Why Olympic Choreographer Benoît Richaud Went Viral Just for Changing Jackets

Benoît Richaud might beryllium 1 of the astir disposable radical astatine the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Not due to the fact that he’s a prima athlete, but due to the fact that helium is coaching 16 fig skaters from 13 antithetic countries. Each clip 1 of them is connected the ice, helium stands connected the rink’s edge, changing into the overgarment of their team.

Richaud has go somewhat celebrated for this move. Olympics viewers began catching connected to the French coach’s antics conscionable a fewer days into the Games erstwhile they noticed the aforesaid slender bald antheral sitting adjacent to truthful galore antithetic skaters. He ever had connected the overgarment of the squad helium was sitting with successful the “kiss and cry,” but his stoic, thoughtful look remained the same. Soon his omnipresence went viral.

But, arsenic Richaud tells WIRED Italia, helium could person been adjacent much of a beingness astir the ice. He’s presently coaching 16 Olympians, but that’s conscionable the fig of them that qualified. “I really manager a batch much of them,” helium says.

Having specified a ample roster of athletes to manager is not the easiest happening successful the world. Yet Richaud makes it look natural. It’s each astir planning, helium says. Much of his choreography enactment has to beryllium done aft the World Championships, which are typically held successful March. So from April until July helium has a “big window” to make caller choreography. From determination helium starts to enactment with the skaters he’s coaching, to instrumentality banal of wherever they are and what they privation to beryllium doing.

Sometimes Richaud’s skaters question to him, sometimes helium travels to them. If helium needs to update the choreography, helium tin bash truthful via the internet. “It is precise utile due to the fact that today, with the telephone and caller technologies, we tin bash overmuch much and bash it overmuch faster,” helium says. “I get astir each of my skaters’ programs each day, and this helps maine recognize what I request to amended to marque the programme much effective.”

Coaching truthful galore athletes comes with respective challenges. One is simply remembering the choreography and details of each skater’s program. The different is riding the affectional roller coaster of watching truthful galore performances and past waiting for the athletes’ scores.

“It's difficult,” Richaud says. “Because you acquisition these waves of precise beardown emotions. I happened to person precise beardown ones successful these Olympics. I had a skater who was 3rd and past ended up disconnected the podium. On the different side, I had different skater, a Canadian, who came present for his archetypal Olympics. He had ne'er adjacent skated astatine Worlds and helium finished fifth, little than a constituent disconnected the podium.”

Coaching truthful galore skaters it’s hard to ideate Richaud doesn’t person a favorite, but helium says helium doesn’t. Each 1 gets 100 percent, helium says, and being bittersweet for 1 and blessed for different “balances your emotions.”

“There are times erstwhile I outcry and times erstwhile I person truthful overmuch joyousness wrong that I person a hard clip adjacent controlling myself,” Richaud says. “You acquisition these affectional peaks that we each experience—only I acquisition them precise quickly.”

Despite the information that he’s among the astir sought-after coaches successful fig skating, the nationalist didn’t truly cognize overmuch astir Richaud until these Olympics, erstwhile he’s changeless coat-switching enactment him successful the nationalist eye. While helium says his newfound fame is unexpected, he’s grateful for the attraction it brings to the sport.

Figure skating, Richaud argues, isn’t rather arsenic fashionable connected societal media arsenic it could be. By going viral, helium hopes to bring much attraction to the sport, which helium calls “one of the astir beauteous successful the world.”

He’s inactive amazed his jackets person made him a societal media sensation. “I saw the archetypal [video] and thought, ‘Ah, funny.’ Then two, past three, past four,” Richaud says. “Often they don’t adjacent notation me, but they travel to maine due to the fact that radical nonstop them, virtually from each implicit the world. It’s a bully and amusive feeling, and I’m blessed for skating.”