platinum medals??

Evgeni Plushenko, the decorated Russian figure skater, was poised to repeat as a gold medalist in the Vancouver Olympics last week, but fell short on the second night to American Evan Lysacek.

Since then, Plushenko has blamed the judges and gotten support from his own prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Lysacek, meanwhile, has been caught up in confusing drama with a possible girlfriend.

It seems Plushenko has found a way to get past the near-miss, however -- and it doesn't involve a Sex Bomb. A visit to his web site reveals that he won a silver medal in 2002 and a gold in 2006. Both true. But then he claims to have won a platinum medal at the 2010 Winter Games. Scroll down for the bizarre screenshots, via Fourth Place Medal and zap2it.

Ice quality...

Ensuring that the ice conditions at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games are the best and most consistent possible for each athlete takes a great deal of hard work by a myriad of individuals, from members of the relevant International Federations to teams of experts from the Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).