Axel

MILAN — He raised up the Quad King. He refined the jump that defined the Quad God.

From a sprawling ice facility in Irvine, Rafael Arutyunyan could just be the “Quad Maker.”

The 68-year-old figure skating coach is renowned as one of the best technicians in the world. He trained Olympic champion Nathan Chen starting when the “Quad King” was 10 years old. Four years after Chen became the first U.S. man to win singles Olympic gold since 2010, Arutyunyan could have a second consecutive pupil on top of the Olympic podium.

Ilia Malinin, who has worked with Arutyunyan part time since 2021, is the only person in the world to land a quad axel and is the overwhelming favorite for men’s gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.

American Ilia Malinin celebrates with his coaches, including Rafael Arutyunyan to the right, during the world skating championship in March 2025.

(Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

The walls in Arutyunyan’s office at Irvine’s Great Park Ice, where he is the head coach of the high performance team, are plastered with photos of stars including Chen, Michelle Kwan, Adam Rippon and Ashley Wagner. They each came to his door with dreams of perfecting their performances, making it to the Olympics or, in some cases, revolutionizing the sport. They scribbled messages over their pictures saying: “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Rafael is more like the dream maker,” said Rippon, the 2016 U.S. champion and 2018 Olympic team bronze medalist. “… Rafael is able to take each of his students’ individual goals on a case-by-case basis, and he’s able to help the athletes go after whatever that goal is they’re trying to achieve.”

Malinin came with a lofty goal. Even his father Roman Skornikov — an Olympian for Uzbekistan who coaches his son with his wife, Tatiana Malinina — thought the idea of doing four-and-a-half revolutions in one jump was crazy.

Arytyunyan assured him Malinin could do the quad axel.

The coach of nearly 50 years just looked at the 5-foot-9 Malinin and could tell. It was his slender body type, natural athleticism and strong technique that made Arutyunyan know the jump many thought was impossible could be done. They discussed small technical tweaks to Malinin’s entry. A short two to three months later, Malinin, who trains primarily with his parents in his native Virginia, sent a video of him landing the quad axel in practice.

“The way he explains is really good. And he explains in like, metaphors and analogies that you’re surprised to hear,” said Malinin, who debuted the quad axel in 2022 when he was 17. “They work really well because it helps you get a different perspective on a technique or how he explains.”

Arutyunyan instructed Malinin to think of himself as a slingshot while approaching his jumps. Skaters know to gain power from deep edges that carve circles into the ice, but Artutyunyan describes it like a person riding a motorcycle: The rider tilts side to side just like a skater’s blade glides over the ice. Over time as he gets more familiar with a skater, Arutyunyan communicates through hand signals to show how their blades are interacting with the ice. Learning to manipulate the blade with Arutyunyan made Rippon feel as if he truly learned how to skate.

“He is a genius,” said Mariah Bell, a 2022 Olympian and U.S. champion.

Nathen Chen celebrates with coach Rafael Arutyunyan after competingin the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Greensboro, N.C.

(Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

With the exception of Chen, many of Arutyunyan’s students came to him later in their careers. It takes a special eye and tenacity for a coach to rewire decades of bad habits, Bell said.

Arutyunyan loves it.

“I am emergency room for skaters,” he said. “Many people comes to me as emergency and I start to fix it.”

Arutyunyan is equipped to solve the most dire skating situations because after nearly 50 years as a coach, he’s seen it all already. Arutyunyan, who began coaching in his native Armenia, was first trained in the Soviet style that relied on biomechanics and physiology to unlock efficient jumping techniques. European and American teachings focused more on compulsory figures, the basic patterns skaters would trace across the ice that give the sport its name.

Arutyunyan, who came to the United States in 2000 from Russia, blended both into a signature style that has top skaters traveling from all corners of the globe seeking his help.

“Why I think he’s one of the best coaches in the world,” Rippon said, “is that he’s never not learning.”

After a promising juniors career in which he was named junior national champion in 2015 and competed at the 2020 world junior championships, Andrew Torgashev knew he had competitive ability and presentation. But wanting to step up his senior career, Torgashev, 24, knew he needed to tame his wild technique. Performing his programs felt like “going to the casino,” Torgashev said.

“Red or black,” Torgashev said with a smile, “who knows what’s going to happen?”

Since relocating to California from Colorado in 2019, Torgashev, a Florida native whose parents were both elite international figure skaters, reworked every aspect of his skating with Arutyunyan. He was always skating on his toes when he should have been on his heels. They changed his three-turn — one of the first things skaters learn when skating on one foot — to find more power. They tinkered with his crossovers and his camel spin.

It took years. Much of it was disheartening.

“I felt like, ‘what’s the point of this? I’m losing jumps, he’s ruining me,’” Torgashev said. “But he always has a method to his madness.”

The method finally yielded results after two years. Injuries kept Torgashev out of competition for two seasons. But he finished second at the 2023 Eastern Sectional Championships and ahead of the 2023 U.S. championships, he was performing his programs more consistently than ever in practice.

After finishing on the podium at U.S. championships in three of the last four years, including two consecutive silver medals, Torgashev will make his Olympic debut in Milan.

“He’s forced me to be very resilient and independent and trust myself, trust what I’ve learned from him, and try to take that with me to competition,” Torgashev said. “I think it’s the best move I made in my life.”

Arutyunyan’s ability to take established, struggling skaters and put them into the podium conversation is how he believes he first started getting respect in the United States. When he emigrated from Russia, he was searching simply for freedom, he said.

He never thought it would turn into a hall of fame career.

Arutyunyan was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in January at the U.S. Championships. At the induction ceremony in St. Louis, Arutyunyan waved toward a packed crowd and bowed his head. He looked forward to the ceremony because it was a chance to see his students again. What thrilled him most was getting to rub elbows with other Hall of Famers such as Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton. The Olympic and world champions were Arutyunyan’s idols, he said giddily.

After 50 years of helping skaters achieve their dreams, the man who was always behind the scenes got to live his.

A jury found former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig guilty of obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators Friday in Los Angeles federal court.

The two-week trial concluded with the jury deliberating for nearly two days. Puig, 35, could face up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 26.

Puig faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison on the obstruction of justice charge and up to five years in prison for the two false statement charges. He remains free on his own recognizance.

The charges stemmed from a January 2022 videoconference interview with federal investigators during which Puig was alleged to have lied about his sports betting. The investigators — led by Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeff Mitchell — were gathering information at the time about an illegal gambling ring headed by Wayne Nix of Newport Coast.

Investigators alleged that Puig denied he had placed bets with Nix despite evidence establishing that he made 899 wagers with the former minor league pitcher on football and basketball games and tennis matches from July to September 2019.

Puig — who was not accused of betting on baseball — lost more than $1.5 million in sports bets, Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Christen Seymour testified, and owed Nix $282,900.

Nix pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. He is awaiting sentencing.

Mitchell would soon be best known for overseeing the investigation and conviction of Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who was sentenced a year ago to 57 months in federal prison for bank fraud and filing a false tax return after stealing $17 million from Ohtani to pay off his own illegal gambling debts.

But Mitchell’s interest in Puig centered around what he knew about Nix, the target of the federal probe in 2022. According to a court declaration reviewed by The Times, Mitchell told Puig’s attorney that he didn’t believe it was a federal crime to make payments to an illegal bookmaker. Investigators were after “an unlawful sports gambling organization,” Mitchell said.

Yet when Mitchell concluded Puig lied about placing bets through Nix intermediary Donny Kadokawa, he swiftly charged the outfielder with making false statements and obstruction of justice.

Puig agreed in August 2022 to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal authorities and would have served no jail time while paying a $55,000 fine. Weeks later, however, he backed out of the agreement, and a judge ruled he could do so because he had not yet entered his guilty plea in court.

“I want to clear my name,” Puig said in a statement at the time. “I never should have agreed to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit.”

It took three more years of pretrial legal wrangling, but Puig finally got his day in court in January. Assistant U.S. Attys. Juan Rodriguez and Michael Morse served as prosecutors after Mitchell resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in May.

Puig’s defense centered around issues with the 2022 interview with Mitchell and investigators who represented the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS.

Defense lawyers Keri Curtis Axel and Brian Klein contended in court filings that Puig, who is from Cuba, was confused because of his language barrier and a dual diagnosis of ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder. The investigators misinterpreted his answers, the attorneys said.

Steven Gebelin, who represented Puig in 2021 and 2022, testified at trial that his then-client tried to be helpful during the interview but, because the interpreter’s Spanish dialect differed from Puig’s, his answers were translated poorly. Puig did not testify at trial.

Axel contended during her closing statement that Puig did not lie about his interactions with Nix and his associates, which occurred two years before the interview with investigators.

The investigators assumed Puig was lying when he became confused by the questioning and felt pressured to accurately recollect the details of his gambling activity, Axel argued, telling the jury that “assumptions and speculation are not evidence, and you shouldn’t rely on it.”

Prosecutors also alleged Puig said during the interview that he had lost $200,000 in 2019 betting on a website he couldn’t identify and that a person whose name he couldn’t recall instructed him to purchase $200,000 in cashier’s checks made out to another client of Nix’s to settle his gambling debt. Investigators considered Puig’s inability to remember the name a lie.

Kadokawa testified that he was the person giving Puig instructions. Axel argued that Puig told the investigators later in the interview that he had placed bets through Kadokawa, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said Puig also lied when he went through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen in 2019, producing evidence that he said on an application and in an interview that he never gambled illegally.

After growing up in Cuba, Puig came to the United States in 2012 and signed with the Dodgers. His attorneys called an expert who testified that Puig’s arduous journey from his home country caused post-traumatic stress disorder.

UCLA psychology professor Marcel Pontón, a neuropsychology expert witness for the prosecution, disputed that diagnosis. And Morse rebutted the contention that Puig couldn’t understand English by playing audio of Puig reflecting in English about his interview.

The power-hitting outfielder quickly became a Dodgers fan favorite, finishing second in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2013. Nicknamed the “Wild Horse,” Puig remained a fearsome presence in the lineup for six years and helped the Dodgers to the World Series in 2018 when he hit a three-run homer in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

“It’s an exciting challenge. We know that the club is not at the place that it should be, but I’m here to help the team and to bring what I can to achieve our goal.”

Disasi has not played for more than a year for Chelsea and was placed in the club’s so‑called “bomb squad” after failing to secure a move last summer and deemed surplus to requirements by former head coach Enzo Maresca.

He later worked his way back into the under‑21s and first‑team training, although he did not make a senior appearance.

Disasi joined Chelsea from Monaco in 2023 in a £38m deal and spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa.

But he is determined to prove his worth at West Ham as he added: “The club has given me the opportunity to show my quality on the pitch. I spoke with all the people here, and I feel that they really wanted me, so that’s why I’m here.

“Everyone knows my situation in the last few months, so I just want to get back on the field, feel the sensation of games and help the team.”