Charisma on ice: Olympic medalist Alexei Yagudin is a crowd-pleaser in any arena: next week he'll be at the Molson Centre

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He's scintillated from Salt Lake City to Sault Ste. Marie, knocked 'em dead in Nagano and North Bay.

About the only audience that figure skater Alexei Yagudin hasn't conquered yet is the alliance of Russian judges.

Four times the world champion, three times European champ and recently crowned Olympic gold medalist, Yagudin has yet to win a national title of his homeland.

"I never won any competition judged by Russians," he said in a telephone interview before a recent show in London, Ont. "They always put me under (countryman Evgeny) Plushenko."

Plushenko, who dethroned an ailing Yagudin as world champion in Vancouver in 2001, might have to wait a bit longer if he hopes to regain the title.

Yagudin captured his fourth crown last month before an enraptured crowd in Nagano, Japan, and next season he could attempt to become the first five-time men's champion. And he's only 22.

"There are no limits," he said. "You can be four-time world champion or eight-time world champion. I got everything I was capable of getting this year, but I might want to do it again. It's too early to decide but I still like what I do, still like to learn new programs, try new things. I'd certainly like to do Skate Canada and Skate America again."

Canadian skater Kurt Browning says if anyone can be five-time champion, it's Yagudin.

"He's a gutsy kid. He keeps you honest. And God, he's good. The first time I toured with him (in 2001), I felt like the old bull being pushed out of the pen because the new bull had arrived," said Browning, 35, who is skating with him again in the touring Stars On Ice show that returns to the Molson Centre on Tuesday after a two-year absence.

Browning jokes that he might have had a hand in Yagudin's decision to seek a fourth world championship in Nagano. "He said he didn't want to hear in the introductions that I'd won four (world titles) and he'd won three. He's got a big personality, comes off strong sometimes, but audiences absolutely love him. He's got a lot of charisma and cares about his audience a lot, which shows in his skating. We're lucky to have him."

A native of St. Petersburg, Yagudin started figure skating at age 4. It was his mother Zoya's idea.

"I wasn't that healthy when I was young. I was sick a lot, had a lot of colds. She wanted me in some kind of sport. She always took care of me. I grew up without a father, but I don't feel I missed anything," said Yagudin, an only child whose father abandoned the family when he was still young.

Zoya, he said, has never watched him compete live, and probably never will. It makes her too nervous.

"I usually call her right after, and then she watches on tape."

After the Olympic competition in Salt Lake City, however, an uncle beat him to the phone. "He called her and said I skated clean."

Yagudin, who has lived in the U.S. for four years, said the gold medal in Salt Lake City was his main goal this year, but he ended up sweeping every major event in the sport with his signature short program, Winter (which is his solo number in Stars On Ice), and the evocative long program, Man In The Mask.

After the world championships, he joined a tour of smaller Ontario cities that ended last week in Sault Ste. Marie, and now is doing 11 major Canadian centres with Stars On Ice. The cast includes Brian Orser, Kristi Yamaguchi, Victor Kraatz and Shae-Lynn Bourne, Lloyd Eisler and Isabelle Brasseur (back skating after the birth of a baby girl), and Todd Eldredge.

"It's just a great experience being with these skaters, seeing how they work, skate and present themselves," Yagudin said.

"It's a chance to learn something new for next year. And I always like skating in Canada. They are the No. 1 figure-skating fans."