DANCING Through The Decades
IT WAS ALL SUPPOSED TO BE TEMPORARY. When Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas teamed up in 1989, it was understood that they would compete for a couple of seasons and then move on with their respective lives. In 2019, the couple celebrated three decades on the ice – and their 19th wedding anniversary.
Mrargarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas hold a special place in Lithuanian skating history. The first skaters from that nation to ever compete at an Olympic Winter Games, decades later they remain the only ones to ever medal at a European or World Championships in any discipline.
Born in Moscow in the then Soviet Union, Drobiazko became interested in skating after watching a television program that featured 10-time World pairs champion Irina Rodnina
Drobiazko began skating singles as a 6-year-old, but at age 12 she switched to ice dance. Initially coached by Natalia Linichuk and then Natalia Dubova, Drobiazko found no success with her first partner, Oleg Granionov.
Vanagas grew up in a skating household in Kaunas, Lithuania. His mother, Lilija Vanagiene, was a 10-time national singles champion who went on to become the national coach and the president
