Ehe had shown it to the Russians. He personally, and he made no secret of it. A few minutes after his student Nathan Chen became Olympic figure skating champion in Beijing, Rafael Harutjunjan was in the mixed zone. As a happy man moved by his feelings. His student Chen had won gold. And with that, Rafael Harutjunyan, born 64 years ago as an Armenian in Tbilisi, had reached his goal, the American Star Spangled banner on his cap and jacket. He showed it to Moscow. The Moscow School. Those in the Russian capital for whom he wasn’t good enough as a figure skating coach. “Yes, I’m emotional. I started in 1976. So far I’ve waded through a swamp. It was hard. I almost died in the middle,” Harutyunyan said. At the beginning of the millennium he left Moscow and went west, across the Atlantic. California.
It’s a climber story, the victory of the duo Chen and Harutjunjan, a migrant story, a winner story. If you have to fight your way through, you know where you want to go. Knows where the top is. “If we had finished second or third, I would be sad,” said Harutjunjan. “Now I’m happy. He did it. I made it for myself When I left Russia I wanted to show everyone. Those who chased me away, made my life difficult. I wanted to show them that there was a reason I left. That drove me. They still have offices and they still sit there and they see what I’ve been through. For twenty years.” When he arrived in Beijing, Harutjunjan said he knew Chen would be an Olympic champion. “Because he’s better, definitely better.” Better than Sochi and Pyeongchang Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, than Shoma Uno, than Yuma Kagiyama. Better than the Japanese.
