Physical violence in figure skating is a complex and controversial topic. All sane people who are far from sports treat it badly. Especially these days, when mutual respect and respect for personal boundaries play an increasingly important role in personal and professional relationships. Nevertheless, history is full of examples when violence in one form or another was not only present in the training process, but also helped, in the opinion of the coach and even the athletes themselves, to achieve results. Sport tells the story of a tough coach who led to victories.
The students of Jutta Müller won ten medals of the most important competitions. In particular, she raised Katarina Witt, a two-time Olympic champion who changed the idea of women's single skating.
“We went on a tour of North America with her (Mueller), and I noticed that even after the competitive season she keeps her pets in great strictness. But at the same time, I see how adoringly they look at her. Maybe it seems to me, but of all her students, she loves Katarina Witt the most, although, of course, Gaby is closer to her, Gaby is a daughter. But she also shows literally maternal feelings for Witt. «.
Remembered the German coach and Olympic champions in ice dancing Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov. In the book «And forever the music sounds» they wrote:»Jutta Müller's training method has its own peculiarities, secrets, details that she prefers not to talk about. But the fact that her school works on the strongest foundation, that it is programmed to train masters of the highest class, is no secret.»
Jutta Müller worked according to a system that is very reminiscent of modern championship schools. Her wards spent many hours on the ice and in the hall, and studied according to a special schedule and practically lived on the rink — in a special boarding house at the school. It was a large training center — two skating rinks, a boarding house, her own canteen, a stadium, a gym, a laboratory.
She never had many students of the same age at once, although the generational turnover was at the level — there was always one person at the competition. This allowed him to be surrounded by maximum attention and care. It is paradoxical that these positive qualities in Muller coexisted with the ability to offend or even hit one of his pupils.For example, Katarina Witt talked about a slap in the face that she was given for hysteria after losing her debut world championship. She was then 14. The figure skater told her father about what had happened, but soon regretted it — the former wrestling champion did not want to endure this in relation to her daughter and wanted to take Katarina out of school forever. The incident was hushed up thanks to Katarina herself — having arrived at the skating rink early in the morning to «say goodbye», she unexpectedly jumped into a three-turn jump and realized that she did not want to go anywhere.
According to Witt's recollections, when she at the age of 12 she found out that she would now train with Muller, at first she was horrified. Because a few years before that, in the locker room, I saw Müller's student Anette Pötsch crying every day. It is significant that in 1980 Pötsch became the Olympic champion. Eight years later, Witt will do the same.
Müller made figure skater Günther Zöller a five-time champion of the GDR. He did not achieve great success in the «international», except perhaps the bronze of Europe and the world in 1971. And in 1972, having arrived at the European Championships in Gothenburg, he suddenly withdrew from the competition and asked for political asylum. Among other things, Zöller told reporters about the «old kikimore» who constantly beat and humiliated him.
This is what Alexey Mishin recalled about this: br>
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“Zöller was asked in his first interview how he feels in the free world. He replied: «Well, first of all, there are such shops here, everything is so great!» — «Well, what's the main thing?» — «And the main joy is that I got rid of this old woman Muller, who beat me.»
I must say that I deeply respect her, a wonderful coach, but also a man of his time and his country. Gabi Seifert or Sonya Morgenstern she could calmly beat in the face.»
Perhaps Muller did not use her heavy hand with all the students. Jan Hoffman, for example, spoke only good things about the training under the guidance of Frau Müller. They argued, they could flare up, shout, but it did not come to assault. Moreover, Yan sometimes even managed to outguess the mentor.Jutta Müller played a fatal role in the coaching career of her own daughter. Gaby Seifert initially took up the work with the younger generation with great enthusiasm. She had a really promising student, Anette Pötsch, but because of the then strict coaching hierarchy, Anette was transferred to the Muller group. Gaby became disillusioned with her work and gradually left her post.
Müller was both tough and cheerful, ruthless and caring, immersed in her students and busy with her own life. She demanded a lot from them and from herself — she did not allow them to gain weight and was in great shape herself.
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“You know, if you have fat on your hips, then you won’t jump properly. And I constantly controlled the students: I weighed them, forced them to run additional crosses in the forest, followed the diet. I took them to my home for a while — we ate cooked I have vegetable dishes and everything else that is needed in such cases. I am proud that they all later said: they say, Frau Müller was like a mother to them, «the coach said in an interview with Sport-Express in 2007.
Jutta Miller is an exhibition of contradictions and a personality that cannot be unambiguously assessed. To some, she was the most dear person in the world, and for someone — «kikimora» and «old woman». None of the figure skating coaches in Germany have yet come close to what she was able to do with her students. Her training methods, normal for the second half of the last century and now condemned, either helped, or at least did not prevent several talented athletes from entering the rank of great ones.
Now Jutta Müller is 94 years old. She has long retired, but continues to come to the rink in her native Chemnitz and help everyone. And he has his former regal posture.