Background
His mother, Lilija Vanagiene, was Lithuania"s national skating coach.
His mother, Lilija Vanagiene, was Lithuania"s national skating coach.
Given a choice between becoming a soldier or skating full-time, Vanagas chose to become an ice dancer.
Vanagas began skating at age three. At age 18, he was drafted into the Soviet Union army and sent to Moscow, Russian SFSR. Tatiana Tarasova paired Vanagas with Russian ice dancer Margarita Drobiazko in Moscow. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, they decided to represent Lithuania.
Vanagas said, "lieutenant was difficult at the beginning because there was a lot of friction between Russia and Lithuania.
Since Rita is Russian, it caused many problems." They moved to Kaunas, Lithuania and began training with Elena Maslennikova. In 1995, they began working also in England with Betty Callaway, Jayne Torvill, and Christopher Dean.
In 1999, Drobiazko and Vanagas began spending time with Elena Tchaikovskaia in Moscow, while continuing to work with Maslennikova in Kaunas. They were also coached by Lilija Vanagiene and Anatoliy Petukhov.
Drobiazko and Vanagas retired from competition following the 2001–2002 Olympic season, but returned to competition in 2005 to compete at their fifth Olympics.
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. Drobiazko and Vanagas became the first and only figure skaters to compete at five Olympics. They retired again in 2006 following the World Championships.
Their choreographers included Elena Maslennikova, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Elena Tchaikovskaia, Tatiana Pomerantseva, Elena Kholina, Yuri Puzakov, Vasily Kleimenov, and Gintaras Svistunavicius.
(with Margarita Drobiazko).