Maurice Kvitelashvili is a lone skater and one of the wards of the legendary coach Eteri Tutberidze. Until 2016, he represented Russia, but then began to speak for his historical homeland - Georgia. At the same time, Maurice continued to train under the leadership of Tutberidze.
Biography: early years
Maurice Mikhailovich Kvitelashvili was born on March 17, 1995 in Moscow. At the age of four, his parents enrolled him in the figure skating section. The first mentor of Maurice was Elena Kotova. Soon he was taken to the school of the Olympic reserve of CSKA named after S. Zhuk. There he first trained under the leadership of Svetlana Bukareva, and then moved on to Marina Selitskaya.
Maurice with Caucasian stubbornness worked out elements difficult for his age. Thanks to this approach, stability appeared in Kvitelashvili's rentals. In childhood, the skater won prizes in many Russian competitions.
Career in Russia
In 2008, Maurice decided to go to the famous coach Eteri Tutberidze. At first, classes in her group were not easy for him. However, 13-year-old Maurice already set himself ambitious goals. And to achieve them, he gave all his best in training programs. Under the leadership of Tutberidze, Kvitelashvili’s skating became artistic and charismatic. Eteri made a great contribution to his technique.
In 2013, Maurice made his debut at the junior stages of the Grand Prix. The skater participated in two competitions. At the stage in Slovakia, he became the fourth, and in the Czech Republic he took bronze. Despite this, Maurice could not qualify for the Grand Prix finals. He did not even fall into the number of substitutes.
At the end of the same year, the Winter Universiade took place in Italy. Maurice was among the participants. He performed very well, becoming the fifth in the end. But at the debut for him the Russian championship failed.
This failure did not break the guy. Two months later, Kvitelashvili ended the season on a major note, becoming the owner of the Junior Cup of Russia.
Starting next season, Maurice began performing at the “adult” competitions. The skater took part in the Lombardy Cup, finishing in fifth place. Maurice did not qualify for the Russian Grand Prix of the same year. However, he took part in it instead of Mikhail Kolyada, who was injured at the last moment. That's just a chance of fate, Maurice did not take. His debut at the Grand Prix stage among adults failed miserably. Kvitelashvili was the last.
Eteri Tutberidze explained the failures of her ward by a sharp jump in growth. Maurice is one of the tallest loners. His height is 180 cm. Injuries also played a role. All this ultimately put pressure on the psyche of a young skater.
In December 2014, Maurice performed at the Croatian Zagreb Golden Horse tournament. The skater flawlessly skated an arbitrary program, significantly exceeding his own achievements in it and in the total amount of points. As a result, he became the fifth.
Kvitelashvili was in complete euphoria from such a success. This is probably why he allowed himself to give slack in training. As a result, he was disappointed at the Russian championship: he finished the competition in eighth place. A month later, Maurice performed at the Winter Universiade, where he also showed not the best result for him, becoming the seventh.
Kvitelashvili began the 2015/16 season by participating in the Mordovian Patterns international tournament, which took place in Saransk. On it, the skater climbed the pedestal, winning bronze. Thanks to this, he received a ticket to the Chinese Cup, which is part of the Grand Prix series. However, failure again awaited him: Maurice took last place. At the Russian championship, Kvitelashvili also did not skate very well, becoming the twelfth.
Failures in recent tournaments have unsettled the guy. In sports, when assessing potential, the key criterion is the result. And Maurice's successes were unstable. Therefore, the label "not very stable" stuck to it. According to the athlete himself, in this regard, he once heard a lot of offensive words addressed to him. To everything else, the path to the Russian team with such modest success was closed to him because of high competition. On this basis, he decided to represent the homeland of his ancestors - Georgia.
Career in Georgia
Speaking for his historic homeland, Maurice began to get into international competitions of the highest level without any problems. The first season in the Georgian team was very successful for him. Kvitelashvili noticeably perked up and began to roll programs at times cleaner.
Under the flag of Georgia, Maurice first performed at the New Year's tournament in Budapest, where he became the first. A month later, the skater spoke at the European Championships in Ostrava and took sixth place. Maurice significantly improved his personal performance. At the world championships of the same year, he became the thirteenth.
At the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korean Pyeongchang, Kvitelashvili was waiting for another failure. The skater hardly entered the top thirty, becoming the 24th. At the world championships of the same year, he sank even lower, taking 26th place.
In the 2018/19 season, Maurice improved his performance. So, at the international tournament in Finland, he became the third, and at the Russian stage the Grand Prix was able to win the silver award.
