"He raised up the Quad King. He refined the jump that defined the Quad God. From a sprawling ice facility in Irvine, Rafael Arutyunyan could just be the "Quad Maker." The 68-year-old figure skating coach is renowned as one of the best technicians in the world. He trained Olympic champion Nathan Chen starting when the "Quad King" was 10 years old."
"The walls in Arutyunyan's office at Irvine's Great Park Ice, where he is the head coach of the high performance team, are plastered with photos of stars including Chen, Michelle Kwan, Adam Rippon and Ashley Wagner. They each came to his door with dreams of perfecting their performances, making it to the Olympics or, in some cases, revolutionizing the sport. They scribbled messages over their pictures saying: "I couldn't have done it without you.""
Rafael Arutyunyan is a 68-year-old figure skating coach based at Great Park Ice in Irvine and is known as a leading technician. He coached Nathan Chen from age 10 and helped Chen become an Olympic singles champion. Arutyunyan has worked part time with Ilia Malinin since 2021. Malinin is the only skater to land a quad axel and is the favorite for men's gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Arutyunyan's walls display photos and thank-you messages from skaters such as Chen, Michelle Kwan, Adam Rippon, and Ashley Wagner. Adam Rippon described Arutyunyan as someone who tailors training to individual goals.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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