Oleg Protopopov, two time Olympic gold medalist, has died | Golden Skate

Oleg Protopopov, two time Olympic gold medalist, has died

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Oleg Protopopov, two-time Olympic figure skating gold medalist, dies at 91

Oleg Protopopov, who won two Olympic pairs' figure skating golds with wife Lyudmila Belousova, has died.
www.nbcsports.com www.nbcsports.com

Link to the sports.ru article:

Ушел из жизни двукратный олимпийский чемпион Протопопов Олег Алексеевич - Федерация фигурного катания на коньках России

Официальный сайт Федерации фигурного катания на коньках России. Новости, интервью, календарь и результаты соревнований, состав сборной команды.
fsrussia.ru fsrussia.ru

He and Ludmila were the representation of elegance and grace in pairs skating. Sympathies to his family and loved ones.
 
I loved watching the Protopopovs on my old black and white TV during the 1960s. The comment below is copied from a post I made about 3 years ago relating to a link to a performance by Oleg and Lyudmila.

"Thank you TontoK for the link. Watching the whole performance brought a nostalgic tear to my eye. I am a big fan of grace, smoothness, and beauty. I remember watching them on TV in my young adulthood (I seem to be a very old man now).

My wife and I started going to competitions at the end of 2006 when we went to Skate Canada Grand Prix in Victoria, B.C., just a ferry ride away from where we lived. We liked it so much we ended up going to five competitions in 2007, four of which were junior competitions. At the Junior Grand Prix in September in Lake Placid (which we attended in order to watch our favorite skater Mirai) we had one of the great experiences of our lives. We were wandering by the 1932 rink which was open for anyone to practice and noticed an elderly couple practicing together. When we realized it was the Protopopovs we sort of gasped and went in and sat down. There was one girl practicing of the ice with her teacher, the girl's mother, and one other couple there so we were almost alone for about twenty minutes to a half-hour engrossed in watching a lovely pair couple still skating beautifully.

Thanks for bringing back a lovely memory."
 
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RIP Oleg!🖤

He'll always have a special place in my heart. My mum was a mega fan of B/P, years before I had a remote interest in FS.
They started the dominance of Russian pair skating that still continues today, especially the quality of SPB pairs as we know it.
Hope your soul rests in peace and can somehow intertwine with Mila's soul again.

Toller Cranston's coach Ellen Burka described him as a true gentleman (he offered her an umbrella when it started raining in the days they still practised outside), adding that she - and many others - had a crush on him. 🫶
 
Belousova and Protopopov were the founders of modern pairs skating, showing the world what this discipline could be.

I remember one time watching Stars on Ice on TV and the Protopopovs, then in their 60s, did a guest exhibition. At one point the camera zoomed in for a moment on the SOI crew -- Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Kurt Browning and the gang -- standing by the boards transfixed in open-mouthed veneration.
 
labgoat said:
A class act from start to finish. His soul was as beautiful as his skating. I cannot be too sad as he joins his beloved Ludmilla. RIP Oleg Protopopov.
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Sad to hear this, although not surprised. I had the privilege of seeing them compete once, and as they continued on and on, seemingly immortal on the ice, they were a big encouragement to other adult pairs skaters who wanted to continue in spite of obstacles. They were an inspiration.
 
el henry said:
The New York Times ran a lovely obituary on Oleg.

Gifted access to the article:

www.nytimes.com

Oleg Protopopov, Who Skated With His Wife to Olympic Gold, Dies at 91 (Published 2023)

Twice Soviet champions at the Games, he and Ludmila Belousova revolutionized pairs figure skating in the 1960s with a balletic style before defecting to the West.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Thank you for sharing this article! I have always admired them and seeing him skating in Lake Placid and sharing the ice was always an honour. May he RIP.
 
Timeless elegance and class. It is sad but may he RIP with his lovely wife. I remember going to a mall in Edmonton Canada and seeing a statue of a pairs team near the rink where the likes of Kaetlyn Osmond skated along with coaches Gordeeva and for a while Patrick Chan. No one knew could confirm the statue was of the great Protopopovs. The Mall admin said it was just a random sculpture of no famous skaters but I thought for sure it was Oleg and his wife.
 
islandpaddler said:
I can't understand a word of the commentary, but the skating is still lovely to watch.

https://youtu.be/bvH-jH_Gb9c?si=V7ryU1xL7bvmmcC8
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This video, to the best of my ability to understand the translation, implies that their dramatic drop in the Soviet standings was politically motivated, not as we understand "political judging" and such, but political in terms of national politics.

They went from winning two Olympics and every World and European championship in between... to off the podium at the Soviet Championships in two years.

While I don't doubt that political maneuvering was possible, and maybe even contributed to their steady decline in standings, I think there were other reasons, too.
  • They were getting older. She was 32 or so, and he was late 30's. It was very rare in that day to skate that late.
  • The sport was changing, away from their beautiful balletic style, and towards high-speed athleticism.
  • They wouldn't have been the first (or last) champions to try for glory just one more time, when really the torch had already been passed, in this case to Irina Rodnina.
But whatever. They remain my all-time favorite pair. Interestingly, the two pairs that remind me the most of these Soviet legends were both American. Tai and Randy, and Jenni Meno and Todd Sand. I can't think of a pair today that approaches the grace of these pairs.
 
TontoK said:
This video, to the best of my ability to understand the translation, implies that their dramatic drop in the Soviet standings was politically motivated, not as we understand "political judging" and such, but political in terms of national politics.

They went from winning two Olympics and every World and European championship in between... to off the podium at the Soviet Championships in two years.

While I don't doubt that political maneuvering was possible, and maybe even contributed to their steady decline in standings, I think there were other reasons, too.
  • They were getting older. She was 32 or so, and he was late 30's. It was very rare in that day to skate that late.
  • The sport was changing, away from their beautiful balletic style, and towards high-speed athleticism.
  • They wouldn't have been the first (or last) champions to try for glory just one more time, when really the torch had already been passed, in this case to Irina Rodnina.
But whatever. They remain my all-time favorite pair. Interestingly, the two pairs that remind me the most of these Soviet legends were both American. Tai and Randy, and Jenni Meno and Todd Sand. I can't think of a pair today that approaches the grace of these pairs.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. I'd heard that before about Rodnina.

What I really appreciate about the Protopopovs' skating is that you can see the skating - the flow, the glide, the elegance. I don't see that so much with today's endless pairs tricks.

And, as a septuagenarian myself, I really appreciate that they skated until late in life. What role models.
 
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