Will More Dance & Pairs Teams Split? Some Sources Say Yes. | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Will More Dance & Pairs Teams Split? Some Sources Say Yes.

azcalder

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Just checked an old media guide. Drobiazko/Vanagas represented Lithuania in five Olympics, so Tobias/Deividas have a challenge if they continue as a team.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Amazing how Russia looked like they were going to return to it's glory days in Ice dancing and dominate with D/W and V/M retiring and they have self destructed in a matter of weeks. B/S aren't the team to return Russia to it's heydey of Ice dancing.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Amazing how Russia looked like they were going to return to it's glory days in Ice dancing and dominate with D/W and V/M retiring and they have self destructed in a matter of weeks. B/S aren't the team to return Russia to it's heydey of Ice dancing.

Maybe, maybe not. Bobrova-Soloviev have consistently beaten both Weaver-Poje and Capellini-Lanote in the past. They had a bad programs the last season and as a result had to skip Europeans (changing program) and worlds (injury), but if they competed, I am pretty sure thy would have won the Europeans and medalled at worlds. It is fair to say that although they don't stand out like D/W and V/M, they are pretty comparable standard with the best remaining couples.
 

lmarie086

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Devidas is 28 if I'm not mistaken, so if he and Tobias are truly split I highly doubt he would be looking to start anew with another fresh partnership. It may be that whoever Tobias partners with, they'll represent Lithuania.

Side note: I think Devidas has also had injury problems? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I remember hearing that.

azcalder, I loved Drobiazko/Vanagas. I didn't start watching ice dance really until Torino in 2006 but their POTO FD stood out to me and afterward I went and found their old performances. I don't know if you can necessarily say that they always had the most difficult programs, but they were always very interesting and creative IMO, and I do think it was ridiculous for them to place behind two teams that fell in SLC.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Lithuania was well represented from the mid 1990's to 2002 by ice dancers Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas. They were 3 time GPF bronze medalists, 3 time European bronze medalists and 2000 World bronze medalists. They retired after the 2002 Olympics, but returned to compete again in 2006. In 2002, they placed 5th and filed a petition stating the 2 teams ahead of them fell and weren't penalized. Personally, they were the team that first made ice dancing a consistent favorite discipline for me.

Although I have been watching Pairs and Singles skating for over 10 years, I only really started watching Ice Dancing in the past 5 years. So, I did not see Drobiazko/Vanagas when they were competing.

HOWEVER, I did see them at the End-Of-Year Eisgala in Oberstdorf a few months ago, and they were amazing! As I said at the time:

Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas. The record holders for the most Olympic appearances in figure skating. And now that I've seen them, I can understand why. 8 years since they retired, and they have not lost it at all! If Tobias and Stagniūnas had to pull out of the Sochi Olympics for whatever reason, I could imagine this couple standing in, and still finishing in the top 10!

(Incidentally, if you go into the thread that quote is from, you will find video links).

In the run-up to the Olympics, I started a thread for Olympic trivia and quiz questions, but it didn't really take off. However, Drobiazko/Vanagas featured heavily after I asked my first set of questions:

1. What is the record for the most Olympics competed at in figure skating, and who holds it?

And, taking this further:

2. What is the record for the most Olympics competed at in each category of figure skating, and who holds it?

And for a “Brucie Bonus”, can you name all the Games that each answer competed at?

It only took me a few clicks to find out the answer for the overall record holder (and hence the category that this answer competed in). But, I have no idea what the answers are for the other categories.

I believe the record for dance would be Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania.
They were at the 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006 Olympics.
Their highest placement was fifth at the 2002 Olympics.

Correct! They are the record holders not just for ice dance, but for figure skating as a whole.

And did you know: they won the Lithuanian Championships every year from 1992 to 2002, retired for a couple of years, and then came back and won again in 2005 and 2006!

13 National Championship titles???!!! :jaw: That is bound to be a record in itself!!! :clap:

So, although I may not have seen them in their prime, I am in awe of their achievements, their longevity, and their continuing talent.


Sorry, wasn't sure how to add the quote...Please forgive...

Don't worry, after I joined, it took me a while to get the hang of how to do fancy things like quotes and emoticons as well! ;) :biggrin:

To fix it to get the box around the quote and a link to the original comment, all you have to do is add [/QUOTE] to the end of the paragraph that was copied from my comment.

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan
 

Ugnele

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
No proof. I saw info about Tobias/Tkachenko and Ryazanova/Guereiro on Russian skating board fsonline.ru, but the poster said specifically that these are rumors. If anybody has better info, pls post. There were rumors earlier this year that Tkachenko will be retiring after this season, and Ryazanova recently started posting pics with Guereiro - old and new - on her Instagram.


If you cannot justify your rumours, you shouldn't spread them. There is no reason for Stagniunas and Tobias to split at this point. (It seems to me that they needed to pair Tkachenko with somebody so they paired him with Tobias. :sarcasm:) Firstly, Tobias had to work really hard to get her citizenship and they also needed to convince not only the president but also the general public that she was worthy of the Lithuanian citizenship. And the people were very wary of her getting the citizenship. The majority of the people didn't want a foreigner to be granted the citizenship for nothing. And actually Tobias getting the Lithuanian citizenship was a big thing as it was widely covered by the media. So, I think that it would be very irresponsible of Tobias to switch countries. She definetily risks public outrage and I won't be surprised if there will be a public request by the people to renounce her citizenship in case she switches countries.

Secondly, her parents finance her training. I don't think that switching partners very often bodes well for their investment.

Thirdly, both Tkachenko and Stagniunas are almost the same age, so Tobias will not be able to have a longer career with Tkachenko. I bet she'll have 4 more years before Tkachenko will be too old to go for another Olympic cycle.

Fourthly, the citizenship. What country are they going to represent? Russia? Or any other? Then she or both will need a new citizenship. :laugh: I really doubt that anyone will be willing to grant Tobias a new citizenship because she will have history of changing citizenships like socks (tha's how we say it). Furthermore, Lithuanian Skating Federation will not release her for at least 18 months. So, they are likely to miss a half of the new Olympic cycle and that doesn't bode well for their future. I think Tkachenko won't be released by Russia either.

All in all, in all their interviews done in December they were very positive about representing Lithuania, their training and going for another 4 years. Stagniunas never spoke about retirement except for cases related to his partners' citizenship issues. He wanted to retire when Copely was denied the Lithuanian citizenship but later he was paired with Tobias. He said that he would have retired if Tobias hadn't been granted the Lithuanian citizenship. But as she got her citizenship, they were very positive about continuing.
 

Ryan O

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
Canada
Are they all trying to catch up with the North American teams now? It seems that the sudden appearance of all three Canadian teams (including two lesser-known ones) in worlds top 10 and the consistency of the Americans may have contributed to some shuffling

Yes, I'm wondering if the developments at Worlds last month with 5/10 of the top teams being from North America (3 Canadian, 2 American) caused some reverberations.

It wasn't the only factor, because some of the splits were in the works before Worlds, since we read the reports of I&K and S&Z splitting before the competition. But perhaps the 2nd place finish by W&P, and then the 8th place finish by G&P, and the 10th place by P&I, provided further motivation to Russia & other countries to restructure their teams to stay competitive. G&P beat S&Z in the FD, and P&I were only a couple of spots behind, so our Canadian teams are closing in on them.

So it may be the success of the Canadians & Americans at Worlds provided a contributing motivation to the Russian teams on top of the other problems that already existed.
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but most of the names / teams appear to be Russian or from former Soviet states. Are they in rebuilding mode again? Are some of these partly affected by the I/K split? To what extent is the Russian Skating Federation behind some of these splits? Are they all trying to catch up with the North American teams now? It seems that the sudden appearance of all three Canadian teams (including two lesser-known ones) in worlds top 10 and the consistency of the Americans may have contributed to some shuffling (and may be a sign that they're not into B/S). Just my thought from what little I've read of it. Although I'm sure that no teams would split unless (1) they were not gaining traction / progress, or (2) there were already deep-seated issues within the teams.

I don't think so. Two couples, I&K and S&Z split for reasons that has nothing to do with the NA Ice Dance. On the contrary, if it was for the Russian Fed these two couples would've still been together and with B&S as well there was plenty enough competitive couples for Russia in Ice Dance. They still have tbh, at least there is a lot of potential with the new partnerships formed, but we have to wait and see how they work out.
 

whatif

Medalist
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
More news on Tobias/Tkachenko.
http://itar-tass.com/sport/1142614
If things work out they will be coached by Schpilband not Zoueva. The country is still unknown.

And unconfirmed rumour is that Ryazanova is trying with Vaturi and if that works out will be released by Russia to skate for Italy.
 

fleeting

Queen Anissina
Medalist
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
So many teams splitting up! I can't believe it, seems like ice dance is internationally a big problem other than the US and Canada. Who would've guessed?
With everything going down next thing you know, we'll see Weaver and Poje and Gillies and Poirier do a partnership a la I/K and S/Z!
 

Ryan O

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
Canada
So many teams splitting up! I can't believe it, seems like ice dance is internationally a big problem other than the US and Canada. Who would've guessed?
With everything going down next thing you know, we'll see Weaver and Poje and Gillies and Poirier do a partnership a la I/K and S/Z!

Weaver is 5'6, so she's too tall for Poirier. ;) She needs a guy that is 6 feet +, like Poje. Although Gilles might help bring out a bit of Poje's personality, like she did with Poirier. Poje is a little bit muted at times, and could do with a fire being lit under him. ;)

Actually, I remember 3 years ago when Poirier was looking for another partner, there were some suggestions on GS that Alexandra Paul and Paul Poirier should team up. Because then the team name would be Paul & Poirier! :laugh:

But seriously, with all 3 Canadian teams moving up the standings at Worlds, I think they're pretty happy with how their season ended. Looks like Canadian dance is in much more stable condition than Russia right now. :)
 

joannix

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Weaver is 5'6, so she's too tall for Poirier. ;) She needs a guy that is 6 feet +, like Poje. Although Gilles might help bring out a bit of Poje's personality, like she did with Poirier. Poje is a little bit muted at times, and could do with a fire being lit under him. ;)

But you cannot deny that Andrew Poje is super hot!!!!! :biggrin:
 

Ryan O

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
Canada
But you cannot deny that Andrew Poje is super hot!!!!! :biggrin:

Poje is good-looking, but he needs more personality. Scott Moir is not conventionally handsome like a movie star, but what gives him such presence on the ice is that he is very forceful, aggressive and fiery. (Perhaps a bit too much for some people since he sometimes gets into trouble for speaking out! :biggrin:)

Poje has been a bit too quiet and laid-back at times, although maybe that helps balance out Weaver, who has a very strong personality! I also think Mitchell Islam could benefit from a stronger personality, but I think Alexandra Paul comes across very well.
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Italian ice dancer Lorenza Alessandrini posted this message on her FB page today. Her former partner, Simone Vaturi, is apparently going to be having a try out with Russia's Ekaterina Riazonova in the coming days.

Unfortunately Simone and i will no longer compete together...that really saddens me and despite all the difficulties and the sacrifices that an athlete has to face, my passion for this sport is still alive. I would love to find a new partner to compete with at a high level and, though it's not easy to find the right person, i still have hope and i'll try my best to make it happen.
 
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