Oleg Protopopov

Oleg Protopopov

Belousova and Protopopov in 1968
Personal information
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	July 16, 1932 (1932-07-16) (age 79)
Partner	Ludmila Belousova
Former partner	Margarita Bogoyavlenskaya
Former coach	Igor Moskvin
Medal record Competitor for  Soviet Union Pairs' Figure skating Olympic Games Gold 1968 Grenoble Pairs Gold 1964 Innsbruck Pairs World Championships Bronze 1969 Colorado Springs Pairs Gold 1968 Geneva Pairs Gold 1967 Vienna Pairs Gold 1966 Davos Pairs Gold 1965 Colorado Springs Pairs Silver 1964 Dormund Pairs Silver 1963 Cortina d'Ampezzo Pairs Silver 1962 Prague Pairs European Championships Silver 1969 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs Gold 1968 Västerås Pairs Gold 1967 Ljubljana Pairs Gold 1966 Bratislava Pairs Gold 1965 Moscow Pairs Silver 1964 Grenoble Pairs Silver 1963 Budapest Pairs Silver 1962 Geneva Pairs

Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov (Russian: Оле́г Алексе́евич Протопо́пов) (b. 16 July 1932, in Leningrad,^[1][2] now Saint Petersburg, Russia) is a Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his partner Ludmila Belousova, he is a two-time Olympic champion (1964, 1968) and four-time World champion (1965–1968).^[3]

Career

Protopopov started skating relatively late, at age 15.^[1] He met Belousova in 1954 and they began skating together.^[1] They trained at VSS Lokomotiv and competed internationally for the USSR.

Belousova and Protopopov debuted at the World Championships in 1958, finishing 13th. Two years later they competed at their first Olympics, placing 9th. In 1962, they made the World Championship podium for the first time, earning the silver medal. They were the first pair from the Soviet Union or Russia to win a World medal since the discipline's introduction at the 1908 World Championships (which had only three pairs competing). They also won silver at the European Championships, becoming the second Soviet pair to medal after Nina Zhuk / Stanislav Zhuk (who won silver from 1958 to 1960).

Belousova and Protopopov's first major international gold medal came at the 1964 Winter Olympics. It was the first Olympic pairs gold for the Soviet Union. Belousova and Protopopov began the forty-year Soviet/Russian gold medal streak in pair skating, the longest in Olympic sports history, from 1964 to 2006.

Belousova and Protopopov in 1966

Belousova and Protopopov won their first World and European gold medals in 1965, and in so doing, also became the first Soviet/Russian pair to win those titles.

They became Olympic champions for the second time at the 1968 Winter Olympics. At 32 and 35 years old respectively, they were among the oldest champions in figure skating.

The following season, they won the silver medal at the European Championships and bronze at the World Championships as Irina Rodnina began her reign with her first partner, Alexei Ulanov. Those were the pair's final appearances at major international competitions but they would continue to compete within the Soviet Union until 1972.

Belousova and Protopopov in 2007

In total, Belousova and Protopopov won two Olympic titles and medalled eight times at both the World and European Championships, including four consecutive World and European gold medals. After retiring from competition, they skated in shows and continue to do so into their 70's.

Belousova and Protopopov contributed to the development of pair skating, including introducing three death spirals – the backward inside (BIDS), forward inside (FIDS), and forward outside (FODS), which they dubbed the Cosmic spiral, Life spiral, and Love spiral, respectively. Dick Button stated: "The Protopopovs are great skaters not only because they were the finest of Olympic champions, but also because their creative impact was extraordinary."^[4]

Personal life

Belousova and Protopopov married in 1957.^[1] Although she kept her maiden name after their marriage, the pair are commonly referred to as "The Protopopovs".^[4]

On September 24, 1979, Belousova and Protopopov defected to Switzerland while on tour and applied for political asylum.^[5] Switzerland remains their winter home while their summer home and training center is Lake Placid, New York.^[6][4]

Competitive highlights

(with Belousova)

Event	1954–55	1955–56	1956–57	1957–58	1958–59	1959–60	1960–61	1961–62	1962–63	1963–64
Winter Olympic Games						9th				1st
World Championships				13th		8th		2nd	2nd	2nd
European Championships				10th	7th	4th		2nd	2nd	2nd
Soviet Championships	3rd	4th	2nd	2nd	2nd		2nd	1st	1st	1st

Event	1964–65	1965–66	1966–67	1967–68	1968–69	1969–70	1970–71	1971–72	1972–73
Winter Olympic Games				1st
World Championships	1st	1st	1st	1st	3rd
European Championships	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd
Soviet Championships		1st	1st	1st	2nd	4th	6th	3rd
Prize of Moscow News							3rd	1st	2nd

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova, Encyclopædia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1404138/Oleg-Protopopov-and-Lyudmila-Belousova, retrieved September 1, 2011 
2. ^ "Oleg Protopopov". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/athletes/_/athlete/33369/oleg-protopopov. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
3. ^ Kubatko, Justin. "Oleg Protopopov Biography and Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pr/oleg-protopopov-1.html. Retrieved 2011-02-19. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Sausa, Christie (August 31, 2011). "Lake Placid to honor icons". Lake Placid News. Archived from the original on November 15, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/63DHJEspD. Retrieved September 1, 2011. 
5. ^ "Scooting Away on Skates", Time, October 8, 1979, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916884,00.html, retrieved September 1, 2011 
6. ^ "Lake Placid honors figure skating legends". icenetwork. August 18, 2011. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110818&content_id=23386404&vkey=ice_pressrelease. Retrieved August 18, 2011. 

External links

• Pairs on Ice profile

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Persondata
Name	Protopopov, Oleg
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	16 June 1932
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

This article about a Soviet Winter Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Soviet pair skaters Olympic figure skaters of the Soviet Union Figure skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Soviet defectors 1932 births Living people Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Eastern Bloc defectors Olympic medalists in figure skating Soviet figure skating biography stubs Soviet Winter Olympic medalist stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую New Bussa Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Look at other dictionaries: Oleg Protopopov — avec Ludmila Belousova en 1968. Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français Oleg Protopopov — Eiskunstlaufen Gold …   Deutsch Wikipedia Oleg Alexejewitsch Protopopow — Oleg Protopopow Voller Name Oleg Alexejewitsch Protopopow …   Deutsch Wikipedia Oleg Vasiliev (figure skater) — Olympic medal record Figure skating Gold 1984 Sarajevo Pairs Silver 1988 Calgary Pairs Oleg Vasiliev …   Wikipedia Oleg Vassiliev — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Vassiliev. Oleg Vassiliev …   Wikipédia en Français Oleg Vitalyevich Makarov — For other people named Oleg Makarov, see Oleg Makarov (disambiguation). Oleg Makarov Personal information Full name Oleg Vitalyevich Makarov Country represented  Soviet Union …   Wikipedia Protopopov, Oleg; and Belousova, Lyudmila — ▪ Russian figure skaters also called  the Protopopovs , Oleg Protopopov in full  Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov;  Lyudmila Belousova in full  Lyudmila Yevgeniyevna Belousova  Respectively,   born July 16, 1932, Leningrad [now St. Petersburg],… …   Universalium Ludmila Belousova — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Belooussova. Lioudmila Belooussova …   Wikipédia en Français Liudmila Belousova — Ludmila Belousova Ludmila Belousova Ludmila Belousova avec Oleg Protopopov en 1968 …   Wikipédia en Français Championnats d'Union soviétique de patinage artistique — Les championnats d Union soviétique se sont disputés entre 1920 et 1992. À partir de 1993, chaque ancien état membre de l URSS a eu ses propres championnats nationaux. Sommaire 1 Historique 2 Liste des champions d Union soviétique 3 Records …   Wikipédia en Français 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”