‘My mother had no money, we were poor, but Harutyunyan coached me for free’: Olympic champion

Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen has expressed gratitude to coach Rafael Harutyunyan for his support throughout his career.

“My mother didn’t have much money; we were poor,” Chen remarked. “She would gather her last pennies to pay for my training. Rafael understood our situation and continued to work with me without taking money, or he would only take as much as we could afford. After some time, he said there was no need to pay at all because he genuinely wanted to help me achieve my goals. I will be grateful to him for that support for the rest of my life,” Chen stated, as reported by TASS.

Harutyunyan was born in Tbilisi and grew up in Yerevan, working on the ice at Moscow's Sokolniki Park. In 2000, he moved to the United States, where he succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized figure skating coach.

His students have included five-time world champion American Michelle Kwan, world champion and bronze medalist at the 2006 Olympic Games Jeffrey Buttle, as well as 2010 Olympic silver medalist, Japanese Mao Asada.