Benoît Richaud would possibly be one of the seen individuals on the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Not as a result of he’s a star athlete, however as a result of he’s teaching 16 determine skaters from 13 completely different international locations. Every time one in all them is on the ice, he stands on the rink’s edge, turning into the jacket of their crew.
Richaud has turn out to be considerably well-known for this transfer. Olympics viewers started catching on to the French coach’s antics only a few days into the Video games after they observed the identical slender bald man sitting subsequent to so many alternative skaters. He at all times had on the jacket of the crew he was sitting with within the “kiss and cry,” however his stoic, considerate expression remained the identical. Quickly his omnipresence went viral.
However, as Richaud tells WIRED Italia, he may have been much more of a presence across the ice. He’s presently teaching 16 Olympians, however that’s simply the variety of them that certified. “I truly coach much more of them,” he says.
Having such a big roster of athletes to educate just isn’t the simplest factor on the earth. But Richaud makes it look pure. It’s all about planning, he says. A lot of his choreography work needs to be performed after the World Championships, that are usually held in March. So from April till July he has a “massive window” to create new choreography. From there he begins to work with the skaters he’s teaching, to take inventory of the place they’re and what they wish to be doing.
Generally Richaud’s skaters journey to him, generally he travels to them. If he must replace the choreography, he can accomplish that by way of the web. “It is extremely helpful as a result of at this time, with the cellphone and new applied sciences, we will do rather more and do it a lot quicker,” he says. “I get nearly all of my skaters’ applications daily, and this helps me perceive what I want to enhance to make this system more practical.”
Teaching so many athletes comes with a number of challenges. One is just remembering the choreography and particulars of each skater’s program. The opposite is using the emotional curler coaster of watching so many performances after which ready for the athletes’ scores.
“It is troublesome,” Richaud says. “Since you expertise these waves of very robust feelings. I occurred to have very robust ones in these Olympics. I had a skater who was third after which ended up off the rostrum. On the opposite facet, I had one other skater, a Canadian, who got here right here for his first Olympics. He had by no means even skated at Worlds and he completed fifth, lower than a degree off the rostrum.”
Teaching so many skaters it’s onerous to think about Richaud doesn’t have a favourite, however he says he doesn’t. Every one will get one hundred pc, he says, and being unhappy for one and blissful for an additional “balances your feelings.”
“There are occasions once I cry and instances when I’ve a lot pleasure inside that I’ve a tough time even controlling myself,” Richaud says. “You expertise these emotional peaks that all of us expertise—solely I expertise them in a short time.”
Even if he’s among the many most sought-after coaches in determine skating, the general public didn’t actually know a lot about Richaud till these Olympics, when he’s fixed coat-switching put him within the public eye. Whereas he says his newfound fame is surprising, he’s grateful for the eye it brings to the game.
Determine skating, Richaud argues, isn’t fairly as widespread on social media because it may very well be. By going viral, he hopes to deliver extra consideration to the game, which he calls “one of the lovely on the earth.”
He’s nonetheless amazed his jackets have made him a social media sensation. “I noticed the primary and thought, ‘Ah, humorous.’ Then two, then three, then 4,” Richaud says. “Typically they don’t even point out me, however they arrive to me as a result of individuals ship them, actually from everywhere in the world. It’s a very good and enjoyable feeling, and I’m blissful for skating.”
