Gustave François Lussi (June 2, 1898 – June 23, 1993) was a

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

coach. His students include many champions, such as

Dick Button Richard Totten Button (born July 18, 1929) is an American former figure skater and skating analyst. He is a two-time Olympic champion (1948, 1952) and five-time consecutive World champion (1948–1952). He is also the only non-European man to ha ...

Tenley Albright Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and the ...

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Otto Jelinek Otto John Jelinek (Czech: Otakar Jelínek; born May 20, 1940) is a businessman, former figure skater, and Canadian politician. Jelinek's family fled to Switzerland, then to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1948, following the Communist coup d'é ...

, Donald Jackson,

Alena Vrzáňová Alena "Ája" Vrzáňová (, also Zanová, married name: Steindler; 16 May 1931 – 30 July 2015) was a Czech figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia in competition. Vrzáňová is the 1949 & 1950 World champion and 1950 European champion. ...

, Ronald Robertson,

Ronald Ludington Ronald Ludington (September 4, 1934 – May 14, 2020) was an American figure skating coach and pair skater. With Nancy Rouillard Ludington, he was the 1960 Olympic bronze medalist, 1959 World bronze medalist, and a four-time U.S. national cham ...

Barbara Ann Scott Barbara Ann Scott (May 9, 1928 – September 30, 2012) was a Canadian figure skater. She was the 1948 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1947–1948), and a four-time Canadian national champion (1944–46, 48) in ladies' singles. Kn ...

, David Jenkins, Hayes Jenkins,

Emmerich Danzer Emmerich Danzer (born 15 March 1944) is an Austrian former figure skater. He is a three-time (1966–68) World champion, a four-time (1965–68) European champion, and a four-time (1965–68) Austrian national champion. Personal life Emmeric ...

Dorothy Hamill Dorothy Stuart Hamill (born July 26, 1956) is a retired American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion and 1976 World champion in ladies' singles. Early life Hamill was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Chalmers and Carol Hamill. Her fat ...

John Misha Petkevich John Misha Petkevich (born March 3, 1949, in Minneapolis) is an American former figure skater. He is the 1971 U.S. national champion and North American champion. He placed 6th at the 1968 Winter Olympics and 5th at the 1972 Winter Olympics. His ...

, Maureen Masley, and

John Curry John Anthony Curry, (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British Figure skating, figure skater. He was the 1976 1976 European Figure Skating Championships, European, Figure skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics, Olympic and World Figure Sk ...

Personal life

Lussi was born in

Stans Stans () is the capital of the canton of Nidwalden (Nidwald) in Switzerland. The official language of Stans is German (spoken there in the variety of Swiss Standard German), but the main language is the local variant of Alemannic Swiss German. ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He himself was not a competitive skater but a

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

. He lost his nerve for that sport after a fall, and became interested in skating instead. His previous experience with the sport was only recreational skating on

Lake Lucerne __NOTOC__ Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central ...

as a boy. In 1919, Lussi emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, landing in New York City. He became a U.S. citizen in 1927. In 1932, he married Thelma McDowell, with whom he had two sons. He died on June 23, 1993, at the age of 95.

Coaching career

Lussi supported another Swiss emigrant, Mr. De Bergen, a skating coach, and himself in New York while learning skating from De Bergen. Considering himself to be big and gawky, he vowed that if he could not be a world champion himself, he would produce one through his teaching. A few years later, while teaching in Philadelphia as De Bergen's assistant he rebelled against De Bergen's style of skating, started pioneering his own methodology, and left Philadelphia for a while to coach in Canada and Lake Placid. His first champion student was Egbert S. Carey Jr., who won the U.S. junior men's title in 1924. At around the same time, he and his student, Montgomery "Bud" Wilson, invented the

flip jump The flip jump (also called the flip) is a figure skating jump. The International Skating Union (ISU) defines a flip jump as "a toe jump that takes off from a back inside edge and lands on the back outside edge of the opposite foot".Media Guide, ...

. In 1928, Bud Wilson and his sister,

Constance Wilson-Samuel Constance Wilson-Samuel (January 7, 1908 – April 6, 1963) was a Canadian figure skater, born in Toronto, Ontario. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the 1932 World bronze medallist, a four-time North American champion, and a nine-t ...

, became Lussi's first World Champions. Lussi coached

from the age of twelve. Lussi introduced checking the jump landings instead of turning a three after landing, a program as composition with a beginning and ending instead of the official just banging a gong to signal the end of the allotted time to perform, closing the figures on the backward pushes which until that time were left open, the original design for the Pattern 99 blade, the flying

sit spin The sit spin (also known as the Jackson Haines spin) is one of the oldest elements in figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be include ...

, the flying

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

or Button Camel spin with Dick Button, the crossed-leg rotation position in jumping and spinning, the double

Axel jump Axel may refer to: People * Axel (name), all persons with the name Places * Axel, Netherlands, a town ** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586 Arts, entertainment, media * ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove * ''Axel'', a Cirque d ...

, the triple jumps, the delayed Axel and delayed-rotation double and triple jumps. Lussi also started summer skating in Lake Placid after the Olympic Arena was enclosed in 1932 for the Winter Olympics. He convinced the local municipality to open the arena for a month that summer and imported skaters from Canada to perform shows that summer. His father-in-law painted the ice for these great extravaganzas. These shows led to his being hired to choreograph the shows for

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...

for several years.

Legacy

Lussi's skaters are known for their strong

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

technique. Lussi was also responsible for developing modern

figure skating jump Figure skating jumps are an element of three competitive figure skating disciplines: men's singles, women's singles, and pair skatingbut not ice dancing. Jumping in figure skating is "relatively recent". They were originally individual compulso ...

technique, including the now-standard crossed-leg rotation, or ''back spin'', position in the air. His pupil

was the first to perform a double Axel and the first triple

loop jump The loop jump is an edge jump in the sport of figure skating. The skater executes it by taking off from the back outside edge of the skating foot, turning one rotation in the air, and landing on the back outside edge of the same foot. It is oft ...

in competition, and Lussi students were also the first performers of flying spins such as the flying

and flying

which are now a standard part of every elite skater's repertoire. In April 1990, a documentary film ''Gustave Lussi: The Man Who Changed Skating'' was shown on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

television network. The documentary was conceived and co-produced by his former student Cecily Morrow and produced by station

WCFE-TV WCFE-TV (channel 57) is a PBS member television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. Owned by the Mountain Lake Public Telecommunications Council, the station mai ...

. Around this time Morrow also worked with Lussi to produce a series of instructional videos, entitled Systematic Figure Skating: The Spin and Jump Techniques of Gustave Lussi, capturing his coaching techniques. Some of Lussi's other students, such as

Carlo Fassi Carlo Fassi (20 December 1929 – 20 March 1997) was an Italian figure skater and international coach whose students included several World and Olympic champions. As a single skater, he was the 1953 World bronze medalist, a two-time European cha ...

Ron Ludington Ronald Ludington (September 4, 1934 – May 14, 2020) was an American figure skating coach and pair skater. With Nancy Rouillard Ludington, he was the 1960 Olympic bronze medalist, 1959 World bronze medalist, and a four-time U.S. national cha ...

Mary Scotvold Mary Batdorf Scotvold is an American figure skating coach, best known for her work with Olympic medalists Paul Wylie and Nancy Kerrigan, whom she co-coached with her husband, Evy Scotvold. She won the novice ladies title at the 1959 U.S. Figu ...

, Robin Wagner, Evelyn Kramer, Cecily Morrow, and

Priscilla Hill Priscilla Hill-Wampler (born October 4, 1961) is an American figure skating coach and former competitor. She is a two-time U.S. national medalist (silver in 1981, bronze in 1978) and finished within the top ten at two World Championships. She won ...

, have also become successful coaches who have passed on Lussi's techniques to subsequent generations of skaters. Wagner coached

Sarah Hughes Sarah Elizabeth Hughes (born May 2, 1985) is a former American competitive figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic Champion and the 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies' singles. Personal life Hughes was born in Great Neck, New York, a subur ...

to the 2002 Olympic title and

Sasha Cohen Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen (born October 26, 1984) is a retired American figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Championship medalist, the 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and the 2006 U.S. Champion. S ...

to a World Championship medal. Priscilla Hill has coached

Johnny Weir John Garvin Weir (; born July 2, 1984) is an American figure skater and television commentator. He is a two-time Olympian (representing the United States in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics, respectively), the 2008 World bronze medalist, a t ...

to three national titles. Evelyn Kramer is now known as a "spin doctor" and has helped many skater improve their

spins The spins (as in having "the spins")Diane Marie Leiva. ''The Florida State University College of Education''Women's Voices on College Drinking: The First-Year College Experience"/ref> is an adverse reaction of intoxication that causes a state of v ...

. They include

Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time W ...

Robin Cousins Robin Cousins, MBE (born 17 August 1957) is a British former competitive figure skater who was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1980. He was the 1980 Olympic champion, the 1980 European champion, a three-time World medalist (1978–19 ...

and

Caryn Kadavy Caryn Kadavy (born December 9, 1967) is an American professional figure skater and former competitor. She is the 1987 World bronze medalist and a four-time U.S. national medalist. She also competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Career Kadavy ...

. Lussi was enshrined into the

professional Skaters Association The Professional Skaters Association International is the largest figure skating coaches association in the world. The PSA was founded on August 10, 1938, in Lake Placid, New York, as the American Skaters Guild, just two years (1936) after the Ice ...

Coaches Hall of Fame in 2002.PSA Coaches Hall of Fame at www.skatepsa.com On December 15, 2015, U.S. Figure Skating announced Lussi would be a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame Class of 2016.

References

* Button, Dick (1955). ''Dick Button on Skates''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Catalog Card No. 55-12069.
www.lussitechnicalvideo.com
''Systematic Figure Skating: The Spin & Jump Techniques of Gustave Lussi''. (instructional videos produced by a Lussi student, Cecily Morrow) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lussi, Gus 1898 births 1993 deaths American figure skating coaches People from Stans Sportspeople from Nidwalden Swiss emigrants to the United States