By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-22 09:48

Li Mingzhu has a habit of training champions. Everywhere she's coached, whether in China or the US, her students have become winners.

Coach Li Mingzhu (right) and Caroline Zhang of the US wait for results during the ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix in Harbin on November 10. [China Daily]

Now China's former national team figure skating coach is looking towards 2008, waiting for the opportunity to realize her Olympic dream again with Chinese skaters.

"If there is an opportunity, I'd be very glad to come back and coach the Chinese skaters," said the 45-year-old Li. "China is my hometown and, if possible, I want to do a four-year Olympic cycle in China."

Li's name is closely linked to China's first breakthrough in figure skating. Her star pupil, Chen Lu, was the first Olympic figure-skating medalist from China and the first world champion in women's singles figure skating.

Li coached Chen for 15 years and said she has sweet memories of working together, even though it was a difficult time for figure skating in China.

Li began figure skating when she was seven. She turned to coaching in 1980 while she was living in Changchun. Chen, who was born in 1976, was one of Li's first students.

"China's figure skating was in hard times then, and sometimes, we even had to train in open air in cold winter," Li recalled.

Her first experience in international competition at the NHK Grand Prix in Japan in the late 1980s was shocking - she didn't realize the talent and experience gap between her skaters and the rest of the world was so great.

"I found we seemed to be against the whole environment there," said Li. "We could not compete with the international competitors in terms of style and skill, so I decided to let my skaters practice more at home first."

She studied some of the world's top figure skaters and some advanced training methods, trying to adapt these new methods for the Chinese team.

"I told my young skaters to attempt triple jumps when they were around ten years old, which was much earlier than other Chinese youngsters," said Li. "It was very risky at that time, since some old coaches said it could spoil things by excessive enthusiasm."

But Li found success in her coaching style. Chen landed her first triple jump at the age of nine. By age 10 she could do five different triples. In 1988 she surprised the world by finishing 12th at her first international competition at the age of 12.

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