I'm Anna Cappellini, World Champion ice-dancer.
I started skating when I was three
because there was an ice rink near my home.
So my parents took me there one Sunday then another
then I kept asking to go back to the ice rink
and that's how my adventure started.
I'm Ondrej Hotarek,
Italian Champion ice-skater and Olympic athlete.
I can't even remember when I started ice-skating.
I was four or five
when my grandma enrolled me on a course then on another
and after a while that's all you know how to do.
(A GAME FOR TWO. ANNA & ONDREJ)
Our first meeting was unusual
because I remember it whereas Anna doesn't.
It was the summer of 2006
and I'd arrived in Italy just a few months earlier.
I'd noticed her, but I was too shy to speak to her.
My Italian was very basic at first
and Anna came across as a very reserved sort of person.
I didn't see her a lot,
she'd pop down for breakfast quickly then go back upstairs.
So it was hard to approach her.
Ondrej remembers when we first met, but I don't.
I was going through a difficult time in my life
because my mother had just passed away
and I was keeping myself to myself.
So, poor Ondrej... He wasn't to blame.
"Not today, not tomorrow, next week I'm busy..."
Then I was leaving to compete in the World Championships,
we were saying goodbye and it was her who kissed me.
I do everything, but then she's the one who decides in the end.
The love that Ondrej and I feel for each other
is really important.
It helps me when I compete,
knowing that I'm a complete person,
that I have someone who feels that way about me,
knowing that someone loves me.
It's something I carry with me when I'm skating.
Even if spectators don't know,
it's something that I convey to those watching me.
Love can change you.
My relationship with Anna is quite a stable one.
We don't argue much as a couple.
We try to make compromises
and help each other like, for example,
when one of us is a bit down.
For the spectators, when they see a couple dancing together
it may seem as though they share an intimate relationship.
In actual fact,
the intimacy involved is purely professional.
On the subject of jealousy, I'd say we're quite used to it
because right from the start
we knew that Anna dances with her partner
and that I dance with Valentina.
It can happen that you plan a performance
where you're interpreting Romeo and Juliet just like actors do.
It's a compliment for us
if we're able between us to create a moment
that conveys emotion to the spectators.
May it be a romantic one or an alluring one...
It's a compliment about our skill
if spectators perceive that.
The 2014 World Championships
was the greatest and most important victory for me.
Not just because we won the World Championships
but also because it followed a very tough and difficult season
which was the Olympic season
and all athletes who want to take part in the Olympics
and do so in a certain way, in order to obtain results,
know how much stress and hard work it entails
and how every day of that season is much harder
than every day of any other season.
I really felt like I'd earned that victory.
We felt we had won before the scores were revealed.
Luca and I skated like we'd never done before.
That victory was, first of all, a personal one for us
and, then, secondly,
a gold medal at the World Championships.
The greatest victory was the World Championships in Canada
where we managed to beat the favourites, the Canadians,
despite the fact that our luggage hadn't arrived,
so at the last minute we managed to compete
and in the end we won.
The most emotional moment was singing the Italian anthem
on the podium when we won
because as an ice-skater I feel Italian.
I'm not Italian by birth
but the progress I've made in my sporting career
has taken place in Italy
so what better way to celebrate the victory than to sing
the Italian anthem?
It was the best thing.
Physical pain is, of course, part of an athlete's life.
Whether it's getting up at five
to go to the gym to do weight-training,
or going onto the rink
to repeat the same piece again and again
until your legs give way
or having minor accidents.
She's a bad luck magnet and has been all her life.
Sometimes she forgets things, sometimes she's unlucky.
It's a bit of a miracle that I'm able to go onto the rink
and do things properly
but I, obviously, channel all my energy
into being precise in one area
then in my daily life I'm a lot more relaxed.
I usually do the cooking.
I hate washing up so Anna gets to do that.
I like finding the plates washed up
and I think that Anna likes finding dinner ready.
Yes, Ondrej has become a true Italian in the kitchen.
He's passionate about it and so...
choosing our roles was a natural choice.
I think the best moment is when I've got everything ready
and she comes home after training
and says, "I don't feel like doing anything"
and then she finds her dinner ready.
I like surprising her like that.
That's true.
Then I say we can leave the washing up until tomorrow.
Luckily, we've never had to work together because
the few experiences we've had weren't really plain sailing.
Yes, we tried... They told us to try this move
and I caught her at the wrong moment.
I whacked my head so hard
I was actually crying as I was skating.
- That didn't work. - No.
It's best we do other things together rather than skating.
I think the right balance is that we each do our own thing.
We're in the same profession so we understand each other
but once we get home, we're able to talk to each other
as different people and confide in each other.
I think that works better for us.
Children...
What have we decided?
We agree that we want some, but we haven't agreed how many.
I'd be OK with three.
Ondrej said we should first have two then see how we go.
OK, three. Let's start with one, then we'll have...
Twins? OK, I'll see what I can do.
(A GAME FOR TWO. ANNA & ONDREJ)