Eteri Tutberidze was born on February 24, 1974 in Moscow. She is a Russian figure skating coach who works with athletes in singles and pair skating. Master of Sports of the USSR, coach of the highest category, Honored coach of Russia.
Starting from the 2015/2016 season to the present, all the winners of the Russian championships in women's singles have been students of Tutberidze's coaching staff.
Eteri started figure skating at the age of 4.5 at the Young Pioneers Stadium as a single skater. After the spinal injury, she began to practice ice dancing in CSKA, in the same group with Ilya Averbukh and Marina Anisina.
In 1994, she went to the USA to work in the «Ice Capades» ice show, but as a result of problems with passport registration for some ballet participants, the contract in the USA was terminated, and Tutberidze found herself in America without money and without a job. There she even lived for a while in a YMCA pauper's shelter.
After returning to Russia, she initially worked with wellness groups at the circus on ice. It was the only place where she was accepted after being rejected in all the places where she tried to get a job. Over time, she managed to get a coaching position in Zelenograd, and later at the Serebryany ice rink.
In February 2014, at the Sochi Olympics, Tutberidze's pupil, fifteen-year-old single player Yulia Lipnitskaya, became the Olympic champion in team competitions with an impressive free program to music from the film "Schindler's List". After that, the name of Eteri Tutberidze became known all over the world.
After Lipnitskaya left for another coach, Eteri Tutberidze began to prepare the champions one by one. Among her students: Alina Zagitova (European champion 2018 and World champion 2019, Olympic champion 2018), Evgenia Medvedeva (European and world champion 2016 and 2017, Olympic silver medalist 2018), Anna Shcherbakova (world champion 2021 and European 2022, Olympic champion 2022), Alexandra Trusova (Olympic silver medalist 2022), Alyona Kostornaya (European champion 2020), Kamila Valieva (winner of the Junior World Championship 2020) and many others.
At the moment, Eteri Tutberidze is the strongest and most decorated figure skating coach in Russia. She is still actively working and watching children, in an attempt to find a talented child again, whom she can lead back to the podium at the most prestigious world tournaments.
