The strongest coaches in figure skating: they trained champions

Recently, the International Skating Union presented prizes to the best players and coaches at the end of the season. Among those receiving the award was Japanese coach Mie Hamada.

Mie Hamada (Japan)

Hamada is one of the brightest coaches in Japan. Her first students achieved success more than twenty years ago - in 2003, Yukina Oto won the junior world championship. The trainer achieved real fame thanks to her work with Satoko Mihayara. Under the leadership of Hamada, Mihayara became the silver medalist of the 2015 World Championship and the bronze medalist of the 2018 tournament, a four-time champion of Japan, and a winner of the Four Continents Cup.

Hamada is compared to Eteri Tutberidze because of the victories of her skaters. In addition, she was the general manager at the figure skating academy, which was compared to the Khrustalny department.

“In my opinion, students only grow when they are praised sincerely. If you constantly say “you’re good”, “you’re capable”, then compliments will turn into ordinary words,” says the specialist’s coaching methodology.

Mie Hamada demands strict discipline from her students, and this has become the reason for scandals related to abuse of her students. So, in 2019, a student of coach Nobunari Oda accused her of moral and psychological harassment. Hamada disagreed with the accusations and filed a counterclaim for libel.

Eteri Tutberidze (Russia)

Just a few years ago, Eteri Georgievna’s students did not know competition. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov twice won Olympic silver in pair skating: in 2018 in the team competition, and in 2022 in the individual competition. But “Team Tutberidze” achieved real hegemony in women’s singles skating. In 2018, Alina Zagitova won gold at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, and Evgenia Medvedeva won a silver medal. Four years later, Tutberidze’s students also took two places on the Olympic podium. This time, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova shone, taking first and second place, respectively. And these are just the Olympic successes of the coach’s students.

One of the brightest students of Tutberidze is Kamila Valieva. It’s safe to say that if it weren’t for the doping scandal at the 2022 Olympics and the enormous pressure on the figure skater, she also would not have been left without a medal. Today Valieva has been suspended from competition for 4 years, the ban period is valid from December 25, 2021 - the date on which the positive doping test was passed.

From the 2015/16 season until 2023, only Eteri Georgievna’s students won the Russian championships in women’s single skating. Among them are not only the above-listed figure skaters, but also young Adelia Petrosyan, who today is called Tutberidze’s brightest student. Among the coach's bright students are also Alena Kostornaya, Yulia Lipnitskaya, Maurice Kvitelashvili, Daniel Grassl, Diana Davis. In 2021, Tutberidze won the ISU Skating Awards.

Rafael Harutyunyan (USA)

Another coach from the post-Soviet space. Unsuccessful as a professional figure skater, Harutyunyan trained in Armenia and Russia before moving to the United States. Among his students are Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, Mao Assad, Mai Assad.

Harutyunyan’s brightest student in recent years has been the American figure skater Nathan Chen, one of the best singles skaters of the last few years. He was called the king of quadruples, as he was the first to perform six such jumps in one program. In 2022, the skater won Olympic gold. Having achieved his goal, Chen paused his career and devoted himself to study.

Now Harutyunyan is training another American star, Ilya Malinin. Under his leadership, the athlete has already jumped a quadruple axel, and will soon be ready to go for Olympic gold. Although Harutyunyan himself says that he does not so much train as help - he simply turns out to be where it is needed and transfers knowledge only to the extent that is requested.