February 27, 2010

Orthodox American Figure Skater Wins Olympic Gold Medal


Evan Lysacek is an American figure skater who recently became the first U.S. man to win the Olympic gold medal since Brian Boitano in 1988, shocking everyone — maybe even himself — by upsetting defending champion Yevgeny Plushenko on Thursday night. Plushenko came out of retirement with the sole purpose of making a little history of his own with a second straight gold medal.

He is a Greek Orthodox Christian who has stated that one of his most prized possessions is his Orthodox cross. He has stated: "I want to go to the Greek islands. I'm Greek Orthodox, so I've sat through countless church services in Greek. I need to experience it for real now." His Greek background comes through his mother's side.

Read more about his gold medal win here:
www.nbcolympics.com/news-features/news/newsid=429679.html

Read more about his Orthodox connections here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Lysacek

Below is a picture of Evan with his three-bar Russian cross: