Povilas Vanagas is a Lithuanian figure skater, repeated champion of Lithuania, twice medalist of the European Championship, medalist of the World Championship in ice dancing. Together with his partner Margarita Drobyazko, he performed at the Olympic Games five times and twice became the standard-bearer of the Lithuanian team.
Vanagas is well known by figure skating fans in Russia. After graduating from a professional sports career, he repeatedly took part in ice performances in Russia and Lithuania, as well as in television shows: "Ice and Fire", "Bolero", "Ice Age".
Biography facts
The boy was born in the summer of 1970 in Lithuania. He became the fourth man in the family named Povilas, after his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
My father was engaged in medicine all his life and worked as a doctor in a clinic. Povilas's mother was the famous figure skater Lilia Vanagenė, who had won several Lithuanian championships. She later became the head of the Figure Skating Federation.
From an early age, Povilas started figure skating. His mother took him to the rink when the boy was only three years old. She had already worked as a trainer and decided that Povilas needed to start playing sports, first of all, to improve her health. Little Povilas really was a very thin and weak child, he ate very badly.
After three years of training, Povilas began participating in serious competitions, but gradually his interest in figure skating began to fade. He was attracted by team sports: basketball, football and volleyball.
During his school years, he constantly participated in competitions and was part of the school's basketball and football team. In high school, Povilas began to think about who he really wants to become in adulthood. He began to pull into medicine. The boy decided to follow in his father's footsteps and enter a medical school. Just before leaving school, Vanagas began to prepare for the entrance exams and stopped playing sports.
Having received his secondary education, Vanagas applied to the medical institute in Moscow, but did not pass the competition. He was drafted into the army, where he began serving in a sports company. From that moment on, he no longer parted with sports and, after returning from service, again began to engage in figure skating and train at the CSKA club.
Sports career
At first, Vanagas performed in men's singles skating, but then, on the advice of the coach, he decided to go to doubles. His partner was the young figure skater Margarita Drobyazko.
At first it was difficult for Povilas to get used to pair skating. They did not succeed in many things, and for a long time the skaters could not get used to each other. Gradually, the couple began to make progress, and soon they were able to show the first decent results.
Perestroika began in the country at that time, the collapse of the Soviet Union took place. Povilas and Margarita decided to leave for Lithuania and start training in Kaunas. For two years, they participated in all sports competitions and championships in the country, but they could not get the coveted medals.
A few years later, the couple went to England, where they began training with Christopher Dean and Jane Torvill. They spent two years in England, and then came to Russia, where the famous coach Elena Tchaikovskaya took over their training.
The following years were successful for the skaters. For several years they were among the strongest athletes and became bronze medalists of the European and World Championships in 1999.
Vanagas and Drobyazko performed successfully at the Lithuanian championships, becoming thirteen-time champions. The couple have represented Lithuania at the Olympic Games five times, most recently in 2006. After that, Vanagas and Drobyazko left professional sports. They dedicated their further careers to ice ballet and participating in various figure skating-related TV shows in Lithuania and Russia.
Personal life
Povilas and Margarita met in 1988. They were almost constantly together, trained, went to training camps and performed in numerous competitions. Ten years later, Povilas realized that he could no longer live without Margarita and confessed his love to her. For her, this was a complete surprise, but after some deliberation, the girl agreed to a relationship.
In 2000, Povilas and Margarita got married and got married in one of the small churches in the capital. The couple spent their honeymoon in Spain.
