How did you start figure skating?
Pasha: In Russia everyone wanted to do something,
be a gymnast, an athlete
and I just choose figure skating, just
like that.
In 1976 Innsbruck ice dance entered the
Olympic Games where the first
Olympic Champions were the Russians Ludmilla
Pakhamova and Alexander
Gorshkov. They made a great impression
on the current Olympic Champions.
Pasha: They mean a lot to us, really. They
were the first Russian Olympic
Champions ( ice dance) and actually they
made ice dancing to be in the
Olympic Games, because a couple of years
before that they hadn't taken ice
dance into the Olympic Games. They really
meant a lot to us, they made us
also wanting to be at the Olympic Games
and that was a great feeling, to
also have a dream to get a Olympic gold
medal.
How were your first Olympic Games( 1992 Albertville, France)?
Pasha: I was really excited. We were waiting,
because it was going to a
surprise, because we had heard so much.
People were talking that it was an
amazing competition and it could be just
once in your life and never again
and you never know if you are going to
compete again or not, because you
have to wait four years.
In 1992 the stars were yet again another
Russian couple Marina Klimova and
Sergei Ponemarenko.
Pasha: They had an amazing program to skate
that year and they skated great
and they did the best they could and I
actually really enjoyed watching
that program.
1994 Lillehammer. It was ten years after
Torvill&Dean won their Olympic
title and Oksana&Evgeny performed a
lighter and faster routine than
Torvill& Dean, but on the ice Oksana&Evgeny
had to forget all about their
opponents.
Pasha: We weren't thinking during the competition
about what great stars
they were. We were thinking that they are
just competitors to us and we
just had to do our best and we tried to
concentrate on ourselves and skate
our program great.
Since 1994 Oksana&Evgeny were unbeatable
and their opponents fight it out
for second place.
Povilas Vanagas: Their quality of skating
is so high, so tremendously high.
None of the couples can be compared with
them and my opinion is that they
are strong individual skaters and when
they are together it makes so much
difference to other couples, because we
have young Russian couples who
skate fast and strong, but they skate on
lines and not on edges and then
they aren't even doing what Oksana&Evgeny
do, in edges and in curves. It's
really fantastic.
Is it more pressure now?
Pasha: Twice more pressure, because here
we are, we are Olympic gold
medallists and here we are again before
another Olympic Games. Of course it
will be a lot of pressure and a lot of
things which happen inside and I
hope we will be strong enough through everything
and to do our best.
What are your aims in life now?
Pasha: To be one.
