World Champions: Sacha Lichine, Provence, France

The story of Alexis Lichine, father of Sacha Lichine, is one of those stories that the 20th century often wrote: when the October Revolution broke out, Sacha Lichine's grandfather thought it best to leave St. Petersburg. The wealthy banker travels with his wife and four-year-old son Alexis via Siberia to Tokyo, from there to San Francisco and finally to New York. The family stays there for a few years before moving on to Paris. This dichotomy of refuge in the USA and France was to shape Alexis Lichine's life and later that of his son Sacha.