One is a 32-year-old former ice dancer of Russian descent who has risen to the elite ranks of the coaching profession while exuding a cool confidence. The other is a 22-year-old Japanese figure skater who hopes his name will be etched in the sport’s history books, but whose humble demeanor has kept him relatively un-known outside of his homeland.

Nikolai Morozov is hopeful that he can turn 2007 World silver medalist Daisuke Takahashi into a high-profile athlete. “He is well-known there [in Japan] but I want him to be famous everywhere,” Morozov said, “because I don’t think he is well-known in the U.S. or Canada right now.”

If someone has the ability to gain Takahashi that sought-after fame, it is Morozov, who was once known mainly as a choreographer. But his résumé in recent years includes directing several Japanese skaters to significant victories.

Miki Ando, one of his current students, first exploded onto the elite scene in 2004 when she won the World Junior Championships and went on to place fourth at that year’s senior global competition. She then suffered through two difficult seasons before finding her way to Morozov’s Hackensack, N.J. training base and winning last season’s World Championships.

Even more impressive was Morozov’s work with 2006 Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa. The 2004 World champion (she worked with Morozov-the-choreographer that year), Arakawa slowly saw her stock in the sport fall. She was ninth at the 2005 World Championships and went into the Olympic Winter Games in Torino as an unheralded skater.

But all that changed when Arakawa pulled off a clean and elegant free skate at the 2006 Olympic Games and walked away with the gold medal, Japan’s first for a ladies singles skater.

Now Morozov is hoping he can perform that same magic with Takahashi. Morozov, who once worked alongside famed Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova, certainly believes himself up to the challenge.

When asked why he thinks Japanese skaters have risen so steadily in recent years, Morozov was surprisingly candid. “They have been working with me. I started to work with Shizuka about two months before the Olympics and I worked with her before she won Worlds. I did her short program and she stayed a lot of time with me [that year].

“Miki was 16 at the Olympics. She was great when she was a junior and then she had a lot of trouble for a couple of years.

“Daisuke, I took him when he was about 18.

“I worked with them,” concluded Morozov with a laugh. “That is why they had good results.”

The Early Years

The youngest of Kiyoto and Kumeo Takahashi’s four sons, the Japanese skater was born on March 16, 1986 in Kurashiki, Okayama. He began skating as an 8-year-old. “I started skating at Wel Sunpia in Kurashiki City [in the] Okayama Prefecture,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in skating at first, but I continued to skate.”

While a junior high school student he trained at Wel Sunpia Kurashiki during the week but began traveling to Osaka on weekends to work with coach Utako Nagamitsu. “I started training with Mrs. Nagamitsu at Kansai University [full-time] when I became a college student,” said the ever-respectful Takahashi.

Takahashi does not remember what title he first won, but he said, “I still remember that I felt very glad.”

As a junior skater Takahashi landed his first quadruple jump, a quad toe loop, at an official practice at the 2001 SBC Trophy in Okaya City, Japan. He won the event, which was part of the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix Series that year. He went on to claim the silver medal at his second JGP event in Bulgaria and placed fourth at the Junior Grand Prix Final that year.

But Takahashi wasn’t done making a splash that season. He came out of nowhere to win the gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, the only time he competed at the event. Takahashi was the first Japanese man ever to win the World junior title. “I was surprised at my result,” he said. “I felt like, ‘I’m a champion?’”

Over the next three seasons he toiled in relative obscurity in the senior ranks. His best placements as a senior during that period were a bronze-medal finish at Japanese nationals during the 2003-04 season and a third-place finish one year later at Four Continents.

The Morozov Connection

Three years ago, Takahashi decided to train with Morozov in the United States. In the early days of that collaboration, Takahashi split his time between America and Japan. “We work as a team,” he said of being under the tutelage of both Nagamitsu and Morozov. “Both coaches are very much dedicated to me.”

While in his official ISU bio Takahashi lists his training sites as Osaka and Hackensack, this season he spent a considerable amount of time in the United States.
Morozov, who spent last Christmas and New Year’s in Japan, said Nagamitsu is like a second mother to Takahashi. “He stays with her when he is in Japan,” Morozov said. “When he is Japan and when I cannot be there, then she is watching out for him.”

Morozov has a similar parental role when Takahashi is in America. “I stay at Nikolai’s house when I practice in the U.S.,” Takahashi said.

With Morozov — for all intents and purposes — directing the show, Takahashi saw immediate improvement in his skating. During the 2005-06 season, the then-teenager won Skate America, was the bronze-medal winner at NHK Trophy and took home his first bronze medal from the Grand Prix Final. “Meeting Nikolai changed my style,” Takahashi said. “He is very dedicated to work and to [thinking] about skaters.”

Morozov echoed Takahashi’s sentiment while pointing out that his young protégé is also willing to push himself. “It is a combination of our work together,” Morozov said, “because I am usually working with him very hard and he is working very hard. He is an amazing worker and I think it is a combination of those things.”

Nikolai Morozov has coached Daisuke Takahashi since 2005.

The three-time Japanese champion splits his time between his homeland and the United States.

The Olympic Stage

Takahashi also won his first Japanese title in 2005, though that result was slightly controversial. The young phenom Nobunari Oda was originally declared the winner. But when a scoring error was discovered, the gold medal was awarded to Takahashi. Japanese skating federation officials decided to split the international assignments for the remainder of the season. Takahashi was assigned Japan’s coveted 2006 Olympic spot while Oda was assigned to the subsequent World Championships.

At the Olympic Games, Takahashi placed fifth in the short program and looked like he had a shot at a medal. But he faltered in the long program and finished in eighth place overall. While he declined to elaborate on what happened during the free skate, he felt the competition was a valuable experience.

“I was even wondering about my berth to the Olympics from my result,” Takahashi said. “It was a great opportunity to skate at the Olympics for me. I will [continue to] do my best to be the best figure skater in Japan.”

The Olympic experience, Takahashi said, taught him the importance of training. “The atmosphere at the Olympics is totally different from other competitions,” he said. “I think the Olympic experience changed my thought [process]. Having goals constantly is important for me.”

Given the chance, Takahashi would not change any of his past results. “I don’t think I want to change anything because all experiences, win or lose, brings me [to] my current career,” he explained. “There are many things I can learn from mistakes, train to fix these mistakes and go on.”

A World of Success

The post-Olympic season was Takahashi’s most successful season to date. Takahashi picked up another pair of medals in the Grand Prix Series in the fall of 2006 — gold at NHK and silver at Skate Canada — and this time was second at the Grand Prix Final. He successfully defended his Japanese title in December and had the chance to skate before a home crowd at the 2007 World Championships, which were held in Tokyo. 

Third after the short program, Takahashi gave a memorable and emotional performance to win the long program. Skating to “The Phantom of the Opera,” he scored 163.44 points and moved from third place after the short program to second overall with 237.95 total points. In the process, he gave the crowd of 6,500 fans plenty to cheer about as he landed a quad and eight triples.

Takahashi wept with joy and hugged Morozov afterwards while thunderous applause filled the arena. “I heard the roaring cheers from the audience when I got really tired, so I just tried to respond and complete the program,” Takahashi said at the time.

At the end of the year, Takahashi was ranked No. 1 by the ISU, a somewhat controversial placement as World champion Brian Joubert, who had not lost a competition all season, was No. 2. But Takahashi earned valuable points for his gold-medal performance at the Winter Universiade, an event Joubert was not eligible for as he was not a university student.

Music Makes the Man

One of Takahashi’s strengths is his ability to skate to a wide variety of musical styles. “Every year we try different things,” said Morozov, who selects the music, choreographs the routines and has a friend design the costumes. “[Two years ago] he had a tango short program and a classical free program. Then the next year I wanted to try something new, so we did ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ which was a very unusual program,” Morozov said. “This year we tried something more different, hip-hop. And it worked for him also. So I am assuming he can do any style, whatever comes up as an idea, we can do it.”

Once again, mastering this skill came through the hard work done by both student and coach. “We are just working on that, constantly trying different styles,” Morozov said. “We spend a lot of time together to study the style, the music, the rhythm, the beat, the feeling. ... It is lots of work.”

Takahashi enjoys the challenge of skating to different types of music. “I would like people to think that Daisuke can skate to a variety of music,” he said.
Takahashi’s short program this season is a hip-hop version of “Swan Lake,” a modern take on the classic piece, arranged especially for him.

To hear Takahashi tell it, he cannot dance. But that isn’t the impression he leaves when he skates this highly entertaining program. He oozes funk as he works his way through the routine that audiences worldwide have embraced.

“It’s hard to keep the balance and a lot of energy, but [it is a] fun program,” Takahashi said. “Last year, I went to New York City to take dance lessons. Nikolai kindly went to the school with me and took lessons. This was big challenge because I couldn’t dance well, and I [still] can’t do it.”

The program has been a success with judges this season as well. Takahashi won Skate America and NHK Trophy this past fall and finished second at the Grand Prix Final in Torino. Takahashi led after the short program, but Stéphane Lambiel edged past the Japanese star to claim the coveted title.

“I think it was … audience [appeal] and jump mistakes [that cost me the gold medal],” Takahashi explained. “Of course, the result is disappointing. However, I think I learned that passion is very important from this competition.”

A Quadruple Threat

In December Takahashi won his third straight national title. He landed two quads in his long program and two triple Axels. Takahashi’s jumps, Morozov pointed out, are another one of his strengths. “His Axel is one of the best jumps and [we know] Lambiel has problems with it,” Morozov said. “Daisuke is also emotional, a very emotional skater. He has a great connection with the ice. He moves on the ice very softly and he is very strong physically so he skates programs with a lot of energy and speed.”

At press time, Takahashi was scheduled to compete at the 2008 Four Continents Championships in Goyang City, Republic of Korea in mid-February. His next stop was Gothenburg, Sweden for the 2008 World Championships on March 17-23.

Morozov has lofty goals for his Japanese charge. “I want him to win the World Championships and I think he is capable of doing that,” Morozov said. “He needs to skate clean at that competition. He needs to have no injuries, he has to be healthy and just have a great day of skating. That is what he needs. Because he has everything already. He just needs to skate the material he has right, perfect, in the short and free programs.”

Takahashi hopes gold is in his future, not just in Sweden but in Vancouver at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. “My goal is to win at the Vancouver Olympics,” he said.
If the 2007 World silver medalist pulls off a podium finish at an Olympic Games it will be a first, as no Japanese man has ever won an Olympic medal of any color in figure skating.

His coach thinks that is an attainable goal. “Of course I want to get him to an Olympic medal,” Morozov said. “My other goal for him is that I want him to [be part of] history like other singles skaters, like Evgeni Plushenko, Alexei Yagudin, Brian Orser, Kurt Browning and Scott Hamilton. They [have gone down in] history in figure skating. They skated for a long time after they [retired from the Olympic-eligible ranks] and audiences and the fans have loved to watch them continue to do interesting programs.

“That is my goal. I don’t want him to just win something, just reach a figure skating [competitive] goal. ... I want him to be a world-known skater.”

Born in Kurashiki, Okayama, Daisuke Takahashi began skating as an 8-year-old.

The 2007 World silver medalist said shopping and going out to eat with friends are his favorite things to do off the ice.