world. Te following year, she re- tired from competition to complete her studies.


After working for years in Rus- sia, most notably with two-time Olympic pairs champions Ekater- ina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Zoueva emigrated to Canada in the early 1990s. She began coaching in Michigan in 1998. “I have two master’s degrees;


I finished Saint Petersburg [State] University of Sport, and then I did a second degree at Moscow [State] University of Culture and Arts,” Zoueva said. “Tey were very differ- ent. In Saint Petersburg, we learned about sport:


everything that goes into biology, anatomy, how to


teach, psychology. “In Moscow, it was everything


about art, and what was happening in [different] time periods: what painting, music, poetry, theater — what was going on in each era and how it was connected. Of course I specialized in ballet. Tat was very interesting, and I was older when I was at the second university. I was more thoughtful.”


Another key ingredient: old-fashioned sweat. Zoueva, along with associates Johnny Johns and Oleg Epstein, trains her ice dancers, including Davis and White; their longtime rivals, Canadian Olympic and World champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir; U.S. bronze medal- ists Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibu- tani; and U.S. competitors Alissan- dra Aronow and Collin Brubaker, at Arctic Edge Ice Arena in Canton, Mich., from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., five or six days a week. “Marina works harder than


Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani won three U.S. medals and the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships. “Choreographing for a brother and sister is different but not more difficult,” Zoueva said. “It’s interesting work. “


any coach I’ve ever seen,” said Tanith Belbin, who with partner Ben Agosto won five U.S. titles and the 2006 Olympic silver med- al. “She never takes a day off. She’s there from morning to night. She puts her heart and soul into every minute she spends with her skaters. Tat personal connection she makes with her athletes is what makes her a really great coach.”


STORIED RIVALRY


Having worked with both the U.S. and Canadian champions since their junior days, Zoueva pre- sides over the sport’s longest and most exciting rivalry. Heading into the 2014 Olympics, she will create and refine programs she hopes will lift the teams to the Olympic podi- um for the second time. Even she admits the challenge is greater than usual.


“If I work with a skater for only


one project, it’s about doing the best [program] for that year, that mo- ment,” Zoueva said. “If I work with skaters for an entire Olympic cycle, as coach and not just choreogra- pher, I have to show the different types of talent they have, and that they are able to perform different styles.


“Meryl and Charlie, they can


do ballet, like Giselle; they can do ballroom; they can do something exotic like the Indian dance. But everyone has their best style, and at the Olympics I have to show the judges the talent they are the very best at.” She shrugs when asked how she manages to stay impartial and give her best to both the Americans and the Canadians. “I am a professional coach, and


the judges have to decide, not me,” she said. “Te kids, they are all ex- tremely talented skaters. Tessa and


Charlie White and Meryl Davis get mentally prepared to take the ice for their short dance at the 2013 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships, with their coach Marina Zoueva.


Scott’s talent is extremely different [than] Meryl and Charlie’s talent. One year one team wins, the next year the other team does. Every year I try to have them both skate their best and have programs [that are] the best for them.” It’s a situation that sometimes has fans of both teams in a tizzy, but Davis and White are more than comfortable. “You trust your coaches to do what is best for you, and we think we have the best coach in the world in Marina,” White said. “So every day we go in there and don’t wor- ry about anything, we just put our faith in her, and so far, the result has been really positive.” “Whether it’s from a choreog-


raphy standpoint or a coaching-on- a-daily-basis standpoint, she gives her best in every way,” Davis said. “Te fact that we are so different from Tessa and Scott in terms of our skating styles allows her to give us the many sides of herself, choreo- graphically.” Belbin, who joined Zoueva’s coaching team last season to work with Aronow and Brubaker plus several junior skaters, soaks in that vision as she starts building her own coaching career. “It’s a privilege to be asked to


help Marina as she coaches the best in the world in ice dance,” she said. “She is a wonderful role model. I feel really confident, really passion- ate and so full of joy, because you amass so much knowledge over the years and I’ve been really blessed to take from the best. It’s really ful- filling to be able to pass that on to younger dancers.”


Zoueva is a stickler for details and is always looking to help her teams improve.


SKATING 29


PHOTO BY JODI LEVINSON


PHOTO BY TOM WEHRLE PHOTO BY RENEE FELTON


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