Margarita DROBIAZKO

Olympic Games 2006

 

Lithuania

Ice Dancing

 

Date of birth / Születési idõ

 21. December 1971.

Place of birth / Születés helye

 Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia)

Height / Magasság

 170 cm

Weight / Súly

 58 kg (2002)

Home town  /Lakóhely

 Kaunas, Lithuania

Profession / Foglalkozás

 Full-time athlete

Marital status / Családi állapot

 Married (Povilas Vanagas, June 2000.)

Hobbies / Hobbi

 car driving, nature, travelling

Start skating / Korcsolyázás kezdete

 1977

Club

 Piruetas Kaunas (2002), Sports School Baltu Ainiai

Former partner / Régebbi partner

 Oleg Granionov (RUS)

 Povilas VANAGAS

Olympic Games 2006

Date of birth / Születési idõ

 23. July 1970.

Place of birth / Születés helye

 Kaunas, Lithuania

Height / Magasság

 180 cm

Weight / Súly

 70 kg (2002)

Home town  /Lakóhely

 Kaunas, Lithuania

Profession / Foglalkozás

 Full-time athlete

Marital status / Családi állapot

 Married (Margarita Drobiazko, June 2000.)

Hobbies / Hobbi

 nature, music, reading

Start skating / Korcsolyázás kezdete

 1974

Club

 Piruetas Kaunas (2002), Sports School Baltu Ainiai

 

Coach / Edzõ

E. Maslennikova, I. Shpilband, R. Sinitsyn 

Choreographer / Koreográfus

E. Maslennikova, G. Svistunavicius

Former coach / Régebbi edzõ

E. Maslennikova, L. Vanagiene, A. Petuchov, Elena Tchaikovskaya

Former choreographer / Régebbi koreográfus

Elena Tchaikovskaya 

Practice low season / Gyakorlás holtszezonban (h/week)

35 in Lithuania and USA

Practice high season / Gyakorlás fõszezonban  (h/week)

28 in Lithuania, USA and Germany

 

Music Original Dance as of 2000/2001 season

Charleston "Oh yes Sir that's My Baby" by Briquet, Kahn, Donaldson
Quickstep "Dancing Fool" by Barry Manilow 

Music Free Dance as of 2000/2001 season

Tanguera (Tango) by Mariano Mores
Tus Ojos de Cielo (Tango) by Adrover 

Music Original Dance as of 2005/2006 season

Samba, Rhumba, Cha Cha

Music Free Dance  as of 2005/2006 season

Phantom of the Opera (soundtrack) by A. L. Webber


Results / Eredmények

 

Olympic Games
 Olimpia 

World Champs
 Világbajnokság

European Champs
 Európabajnokság

National Champs
 Nemzeti Bajnokság

1992

16

17

15

 

1993

 

13

11

 

1994

12

9

11

1

1995

 

12

11

1

1996

 

8

6

1

1997

 

10

8

1

1998

8

8

6

1

1999

 

6

5

1

2000

 

3

3

1

2001

 

5

4

1

2002

5

4

4

1

2005

 

 

 

1

2006

7

4

3

 

 

Personal Best Total Score

196.18

20.01.2006 

European Championships 2006 

Personal Best Score Compulsory Dance

 38.34

17.01.2006

European Championships 2006 

Personal Best Score Original Dance

 56.95

19.01.2006

European Championships 2006

Personal Best Score Free Dance

 100.89

20.01.2006

European Championships 2006


International Competition:

 1999

 NHK Trophy, Nagoya

3

 2000

 Japan Open, Tokyo

2

 2000

 ISU Grand Prix Final, Lyon

3

 2000

 Sparkassen Cup on Ice, Gelsenkirchen

2

 2000

 Skate America, Colorado Springs

2

 2000

 NHK Trophy, Asahikawa

2

 2001

 Japan Open, Tokyo

2

 2001

 ISU Grand Prix Final, Tokyo

3

 2001

 Skate America, Colorado Springs

3

 2001

 Trophee Lalique, Paris

3

 2001

 NHK-Trophy, Kumamoto

2

 2002

 ISU Grand Prix Final, Kitchener

3

 2005

 Nebelhorn Trophy, Oberstdorf

2

 2005

 Karl Schäfer Memorial, Vienna

1

Drobiazko/Vanagas are the first skaters from Lithuania ever to medal at figure skating championships (bronze at Europeans and Worlds 2000). The couple got married in June 2000. Povilas Vanagas started as a single skater and was six times Lithuanian Champion before switching to ice dance. As a child, Margarita Drobiazko wanted to skate so badly that she dragged her father to the rink in Magadan (where she lived until she was 6 years old) even in winter when it was minus 40 degrees celsius outside. She had already tried out a couple of different partners before teaming up with Vanagas. They worked with Betty Callaway, Christopher Dean and Tatiana Tarasova before joining Elena Tchaikovskaya's new ice dance school in Moscow. They competed internationally since 1992 and retired from competitive skating in 2002. They performed in shows and produced shows before deciding to come back to competition.
International Skating Union, Chemin de Primerose 2, CH - 1007 Lausanne 26.03.2006 

Bronze breakthrough

Despite having competed at three previous Olympic Winter Games, Margarita Drobiazko and ice dancing partner Povilas Vanagas didn't have much international success until 2000, when they won a pair of bronze medals at major events. The first came at the European Championships in Vienna, Austria. The second came less than two months later at the 2000 World Championships in Nice, France. In winning the bronze medal at the 2000 European Championships, they became the first Lithuanian figure skaters to win a medal at an International Skating Union championship event. Drobiazko and Vanagas dropped to fourth at the European Championships and fifth at worlds in 2001, though they did finish third at the 2001 Grand Prix Final.

Famous coaches

Drobiazko and Vanagas had a three-year working relationship with 1984 Olympic ice dancing champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, from the 1996-1997 season through the 1998-1999 season. They first asked the ice dancing stars for help while skating on Torvill and Dean's tour for a few months. Torvill and Dean agreed, and they choreographed the Lithuanians' 1997-1998 programs -- an original dance of an Argentine tango and a free dance to "Ice Cool Jazz." The British legends also choreographed Drobiazko and Vanagas' 1998-1999 programs, which produced an eighth-place finish at the 1998 Nagano Games and a sixth-place finish at the 1998 European Championships. Drobiazko and Vanagas parted ways with Torvill and Dean in 1999 after Dean moved his family from Europe to the United States. It was financially difficult for Drobiazko and Vanagas to fly across the ocean and stay there, because, as Pavilos explains, choreography doesn't come in a day. Current coach Yelena Tchaikovskaya also coaches 1999 ladies' world champion Maria Butyrskaya of Russia. Drobiazko and Vanagas train at an ice dancing school in Moscow. Their choreography is done by Yelena Maslennikova and Vasily Kleimenov.

Small wedding

Drobiazko and Vanagas teamed up in 1989. He was a singles skater with no previous dance partners. She had been an ice dancer at the junior level, but Vanagas was her first partner at the senior level. Because she was Russian-born, it took Drobiazko two years to gain Lithuanian citizenship. Her family lives in Moscow. Drobiazko and Vanagas were married in June 2000. Drobiazko says they were tired of too many people after the hectic time in which they won the European bronze and the world bronze and that they couldn't imagine a large wedding. There were only eight people in attendance. Drobiazko says being married doesn't change anything because they went from being partners to spouses gradually. Vanagas disagrees, saying that performing "with not only your partner but also your wife is a double responsibility. I have always tried for my partner, but now I also have to try extra hard for my wife."

Official Olympic Site 2002

Pictures / Képek