Plushenko was a very good skater as a child. At age 14, he won the World Junior Championships. At age 15, he won the bronze medal at the World Championships. He has always been coached by Alexei Mishin, a very famous Soviet and Russian skater coach. At the time of Plushenko's rise, Mishin was also coaching Alexei Yagudin. When Yagudin saw all the attention Mishin was giving Plushenko, it made Yagudin leave and find another coach. Plushenko and Yagudin had a very big rivalry that ended in 2002, when Yagudin won the Olympic Gold and Plushenko won the silver.