| Oleg Protopopov | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Protopopov in 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1932-07-16)16 July 1932 Leningrad,Russian SFSR,USSR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 31 October 2023(2023-10-31) (aged 91) Interlaken, Bern, Switzerland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Partner | Ludmila Belousova | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1969 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov (Russian:Оле́г Алексе́евич Протопо́пов; 16 July 1932 – 31 October 2023) was a Russianpair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his wifeLudmila Belousova he was a two-timeOlympic champion (1964, 1968) and four-timeWorld champion (1965–1968).[1] In 1979, the pair defected to Switzerland and became Swiss citizens in 1995. They continued to skate at ice shows and exhibitions until their seventies.
Protopopov started skating relatively late, at the age of 15, and was coached by Nina Lepninskaya.[2][3] In 1951, he was drafted into theBaltic Fleet but used each leave to skate.[3] His first partner was Margarita Bogoyavlenskaya, with whom he won the silver medal at theSoviet Championships in 1953.
Protopopov metLudmila Belousova in the spring of 1954 in Moscow.[3] She moved to Leningrad in 1955 and began training with Protopopov in 1956 following his discharge.[3] The pair trained at theVSS Lokomotiv sports club and competed internationally for theUSSR. They were coached initially byIgor Moskvin and then byPyotr Orlov, but parted ways with Orlov after a number of disagreements.[3] The pair then trained without a coach at a rink inVoskresensk, Moscow Oblast.[4] In 1961, they decided to work withStanislav Zhuk to raise their technical difficulty.[4]
In 1958, Belousova and Protopopov debuted at theEuropean Championships, coming in 10th place, and at theWorld Championships, finishing in 13th place.[5] They competed at their firstOlympics two years later, placing ninth. In 1962, they made theWorld 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 subsequent to the introduction of the pair skating discipline at the1908 World Championships (in which only three pairs competed).[5] Later in 1962, they won silver at theEuropean Championships, becoming the second Soviet pair to win medals afterNina Zhuk /Stanislav Zhuk (who won silver in 1958, 1959, and 1960).
The pair's first major international gold medal came at the1964 Winter Olympics. It was the first Olympic pairs gold for the Soviet Union.[6] 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. They won their firstWorld andEuropean gold medals in 1965, becoming the first Soviet/Russian pair to win those titles.
Belousova and Protopopov became Olympic champions for the second time at the1968 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 theEuropean Championships and bronze at theWorld Championships asIrina Rodnina began her reign with her first partner,Alexei Ulanov.[7] Those were the pair's final appearances at major international competitions but they continued to compete within the Soviet Union until 1972.
In total, Belousova and Protopopov won two Olympic titles and won medals eight times at both the World and European Championships, including four consecutive World and European gold medals. After retiring from competition, they continued to skate together in shows for many years.[7] In September 2015, they renewed their long-standing tradition of skating in a charitable exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts, at an event called "Evening with Champions". They were inducted into theWorld Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1978.[7]
Belousova and Protopopov contributed to the development of pair skating, including the creation of threedeath spirals: the backward inside (BiDs), the forward inside (FiDs), and the forward outside (FoDs), which they respectively dubbed the "Cosmic spiral", "Life spiral", and "Love spiral".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."[8] Figure skating writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum stated that they "raised by several degrees the level of translating classical dance to the ice".[9] Figure skating historian James R. Hines states that the Protopopovs "changed dramatically the direction of pair skating, making it more balletic".[5] According to Kestnbaum, Protopopov identified romantic heterosexual love as the meaning he and Belousova conveyed in their pair skating. As Kestnbaum states, "Their performances set a benchmark for romantic heterosexuality on the ice and for classical line and expressiveness that influenced not only pair skating but alsosingles and[ice] dance".[9]
Born on 16 July 1932,[2][10] Protopopov was raised by his mother, a professionalballet dancer, and his stepfather, the poet Dmitry Tsenzor. He graduated fromHerzen University, faculty of physical education.[4]
Protopopov married Ludmila Belousova in December 1957.[2] Although Belousova kept her maiden name after their marriage, the pair were commonly referred to as "The Protopopovs".[8][5] Eager to keep skating, the couple decided not to have children.[11]
On 24 September 1979, Protopopov and Belousova defected to Switzerland while on tour and applied forpolitical asylum.[12][13] They settled inGrindelwald and eventually received Swiss citizenship in 1995.[1][14] Though Switzerland remained their winter home, their summer home and training center wasLake Placid, New York.[15][8] On 25 February 2003, they visited Russia for the first time after a 23-year exile, at the invitation ofVyacheslav Fetisov.[11] They attended the2014 Winter Olympics inSochi, Russia, and performed their last exhibition dance in 2016, when Protopopov was 84.[16]
Belousova died on 29 September 2017, at the age of 81.[17] Oleg Protopopov died on 31 October 2023, at the age of 91.[18] They were buried inSaint Petersburg on 11 September 2024.[19]
(with Bogoyavlenskaya)
| Event | 1953 |
|---|---|
| Soviet Championships | 2nd |
(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 |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (withLudmila Belousova) 1968 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
