Barbara Fusar Poli

Date of birth: 6 February 1972

Place of birth: Sesto San Giovanni (MI)

Home town: Sesto San Giovanni (MI)

Height: 1.68

Parents: Nives and Paolo

Married to: Diego Cattani

Hobbies: Fashion, music

Studies: Diploma liceo artistico

Profession: Full-time athlete

Started skating: at 10

Former partners: Matteo Bonfà, Alberto Reani

Club: Agorà Skating Team Milano

Favourite icedancers: Grishuk - Platov

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Maurizio Margaglio

Date of birth: 16 November 1974

Place of birth: Milano

Home town: Courmayeur (AO)

Height: 1.80

Parents: Rosy and Vittorio

Brother: Massimiliano

Girlfriend: Jyrina Lorenz

Hobbies: Internet

Studies: Diploma liceo scientifico

Profession: Full-time athlete

Started skating: at 10

Former partner: Claudia Frigoli

Club: Agorà Skating Team Milano

Favourite icedancers: Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay

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Coach: Roberto Pelizzola, Paola Mezzadri, Tatiana Tarassova

Choreographer: Ludmila Vlasova

Practice (low season): Courmayeur - Mont Blanc

Practice (high season): Milano, Agorà icerink

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They're not engaged, they've never been and never will be. Barbara Fusar Poli - Maurizio Margaglio are partners only on the ice. And taken off the skates, they have two separate lives. Even if, actually, there's not much time to be separate for two people who have been spending together about ten hours per day in the last seven years.

Barbara is married to Diego Cattani since July. He's an olympic short track champion (Lillehammer 1994),and now is one of the managers of Agorà, the icerink where she and Maurizio practise. Maurizio's girlfriend is Jyrina Lorenz, a former skater and now trainer. Also their beginnig was different. She started skating in 1982, invited to an exhibition by a customer of her mother's perfumer's shop. «I was tall and slim, not suitable to ladies or pairs, so I was immediately advised to choose ice dance. From 1986 I was paired with Matteo Bonfà, one of my best friends». In 1985 Maurizio, who was a quite good football player too, decided to attend a skating course promoted by his school. «I began with a pair of hired skates, I was a disaster. I couldn't keep my balance. Then, little by little, I improved. Till skating with Claudia Frigoli».

Meanwhile Barbara, student at the art school of Villa Reale in Monza, had a new partner: Alberto Reani. At 1994 Italian Championships Fusar Poli - Reani and Frigoli - Margaglio placed behind Calegari - Camerlengo. But the same year, a Monday of May, the european and world couple was born thanks to an idea of the choreographer Giovanna Franzosi. He's quite and thoughtful, she's impulsive and impetuous. Together they're wonderful.

(from an article translated from Gazzetta dello Sport, 2001)