Skaters who were significantly more successful as coaches?

miffy

miffy

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I feel like there really must have been a thread about this before! But I can’t find one. I am just thinking of people like Morozov, Raf, Romain H, who were good skaters who probably retired before reaching much success, but have now done so in coaching or choreography. Those three are the ones that spring to my mind as being really successful now but I am sure there are or have been more? :)
 
I like to think most successful coaches have been significantly more successful as coaches than as competitive skaters. One exception being Brian Orser though it can be argued that even with his incredible success, he coached his pupils to even greater heights than his own. I think a shorter list would be "successful" skaters who have had "equal success" as coaches.
 
I understand that. Without being rude I was originally meaning people that really probably only serious skating fans would have heard of as a skater - not Orser, D/L etc so much as they did reach the top or very close. But I do agree they have reached even greater success as coaches.

Btw I don’t mean to belittle anyone’s skating career with this thread, I do think something like top 10 at Junior Worlds is still great!
 
Dubreuil & Lauzon had a great career as skaters, but clearly have had way more success as coaches still.

Orser even with his amazing career as a skater, has been even more dominant and great as a coach. He has gone from Mr. "Second Place" as he affectionately called himself once to a regular "First Place".
 
Lee Barkell's biggest success as a pairs competitor was a win at the 1986 Nebelhorn. Going on to coach Olympic medallists and world champs...

Doug Leigh was the junior silver medalist at the 1966 Canadians. Between Elvis and Brian alone, he's clearly more successful as a coach. Similarly, Frank Carroll was a national junior medallist in 1959 and 1960.

Igor Shpilband was successful as a skater - 1983 world junior dance champ, but definitely more successful as a coach.

Don Laws' highest placement was 7th at the 1951 worlds. Scott Hamilton brought him a lot more success.

Definitely Nobuo Sato who reached 4th at the Worlds, but never won a major international.

Galina Zmievskaya - I don't know anything about her competitive results (if any), but Petrenko and Baiul were definitely successful under her...

And similarly, I know nothing about Rafael Arutunian's results a competitor (except for Wikipedia saying he started skating at 7 and was coaching by his early 20s.

Carlo Fassi had some success (winning Euros and medaling at Worlds), but between Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hammill, John Curry and Robin Cousins... he's probably one of the most successful coaches ever.
 
^^^ couldnt remember what they had won (or done) internationally, thats why I prefaced perhaps

I mean now shes coaching a 2 time world Champion and Oly silver champion in Medev. And a 2 time Oly Champion, multi world champion in Hanyu... so thats why brought her up... whatever she won as a skater id say she doing much better as a coach with Orser.
 
A.H.Black said:
Carlo Fassi
John Nicks
Frank Carroll
Ron Ludington
Click to expand...

John Nicks won a total of four pairs medals at the World championships with his sister, Jennifer: gold in 1953, silver in 1950, and bronze in 1951 and 1952. The Nicks siblings also placed 4th at the 1952 Winter Olympics (maybe partly a result of politically-motivated bloc-judge voting -- due to their prior years of success at Worlds, it's reasonable to expect they maybe should have medaled at the 1952 Olympics, if they skated well. But politics does have a tendency to be a factor politically, when a number of skaters compete well at an Olympics).

In addition, Ron Ludington won a World bronze medal in pairs, in 1959, with his sister, Nancy. The Ludingtons were 1960 Olympic bronze medalists in pairs, held at Squaw Valley, California. As well, Carlo Fassi placed 6th in men's singles at the 1952 Olympics, and Fassi won bronze at Worlds in 1953. For that time period, when there weren't many competitions, these accomplishments positioned these skaters as highly successful. Frank Carroll is then apparently the only skater turned coach on your list who never won major medals.
 
canbelto said:
How about Tamara Moskvina? She was a successful pairs skater but obviously her record as a pairs coach is maybe unmatched.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but she competed with Mishin against both Belousova/Protopopov and Rodnina/Ulanov at the same time in both National and International competition. The fact that they won Soviet Nationals once against those pairs is amazing.

Moskvina also won the Soviet Championship in pairs one other time with another partner.

Moreover, Moskvina was a 5 time Soviet Ladies singles champion.

youtu.be

Tamara Moskvina performs Biellmann Spin 1965 European Championships

Tamara Moskvina / Tamara Bratus / Тамара Москвина / Тамара Братусь / タマラ・モスクビナ1965 European Figure Skating Championships, MoscowЧемпионат Европы по фигурному...
youtu.be youtu.be
 
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What about Lori Nichol - I don' t know if she was a competitive skater but Wikipedia says she skated with John Curry's company and competed at World Pros in 1983, but her career as a choreographer has been filled with success.
 
Actually it is pretty rare for top skaters to become top coaches. Rodnina, Grishuk, Platov, all multiple Olympic gold medalists have not produced Olympic or World Champions.

Former top skaters often have other opportunities and don’t devote the same time and effort to coaching that their less celebrated contemporaries do.
 
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My husband has always contended that the most gifted/talented rarely make the best teachers as they are not really sure how they do it - it just comes naturally. The ones who have to break a thing down and struggle more can help others. Also, teaching/coaching is a whole different skill set.
 
canbelto said:
How about Tamara Moskvina? She was a successful pairs skater but obviously her record as a pairs coach is maybe unmatched.
Click to expand...

Probably add her former pairs partner Mishin to that considering his success with Urmanov and Plushenko, both Olympic Champions under his guidance.
 
puglover said:
My husband has always contended that the most gifted/talented rarely make the best teachers as they are not really sure how they do it - it just comes naturally. The ones who have to break a thing down and struggle more can help others. Also, teaching/coaching is a whole different skill set.
Click to expand...
This is kinda true. I think it would be somewhat challenging to find many successful coaches who were very successful competitors. Brian Orser and John Nicks were the first to come to my mind. I'd also say that John Zimmerman's results as a skater are fairly comparable to his results as a coach.
 
twinklestar said:
No, it's Romain Haguenauer who made Muriel Boucher's success in Lyon and now D/L's success.
Click to expand...
Huh? He’s a part of their coaching team, but he’s not wholly responsible for their success. Considering their teams do well on PCS which link to choreography which Marie France does a lot of, in collaboration with others, and their teams also do well technically which I believe Patrice is the main technical coach.

I’m not saying Romain isn’t a part of it but he’s not a puppet master and they are not merely his puppets.
 
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