On the last day of summer, the young duo of figure skaters officially ceased to exist, with which many experts and fans associated the future revival of Russian ice dancing. Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Valery Angelopol have been skating together since 2018 under the guidance of Anzhelika Krylova, silver medalist of the 1998 Olympics. They became something of a guiding star in the storm: while all the dancers around were breaking up, changing partners and generally doing whatever they wanted, these two grew up, became prettier and won more and more audience love.
About them, as about any young attractive guys, fans at some point launched a romantic legend — it is very likely that it was based on real events. It's nice to believe in the youthful love of two people united by one great goal. But even without romance, there was something to discuss — interesting productions, memorable elements and emotional performances. And yet — the willingness to be sufficiently open to the audience. At least, it seemed so at first.
Last season Kaganovskaya/Angelopol made their senior debut. They won gold and silver at two stages of the Russian Grand Prix, and then won the Final as well. They withdrew from the national championship, which they could well have won, due to the illness of their partner. But on the whole, they kept up cheerfully — while the others were in a fever, Vasilisa and Valera continued to stubbornly go forward.Everything broke down recently. For half a summer there were rumors about the possible breakup of the couple. Valera went into some serious troubles — he spent all the time on the release and promotion of his own merchandise, gave out provocative thoughts in an interview and his Telegram channel, and also deleted and then added Vasilisa as a friend on social networks. In a word, rushed about. Athletes' coach Anzhelika Krylova confirmed in personal conversations and interviews that the problem of star disease in a couple exists, and almost more time is spent on grinding characters than on training itself.
br>
And now the rumor has become a fact — the couple has officially ceased to exist. All this looks strange, because the athletes had no outwardly insoluble problems. But there were prospects for leadership, at least within Russia. So, the hidden problems could outweigh 5 years of joint work and all the brilliant forecasts?In response to a rhetorical question from the stunned public, Valera said something like: “I won’t say anything, I’m a man.” It sounds so-so — they say, let these talkative women talk about insignificant things, and I will just brutally stand aside. support from her family. Everything from skates to morning coffee at competitions was offered to be paid for by Vasilisa's parents. For the fact that Valera, as it were, tolerates her as her partner.
For a general understanding, we note: the practice of keeping partners by girls' families is common for both figure skating and ballroom dancing. Many parents agree to this out of a desire to arrange a career for their daughter. This is a consequence of the shortage of boys, who are always lacking in paired aesthetic sports. But no one has ever emphasized this as caricatured as Angelopol did.
There is little doubt that the contract with humiliating demands and wording was invented by Valera (or those who helped him) as an excuse to finally slam the door and leave. But any decision, even the most difficult one, could be framed differently. However, this is only in a world where people value relationships and respect each other, and do not seek to make it more painful. That is, this is clearly not our case.Idealizing Vasilisa against the backdrop of the demonization of Valera also does not seem right. It is unlikely that the same Krylova, speaking of stellar illness and a complex character, had in mind only Angelopol. But against the background of the tricks that Valera allowed himself, it seems that Vasilisa should still have the surname with the prefix “Angelo” in this pair.
With whomever Angelopol now pairs up, it will be extremely difficult for him to get rid of the train of the capricious prince. From now on, his path to the hearts of the audience will not even start from the foot of the mountain, but from somewhere in the dungeon. As for Vasilisa, on fuel from such a strong disappointment, she can fly very high. If only there was a suitable partner — unfortunately, no matter how good the figure skater is, she will not win anything in ice dancing alone.
Now look how interesting it turned out. Vasilisa and Valera for many years, by their behavior in public, showed how close they are. Fans edited touching videos from fragments of kisses, hugs and descents on the handles from the pedestal. But the couple, most likely, for a long time already had nothing to talk about in the locker room. Taking each other's hand when the camera is not filming them was somewhere between «unpleasant» and «nothing.» All these kisses, hugs, tenderness and mercy at some point became (or were they always?) Only a carefully rehearsed performance. He kept on the pedagogical grip of the coach and the level of hormones that did not yet force the partner to prance so that it was already impossible to stop him. Our figure skating in the light of the details of the collapse of Kaganovskaya/Angelopol is like a cut apple. It looks ruddy and appetizing, but inside is wormy. And how many more such invented stories that we believe in as an axiom are countless.