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Coach Igor Lyutikov got into a terrible scandal last season, receiving a portion of accusations from the mother of Elena Kostyleva, who left for Evgeni Plushenko. The specialist endured and remained silent for a long time, but in an interview with Sport, he spoke extremely frankly and in detail about the battle for the super figure skater of the future, and also shared incredible details of the resilience of Kamila Valieva, one of his first students.
«Entering Butsaeva and says: “Take the girl, I can’t cope with her!”
— My coaching career began 12-13 years ago at Khrustalny with Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze. I was a choreographer and staged programs. We worked for two years and separated for our own reasons. Then at the same skating rink I collaborated with Natalia Maryanski for a year, and after that I was already a free artist. I stayed in this status for two years — and ended up here, at Moskvich, with my former coach Marina Grigorievna Kudryavtseva.
The first time I helped her and then she retired and handed her children over to me. But somehow I didn’t work out with them. The guys got used to Marina Grigorievna, but apparently they didn’t have faith in me yet. As a result, I was left with only Kamila Valieva. She was the youngest of all. This is where my full-fledged coaching career began.
— The first full-fledged athlete — and immediately at this level?
— She wasn’t “like that” right away. It’s hard to believe, but Kamila had rather weak feet, underrotated on all jumps. I made her run a lot, and over the course of a year we fine-tuned her violin, both in skating and jumping. I didn’t have a group, I was working with Kamila alone, and she, apparently, wanted to join a team with a lot of children. I understand that it’s difficult when you have one coach with a small child who constantly demands something. She decided to move on. It's a pity that this happened.
Afterwards, I started having guys two or three years younger than Kamila. The children were good, they began to switch to quadruple jumps, but parental ambitions and dissatisfaction with everything and everyone turned on. One girl, Ksenia Melkumova, known for “Ice Age,” ended up dancing. They say that mom played her role. It still hurts me when parents don’t trust the coach.
— Probably, in the context of the last departure, this can also be said?
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— The situation repeated itself with Lena Kostyleva. Mom interfered in almost all processes. Lena came to me almost by accident. December 28, 2022, my birthday. We celebrated with a cake in the locker room, and then Victoria Evgenievna Butsaeva comes in: “Someone take the girl, please, I can’t cope with her anymore!”
— You mean with Lena?
— Rather, with mom. I have a dacha in Yamny, Voronezh region. One day I arrived and found out that a skating rink had been built nearby. I got there, went out onto the ice — a girl was skating. There is a man standing overboard, no longer young. I thought maybe we had a new coach. “No, I’m dad,” he answered me. Wow, I think this is how kids ride in Voronezh? And he: “Well, I don’t know about all the children, but we roll out ours everywhere as much as possible.” This is how I first saw Lena. She was six years old.
Her parents are great guys for pushing her out from a young age. But, on the other hand, Lena didn’t really work with a coach on a permanent basis; she was with her parents all the time. At the same time, her soft gliding, soft legs and knees are all from there, from working with mom and dad.
Of course, I liked Lena right away. I suggested that they go with me to the training camp in Yalta, but it turned out that soon they ended up with Sergei Davydov. Then they visited almost all the skating rinks in Moscow — because the relationship with her mother did not work out. There was one problem — parental pressure, mistrust. Constant surveillance of the coach, where he looked, why he was looking not at Lena, but in another direction. The coach gets tired of this, and the cooperation ends. Although the child is such a wonderful thing.
— Have you tried talking to your mother?
— Yes, how many times! Do you think I locked myself in a room and ignored her? All methods of influence have already been tried. From conversations to “that’s it, I don’t communicate with you anymore.” Because all this dirt on the Internet… When she started throwing out all the information in the media last summer, I was very unpleasant. I don’t read the Internet myself, but they bring it to me and show it to me. I realized that I needed to ignore it, no matter how bad and unfair she said — and mostly it was bad and unfair. And Irina, apparently, is annoyed by this, and she wants to hurt her even more.
Everything she said was not true. Fictional. But I told myself that by the end of the season, for the sake of Lena, I would work on it and try to smooth everything out. Because all my fights with my mother took place mainly on the ice, there was such a shouting that everyone else stopped training. It is impossible to take Irina off the ice at such moments.
She was invited twice to talk with representatives of “Legend” (former school “Moskvich” — ed.), they tried to explain that the coach should be listened to. But she has her own reasons for this — the coach does not work and does not care for the child. I always answered her, saying, how can you say that if Lena has such excellent results? The season before last, almost all the places were first, you were included in the national team. And after that you tell me that I’m a bad coach, I don’t know how to do anything?
After that I told her: “In that case, look for a new coach.” Last year, on May 31, we had our last training session before the holidays. Lena's mom came to the stands to watch. We weren’t planning to do anything special that day – just ride and rest a little. Everyone is in a vacation mood, we are finishing the season, we are not preparing for competitions. The load was useless.
But mom didn’t like the fact that Lena didn’t jump enough quads that day. I called Lena over and said: “Let’s jump a little for mom.” But the fact is that Lena is also a difficult girl, it’s difficult to force her if she doesn’t want to. Well, she started to fall. Mom screamed, dissatisfied — and everything was addressed to us. That everything is bad, that we don’t want to train.
In response, I told Lena that if mom wants to jump so much, then you can jump with her on the side. The group has half an hour left before their vacation, everyone wants to ride for fun. But if mom needs it, then jump a little to the side. Lena went to her mother, crying. Mom screams and tells her: “Let’s do it in bunches, triple Lutz.” And for Lena, a triple Lutz is really very easy. But I look out of the corner of my eye — once she almost broke after him, the second time she opened up in the air and almost fell on her face, and the third time she almost twisted her knee — also almost on her face. It’s as if she falls on purpose so that her mother will get away from her. I can’t stand it anymore: “If you want to jump your quads, get off the ice, go to another skating rink and finish there. The program group is now having a light workout before the vacation, we are not giving a strong jumping load today.”
— Do you think these words of yours were perceived as “Kicked out of the group”?
— But I didn’t kick you out of the group! From the ice – yes, but that’s not what I meant at all. And I didn’t say anything like that, given the context. Mom came again later and did not calm down. She began to reprimand that Katya (Mitrofanova, Lyutikov’s assistant — ed.) and I had ruined Lena so much that she had forgotten how to ride and jump. We are indignant — did we take it and ruin it? Just recently we sent my mom a video with a performance set to music — and there were two triple Axels, two quadruple Salchows, a quadruple toe loop, attempts at a quadruple flip and a lutz. This set is amazing for the end of the season! And then a week later, mom comes to training — and we’re already mediocrity? In response to this, I told them to look for another coach. That's where it all started. Then she didn’t come to the summer gathering, although her mother said that Lena was supposedly not allowed in or invited. Although we did this gathering specifically for Lena!
I was offended. But I think that Katya and I dealt with it all with dignity, despite the amount of negativity that poured on us. Enlightenments were rare — this season, when Lena performed brilliantly, everything got a little better. We even took pictures. But then two days pass and mom returns to her original state.
“I do this on purpose so that no one will offend my child.”
— It was in this context that I spoke with Irina at the Russian jumping championship, and then she said that now everything is fine, they are working with Lena in full.
— We have always been fully engaged. I reassured Katya, saying that we must bring the season to the end — first of all for Lena herself. We need to finish our work. I was often asked by other coaches how I still work with them, I don’t refuse. Honestly, at the beginning of the 2023/24 season, in August, I wrote a letter to the management of “Legends” that I could no longer work with Lena. But then the transition window was already closed, nothing could be changed. Although I thought that Lena herself would not return to our group. In the summer she had an injury and went away for two months to recover. But she came back. From a sporting point of view, everything worked out for us. And I am very glad that she also won the last tournament of the season under the leadership of Zhenya Plushenko. I met her in Kazan and congratulated her.
— So you are communicating?
— The new coach may not like it. And mom too. But say hello and congratulate – why not? I have a wonderful attitude towards both Lena and Zhenya. I hope that Zhenya’s mother, Lena, will be more satisfied with everything that she has. If she feels calmer, Zhenya will be able to work to her full potential. I wish he had more work with the child and less moralizing from his mother. I want Lena to continue to train just as hard, not give up, and realize her dream. I don’t know if it will work out, but I sincerely would like for their tandem to do well. Because if what happened to us starts, it won’t be fun at all.
When I came into coaching, I couldn't even imagine that parents could have such a big influence. We need to be able to find an approach to them. But if there is absolutely no way… I once told Irina: «No matter how badly you talk about me, I will continue to work with Lena as best as I can. I'm not interested in you — I'm interested in working with her. And I will do it.» And she responded: «And rightly so, Igor Alexandrovich!» (laughs). That is, maybe she understands that in some moments she is doing something wrong.
One day this spring, they had a conversation with Irina because of a complaint from one of her parents about her behavior, but they became convinced that conversations were useless. Three or four people arrived, powerful people — directors, teachers, and they simply could not talk to her. Maybe Irina's behavior is a defensive reaction? She once told me: “I’m doing this on purpose so that no one will offend my child.”
— Maternal instinct?
— Perhaps, yes. I can probably even partially understand this point of view. On the other hand, in my opinion, we did not give any reasons for concern.
— I also saw a collective letter demanding that you be removed from work. What was that?
— Also Irina’s initiative. She needed a coalition, she gathered two parents, convinced them that their children were not being treated either, and they signed up. These guys also moved on, but the sediment remained.
«I took the girls so that Valieva would not be bored, and they would bully her»< br>—I heard that Kamila Valieva got into a fight with you during training. What happened there?
— Not during training — after it. At some point, Camila was bullied by other girls in the group. I took them on purpose so that she wouldn’t be bored alone, but in the end it led to this. Kamila was a cautious girl and, apparently, thought that it was impossible to talk about this. Therefore, I myself did not find out about all the details right away.
What happened was that we then went to a training camp in Tallinn, and the mother of one athlete was responsible for all the children. I had a busy schedule, I went to work at 7 am and returned at 8 pm. 10 hours on the ice with a 10-minute break. This all lasted for two or three weeks. Then that mom in charge came up to me and told me that there was an incident involving a fight. But from her words, I understood it in such a way that Camila was to blame — supposedly she could not restrain herself. I had to react — I called her, said, how can this be? She still had skates in her hands at the time of the fight.
But in reality she was being bullied. She used these skates to brush them off and defend herself. There were two or three of them, all the girls were older than her, and she was alone. And she didn’t say anything, she decided to figure it out herself. Can you imagine how strong the girl’s character is? She did not complain to either my mother or me that there were any problems. I decided that I could handle it myself.
But I, not knowing the situation, then reprimanded her. She felt offended because I didn’t protect her. And in the end it so happened that this incident also played a role in the transition. Unfortunately, we were unable to resolve this situation immediately.
—You speak so warmly about it.
— Kamila has always been such a star in my soul — not only is she such a talent, she is also the first athlete in my coaching career. And everything worked out! Although at first Camila was not accepted. She had a very good stretch — that's all. My friends constantly said to me: “Why are you bothering with it? Who needs this stretching, programs, if there are no jumps?”
And then we improved the jumping. And at the age of eight she was already jumping a double axel in open Moscow, which was an excellent result for that time. And out of 50 participants, she made it to the finals, being the youngest participant.
After that, she made a splash on the Internet with her “swan” program. I remember my mother came to training one day and showed her phone: “Igor Alexandrovich, we have 10 thousand views!” I began to fear that a crown might grow on this soil. But Camila somehow withstood all this, passed through the copper pipes. She did not relax — on the contrary, fame helped her get ready, she wanted to show an even better result.
We had a great relationship with both her and my mother. Kamila read poetry to me when she came home after reading lessons. And even with the expression, with the diction, I was so surprised. Then I already understood that she would make it both in and outside of sports. She was always smart, she ran to school herself. Her mother didn’t even meet her, although she was only 8 years old.
— Do you believe that she will be able to return after disqualification?
— To be honest, it will be very difficult for her. She is a strong athlete, but when she gets the opportunity to return, the level will be completely different. This is difficult in women's singles. In dancing, Torvill/Dean resumed their careers, there were cases in pairs, but in these types there are still no such leaps.
And for girls now everything changes every year. Lena, for example, in a year she will be jumping all quadruples if nothing happens. For her talent, it’s absolutely no problem to do all the quads and insert them into the program. And even with the current set, let's look — she has a Salchow, a toe loop and a triple Axel.
— This is Camila's set at the peak.
— Here! In a year she will be doing the Salchow, Toe Loop, Loop and Triple Axel. And a year later — flip or lutz. Rita Bazylyuk – everything is the same. Then at competitions they will do these unimaginable 4-4 cascades, triple axel — quadruple toe loop. When the technology is good and the girl is compact, you can spin anything there. Only health can hinder them.
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