I said that I have to be an Olympic champion,'' he said. ``Now I have all the titles and I'm really very happy.''

Plushenko, a three-time world champion and silver-medalist at Salt Lake City, is the fifth consecutive Russian to win the men's Olympic skating gold, joining a list that includes Victor Petrenko, Alexei Urmanov, Ilya Kulik and Alexei Yagudin.

The last non-Russian to win Olympic gold? Brian Boitano of the U.S. in 1988.

Plushenko entered the free skate at the Palavela arena with a big lead, and he inflated it as all his nearest competitors fell down - aside from American Johnny Weir, who didn't attempt to execute about half his scheduled jumps, and dropped from second to fifth place.

Weir said he wasn't going to catch Plushenko, anyway.

``I thought he was amazing,'' Weir said of Plushenko, who landed seven triple jumps and a quadruple jump. ``There are years between Plushenko and everybody else.''

Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland took the silver and Jeffrey Buttle of Canada the bronze despite suffering falls in their programs.

Evan Lysacek of the U.S., who trains in El Segundo, finished fourth after turning in an inspired free skate. He scored a personal-best 152.58 points after overcoming nearly two days of vomiting that left him taking fluids intravenously.

``I can take something from this competition, a sense of pride about going out and finishing a job that I started,'' he said. ``I'm still disappointed about the short program because maybe that free skate I could have been a medal contender.''

Lysacek nailed eight triple jumps, including a triple-lutz, triple-toeloop combination to begin his program, and he was off and soaring. He had been 10th after the short program, where he fell.

Weir said he was discombobulated by arriving at the arena later than he wanted. He said he expected a bus to leave at 8:40 p.m. for the short ride from the Athletes Village to Palavela. He said buses were running on the half-hour instead, which surprised him.

He said a volunteer gave him and coach Priscilla Hill a ride to the arena, where he arrived at about 9:20 - only 47 minutes before he took the ice for warmups, or about 15 minutes later than he hoped.

``Well, I'm going to blame it on someone else,'' he said, then added, ``I guess it's my fault because I thought (the bus schedule) would be the same.''

Weir skipped a quadruple jump, turned two combination jumps into single jumps and reduced a planned triple into a double in a program that went well for about a minute, then unraveled disastrously.

``I just skated bad,'' he said.

Plushenko easily won both short and free skate under the new scoring system, racking up 258.33 combined points. Lambiel lagged far behind at 231.21, and Buttle was at 227.59. Lysacek scored 220.13 points and Weir 216.63. The third American, Matt Savoie, was seventh.

Paul Oberjuerge, [phone]

paul.oberjuerge(at)sbsun.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Evgeni Plushenko celebrates after completing his routine in the free skate. Plushenko was the fifth straight Russian to win gold in men's figure skating.

Mark Baker/Associated Press

(2 -- color) American Johnny Weir hangs his head after falling out of medal contention. Weir, second after the short program, finished fifth.

(3 -- color) Evan Lysacek, who trains in El Segundo, reacts after rallying from 10th to fourth in the free skate.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press