Margarita Drobyazko: biography
Margarita Drobyazko is a Lithuanian figure skater, multiple champion of Lithuania, who won medals at European and world championships. Participated in five Olympics. The athlete is known to Russian viewers for her participation in the popular TV show “Ice Age”.
She was born in Moscow in the family of a polar pilot. Before the girl arrived, the family already had a son. Because of his father's work, the family moved many times. Little Margarita lived in Magadan and Anadyr, but after a few years she returned to the capital.
Figure skater Margarita Drobyazko
It was in this city that Margarita’s sports biography began.
While still a preschooler, the girl was involved in the figure skating section, where Rita’s mother brought her. At first, ice skating was just a hobby, but after the first successes there was hope for a sports future.
Margarita Drobyazko
Drobyazko started with singles skating, and later switched to pairs ice dancing. The girl changed several mentors and partners, until the honored coach Gennady Ackerman paired the young athlete with the Baltic Povilas Vanagas. And this duet became very strong, one of the best in the vastness of the Soviet Union.
Childhood and family of Povilas Vanagas
Povilas was born in Lithuania into the family of a doctor and a figure skater. The family immediately nicknamed the boy Povilas the fourth: his great-grandfather, grandfather and father had the same name. The boy's mother, Liliya Vanagene, was a seven-time champion of Lithuania, and is currently the coach of the national team and president of the country's Figure Skating Federation. Mother's father was the director of the skating rink. But on my father’s side, everyone was a doctor.
From early childhood, the boy went with his mother to the skating rink, where she worked as a coach. At the age of three, Povilas, holding onto a chair and standing on skates, learned to skate. At the age of six he began performing in competitions.
Apparently, Povilas started figure skating more at the insistence of his figure skating mother than of his own free will, because Soon his interest in his studies began to fade. I played basketball, football and volleyball with the guys with much greater interest.
In adolescence, Povilas’s father’s genes “jumped up”: he decided to become a doctor and began studying at medical school.
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By the age of seventeen, he decided to leave sports and began to study hard, preparing to enter college.
After graduating from school, he went to Moscow to enroll at MGIMO. He passed the exams, but did not pass the competition.
Figure skating
After the collapse of the USSR, Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas accepted Lithuanian citizenship and represented this country in international competitions. During her career, Margarita became the champion of Lithuania 13 times and improved her performance in the international arena from year to year.
Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas
The year 2000 turned out to be the peak year in the skaters’ careers. Drobyazko and Vanagas won bronze medals at the World and European Championships, and at one of the qualifying stages in Canada they managed to take the top place for the first time in the modern history of Lithuania.
Margarita and her partner participated in the Olympics five times. Unfortunately, they never won a medal, although they should have been awarded at least twice. In 2002, in the American Salt Lake City, the Lithuanian Federation even announced an official protest, since, in its opinion, the skaters were sued, but the claim was not satisfied. Subsequently, there were other judicial scandals, which eventually forced the introduction of a new evaluation system in figure skating, but the Lithuanian athletes were not given retroactive medals.
Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas at the Olympic Games in Turin
Margarita Drobyazko finally left the sport after the 2005/2006 season. The woman was immediately invited to appear on Russian television in the first season of the dance show “Ice Age.” Margarita skated on the ice with Stanislav Yarushin, Andrei Chernyshov, Alexander Dyachenko, Pyotr Krasilov and hockey player Alexei Yashin.
When did Ice Age take place? Professional Cup”, then based on the results of the project, Margarita Drobyazko shared the top step of the podium with Tatyana Navka. The figure skater organized the colorful show “Burning Ice,” which is now held annually in Lithuania on the eve of the Christmas holidays.
In 2020, the sixth Ice Age started. Then Margarita went on the ice with actor Anatoly Rudenko.
It is worth noting Drobyazko’s cinematic debut. In 2008, she starred in the sports melodrama “Hot Ice,” in which the main roles were played by Ekaterina Guseva and Boris Nevzorov. Together with Margarita, the woman’s husband, Povilas Vanagas, and a number of other skaters appeared on the screen.
In 2004, Ilya Averbukh founded a company that creates unique ice shows. World figure skating stars take part in the performances. Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas are among the best.
Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas in the play “City Lights”
In 2012, Margarita performed in the play “The Secret of Treasure Island.” The production became an ice version of the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. Drobyazko played the main role together with her husband. The young theater and film actress Elizaveta Arzamasova took part in the project.
That same year, the figure skater toured with the musical City Lights.
In 2020, forty Russian cities saw the Odnoklassniki show. This is the story of people who studied together. After a while they met, and each told their story. Then Margarita visited three cities of Lithuania on tour of the project.
Margarita Drobyazko in the play "Carmen"
In the summer of 2020, Drobyazko performed in the stunning ice performance Carmen.
At the end of the year, the New Year's premiere of the ice fairy tale “The New Bremen Musicians on Ice” took place. Margarita and Povilas played the roles of Atamansha and King.
Povilas Vanagas: biography, career, personal life
In 1999, the duo moved to Moscow and began working under the direction of Elena Tchaikovskaya. The results are immediate. For four years, the Drobyazko-Vanagas couple has constantly been among the top five at the European and World Championships, and in 1999 they took the “bronze” step in both Europe and the World Championship. In those same years, the duo systematically took “bronze” places at the Grand Prix finals.
In Lithuania, the duo had no equal since the 1991/1992 season. The couple is a thirteen-time champion of their country!
In 1998, Vanagas again marches with the country's banner at the head of the Lithuanian Olympic delegation at the games in Nagano.
After fifth place at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the couple decided to leave amateur sports.
Parting with sports lasted three years. In 2005, the duo once again won gold at the Lithuanian Championship and began preparations for the Olympics in Turin.
The 2006 Olympics was the fifth in the sports career of the Drobyazko-Vanagas couple. Having taken seventh place, the skaters finally say goodbye to amateur sports.
Personal life
Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vaganas were exclusively figure skating partners for 11 years. Therefore, when the young man confessed his love to her, Margarita was at first taken aback, because she perceived Povilas as a brother or best friend. But after such words, the girl looked at her partner with different eyes and realized that she herself had feelings for him.
Povilas Vanagas and Margarita Drobyazko
When Vaganas proposed marriage to her, the skater immediately agreed. They got married in 2000 and since then have lived as a happy family, although unfounded rumors sometimes appear in the press about Margarita’s separation from her husband.
In 2007, information leaked to the press that Drobyazko allegedly cheated on her wife with actor Alexander Dyachenko. Three years later, the couple’s personal life again became of interest to the public. Only, according to media reports, this time Vanagas became interested in his beautiful partner Agnia Ditkovskite.
Margarita Drobyazko with her husband
Be that as it may, there was no official confirmation of such statements. And in one interview, Rita and Povilas laughed that if you believe everything that is written about them, you can already create a harem.
A woman is surprised by such gossip, because Povilas is such a balanced and non-conflict man that it is impossible to quarrel with him.
Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas
Now the figure skating stars live in their own country house, filled with pets, which Margarita picks up on the street and gives them warmth and affection.
When asked when the couple will have a child, Drobyazko replies that they will definitely have children.
Margarita has an account on the social network Instagram, but it is closed from prying eyes. Therefore, those who want to take a peek at the figure skater’s life must first apply for a subscription, and it’s up to her to decide whether the woman will be allowed to view the photos.
Passion on Ice: weddings and divorces
Important
Povilas’s maternal grandfather was the director of the Kaunas central skating rink, and his mother at that time was already working as a coach and from an early age she took her son with her to the skating rink. At the age of three he learned to skate and even skate a little. But in 1976, at the age of six, he participated in competitions for the first time.
In addition to figure skating, the boy was also interested in other sports: basketball, volleyball, etc. At the age of 17, he decided to give up sports, and if not for certain circumstances, the world probably would never have known a figure skater named Povilas Vanagas. Biography outside of sports For some time his life followed a different, non-sports direction. He expressed a desire to follow in the footsteps of his paternal relatives and studied at medical school.
Margarita Drobyazko now
In February 2020, Drobyazko took to the ice with her constant partner as part of an anniversary show dedicated to the legendary Tatyana Tarasova.
The summer of the same year was marked by the premiere of the play “Romeo and Juliet”. Margarita and Povilas played the Capulet clan on ice.
And in 2020, a tour of Russia took place with the program “Together and Forever”, in which Margarita Drobyazko took part. This project combines the best productions of Ilya Averbukh. On April 14, 2020, figure skaters set off to conquer the Prague ice stage.
Awards
- 1991-1992 – Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1992-1993 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1993-1994 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1994-1995 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1995-1996 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1995-1996 - Skate Israel, 1st place
- 1996-1997 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1996-1997 - Skate Israel, 1st place
- 1997-1998 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1998-1999 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 1999-2000 — World Championship, 3rd place
- 2000-2001 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 2001-2002 – Winter Olympic Games, 5th place
- 2004-2005 - Lithuanian Championship, 1st place
- 2005-2006 - Winter Olympic Games, 7th place
