A Choreographer With Olympic Skaters From Multiple Countries Was Shown Quickly Changing Kits, And Fans Can't Get Enough Of The Video
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One of my favorite things about watching the Olympics is getting some of the behind-the-scenes insight into the inner workings of different sports, particularly sports that don’t typically hog the limelight in our day-to-day lives. At the winter 2026 Olympics, I’ve been deeply invested in all kinds of figure skating drama, as well as the tea behind all the condoms disappearing from the medical tent. (Which Adam Rippon says there’s an explanation for.) But my latest obsession is this video of the Olympics choreographer doing a quick change between two of several of his countries competing with each other.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s wild. Of course, watching the figure skating for a few days now, I’ve heard excellent commentators Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski discuss how a lot of the figure skaters train together, but I just did not consider the ramifications of what that means for their coaches and creative teams. Behold the moment one enterprising fan caught with their Peacock subscription:
If you aren’t a regular figure skating stan, this is Benoît Richaud, a man who spent his career as an ice dancer before going on to choreograph, coach and support a wide range of figure skaters competing in the present day. In the Olympics this year, he’s literally representing teams from 13 different countries. This means, as the Reddit post where the moment went viral notes, “You have to change clothes a lot.”
The best part of this story? If you think the quick changes on TV have been funny, go ahead and think about what this entails a bit further. I’ve seen those videos of Olympians packing, and there’s a lot of gear involved. In the case of Benoît Richaud, he literally had to bring gear for 13 different countries, telling the CBC:
I have three luggages [for the jackets], actually, it was challenging.
Yes, that's three suitcases just for the jackets. Packing for Milan Cortina is not for the faint of heart. It's not just the gear for this event, either. A lot of folks marveled at how many jackets he must have stuffed into closets in his home, and I can't get over some of the more amusing fan responses about the concept of the quick changes as a whole.
- "He needs to do a 'get ready with me -Olympics edition' like some of the girls do. Does TikTok do forty minute videos?"
- "Hey, NBC, can we have a live feed just following this guy around at the competitions? Please and thank you."
- "Putting his phone in the pocket is a bold move. I would 100% forget & leave it in the first jacket of the day."
- "I’m just now realizing that that was the same guy every time. He’s got such a generic look that I thought it was a coincidence 🤣🤣🤣"
- "A literal turncoat."
Regardless, the French choreographer said carrying them around in Milan Cortina (where one famous 007 movie filmed) has honestly been a bit “embarrassing,” also telling CBC:
It was funny, sometimes, walking in the street with all of these jackets on my arm, I was feeling like ‘Oh my god, it’s so embarrassing, I look like an idiot. The good part is, we made figure skating a little more famous. … It shows the world also our job, what is it to be a coach, what is it to be a choreographer, and what is backstage. Many people, they only see what it is on the ice, but they do not imagine that behind there is a huge team.
It really takes an (Olympics) village to get an athlete ready for competition day. But secretly I’m starting to feel like the real hero is not the resilient athletes, but instead is the guy carrying all the coats around. Not all heroes wear capes, some wear coats, amiright?
