Winter Olympics: Figure skating coach with 16 athletes from 13 countries

Eagle-eyed figure skating viewers may have thought they were seeing a double when French coach Benoit Richaud was photographed wearing the jackets of both Canada and Georgia in the span of 15 minutes on Sunday night.

Richaud, 38, is a coach and choreographer working with 16 different skaters at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, with those athletes coming from a total of 13 different countries.

Training this mix of athletes from different countries in the same event resulted in Richard appearing on camera wearing two different team jackets during the final of the team event in a short space of time.

He was first photographed in the crowd wearing a Georgia national team jacket in support of Nika Ejjadze.

Less than 15 minutes later, Richaud was again seen in the crowd — but this time wearing a Team Canada jacket to support Stephen Gogolev, another of his players.

“It’s organised. It will be quick,” Ricaud told BBC Radio.

“It’s actually very emotionally exhausting because, you know, it’s so dependent [how it goes]. Let’s imagine that everything is fine and nice and everyone is skating well, very easy.

“If one of them is skating poorly, the other is skating well, you have a peak of emotions that is hard to express because it’s something like when you’re with your skater, you’re right there with them.

“Thank God they didn’t come one by one, it’s very difficult.

“People laugh because I always wear black. Now everyone is wondering, how can we see Benoit in different colors?”

There are a lot of logistics involved in switching between training and supporting athletes from different countries in quick succession – including being able to change the vest that Richaud is wearing in quick time.

“I usually put everything in the skater’s dressing room,” the French choreographer said. “Normally, I’m not allowed to do that, but they let me put some things on [in there]. They are very friendly.

“If not, we always have the team captain or national team manager who keeps the jackets and gives them to me.”

Also among Richoud’s skaters is Spanish athlete Tomas Lorenc Guarino Sabate, who became famous at the Olympics for his performance in homage to the Minions movies.