Zhang splits with coach in lead-up
Nicole Jeffrey, The Australian
10th November 2001

AUSTRALIA's only female figure-skating hope for the Winter Olympics, 16-year-old Stephanie Zhang, has split with coach Belinda Trussell in the lead-up to her most important competition.

Zhang must qualify for the Olympic Games at the Zagreb Golden Spin in Croatia at the weekend, only 10 days after leaving her coach of seven months.

The talented teenager informed Trussell last week she would begin working with a new coach, Frank Fu, who has accompanied her to Zagreb for the all-important competition.

Trussell of the Olympic Winter Institute said in Sydney yesterday she believed the Zhang family was more comfortable with a Chinese-speaking coach.

"I did have some differences with her parents about her training," Trussell said.

"I didn't feel the parents really trusted where I was going, because I was pressing the fitness and artistic work, rather than jumps because they are already great."

Despite the disruptive split, Trussell said she was confident Zhang would qualify for the Olympics.

"I think she has an incredibly strong chance of making it," Trussell said.

"At the Goodwill Games, she really bolted up the list. She was ranked maybe 11th or 12th (in the world) going in and she came out eighth, and she should have been fifth."

Zhang won the right to contest the Olympic qualifying competition by defeating fellow Australian contenders Miriam Manzano and 1998 Olympian Joanne Carter at a pre-qualifying competition in Bratislava, Slovakia, in September.

She must finish in the top six among skaters trying to qualify in Zagreb to confirm her position on the Olympic team.