Olympics-Figure skating-Choreographer Richaud swaps jackets, personas to guide diverse group of skaters

By Irene Wang and Iain Axon

MILAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Figure skating coach and choreographer Benoit Richaud has become an unlikely talking point at the Winter Olympics after videos spread online of him switching jackets at rinkside to match the team of each athlete he is guiding.

Richaud is working with 16 skaters representing 13 countries at the Games, including Georgian Nika Egadze and Canada's Stephen Gogolev, a workload that has sometimes placed his athletes back-to-back in the same session - leaving him seconds to reset from one performance to the next.

"It actually went very smoothly," Richaud told Reuters of the rapid-fire wardrobe changes that drew attention on social media.

With athletes competing one after another, he said the transitions became "logical" with a team leader from the next delegation handing him a jacket, which he slipped on as the next skater began.

"There is a video where I'm changing my clothes on the big screen," he said, comparing the pace to "Milan Fashion Week" as he moved between different sponsors and brands.

"When you work with someone who's sponsored by Prada, and the next one is with another company, and then you just have to make a quick, quick change."

But the Frenchman said the jacket swaps are more than a practical nod to team colours and sponsor obligations. They have also become a mental cue - a way to step into the emotional needs of each athlete at precisely the moment the pressure peaks.

"It's challenging in a way that some skaters sometimes do good; some skaters sometimes do bad," he said.

"You are very excited because maybe one skater did perfectly amazing. And then right after, you need to go back in a mode where you have to focus.

"As soon as I switch jackets, it's almost like a metaphor to feel like I'm changing into the skater I am working with," he added.

"Almost like a carnival, I'm a different character depending on the skater and what they want or need from me."

That character, he said, can range from gentle reassurance to something sharper.

"I can sometimes be soft. I can sometimes be more aggressive if I have to make a skater wake up," he said.

FULLY COMMITTED

Richaud's approach extends beyond competition-day intensity into the creative choices that set routines apart in a sport that can feel repetitive to audiences and athletes alike.

"In skating, when I started to work in it, everyone was kind of doing the same things over and over," he said, pointing to music selections that are reused so often that "you hear that music a thousand times."

His answer, he said, has been to push skaters toward themes they can genuinely inhabit — including playful programmes such as the viral "Minions" routine performed by Spanish ice dancer Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate.

"I want to propose to them something that they can connect to," he said.

"Let's not be scared, let's not think too much, and let's just do what I feel."

Managing so many athletes across so many nations can raise questions about divided loyalties and limited hours, but Richaud said the key is consistency.

"If they need me, I'm there," he said.

"My skaters see I'm fully committed to them, to all of them. They don't feel any difference."

At the Olympics, he said, that commitment has taken on an added layer, a sense of moving between cultures as quickly as he changes jackets.

"My experience gave me the feeling of the nations, I feel the world," he said.

"And I want my skater to skate for them at 100%."