Margarita Aleksandrovna Drobiazko (Russian: Маргарита Александровна Дробязко; born 21 December 1971) is a Russian retired ice dancer. She began competing for Lithuania in 1992 when she teamed up with Povilas Vanagas. With Vanagas, she is the 2000 World bronze medalist, a three-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist (2000, 2006), the 1999 Skate Canada champion, and competed in five Winter Olympics, finishing as high as 5th.
Career
Drobiazko began skating at age six – she became interested after seeing children learning to skate at an outdoor rink.[1] She convinced her mother, who wanted her to become a ballerina, to let her try skating.[1] At age 12, she took up ice dancing and was coached first by Natalia Linichuk and then Natalia Dubova.[1] She initially competed with Oleg Granionov for Russia.[2][3]
In 1999, Drobiazko and Vanagas began spending time with Elena Tchaikovskaia in Moscow, while continuing to work with Maslennikova in Kaunas.[1] They were also coached by Lilija Vanagiene and Anatoliy Petukhov.[2][4] Drobiazko and Vanagas retired from competition following the 2001–2002 Olympic season, but returned to competition in 2005 to compete at their fifth Olympics.[5] In preparation for the 2005–2006 season, they worked with Maslennikova, Rostislav Sinicyn, Igor Shpilband, Marina Zueva, Gintaras Svistunavicius, and David Liu, in the United States, Germany, Russia, and Lithuania.[5] Drobiazko and Vanagas became the first and only figure skaters to compete at five Olympics. They retired again in 2006 following the World Championships.
She appeared in the 1-7 seasons of ice show contest Ice Age.
Personal life
Drobiazko was born in Moscow, but lived in Magadan, the Russian far north-east, until the age of six.[2] Since the Olympics require citizenship of the country represented, Drobiazko obtained Lithuanian citizenship in 1993.[7] She has been married to Vanagas since June 2000.[6][8][9]
