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Jutta MullerOne of the greatest figure skating coaches.
Date of Birth: 13.12.1928
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Jutta Müller
Jutta Müller is one of the greatest figure skating coaches in history. Her students have won a total of 58 medals in European, World, and Olympic championships. Müller developed her own innovative style, which focused on the athletic aspect of skating, incorporating new and challenging elements while also highlighting the artistic and expressive abilities of her skaters.
Müller had a unique relationship with her students. While she was known for her strictness during training, she also cared for them like a mother figure during competitions. She had an exceptional ability to understand her students' emotional state and create programs that allowed them to perform flawlessly. Müller also paid great attention to the design of costumes, often coming up with her own designs.
Despite having a small number of students, Müller consistently produced exceptional results. She usually only took one male and one female skater to the World Championships, competing in the singles category.
Born into a sports-oriented family, Müller's father, Emil Lötzsch, was the 1930 boxing champion of Saxony. In 1949, the first championship of the newly formed German Democratic Republic (GDR) was held, and Jutta Zaifert (later Müller) and Irene Salzmann won in the pairs category. Although this event is not well-known in figure skating history, it led to the emergence of two outstanding coaches (Salzmann worked with pair champions).
Müller began coaching in Leipzig in 1955 and later moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), where she established the famous sports club SC Karl-Marx-Stadt through her work. In 1961, her daughter and student Gabi Zaifert became the GDR champion for the first time and competed in European and World Championships. In 1965, her student Günther Zöller won the GDR championship and also participated in European and World Championships. In 1968, Gabi Zaifert made history at the European Championships by becoming the first woman to successfully perform a triple Rittberger, one of the first skaters to execute a triple jump in general, and specifically at the European Championships. This achievement played a significant role in her becoming the European champion for the first time.
Müller gained worldwide recognition in 1970 when Zaifert won the European and World Championships, and Zöller placed third in both competitions. In 1971, Müller's student Sonia Morgenstern became the first skater in the history of World Championships to successfully land a triple Salchow. Anett Pötz achieved tremendous success by winning the 1978 and 1980 World Championships and the 1980 Olympics. Pötz excelled in compulsory figures and had technical programs of the highest level. During the same period, Jan Hoffmann, one of Müller's students, became a leading figure in the world of figure skating. Hoffmann became the second skater to successfully land a triple Lutz in 1974, which led him to become the European and World champion in 1974, the three-time European champion from 1977 to 1979, and the world champion in 1980. At the 1980 Olympics, Müller's students had the potential to win two gold medals. Pötz won gold due to her advantage in figures, while Hoffmann narrowly missed out on gold in a controversial decision by the judges.
The pinnacle of Müller's career was coaching Katarina Witt, one of the greatest figure skaters in history. Witt won the Olympic gold medal in 1984 and 1988. Her programs were renowned for their harmonious combination of technical perfection and artistic style. In 1990, Evelyn Grossmann became the European champion under Müller's guidance, and in 2004, Müller helped Stefan Lindemann win the bronze medal at the World Championships in Dortmund.
