The presentation is made by Bukanov Maksim

Oleg Protopopov: personal lifeOleg Protopopov: personal lifeOleg was born at July 16, 1932

in Leningrad, USSRProtopopov was raised by his

mother, a professional dancer, and his stepfather, a poet

He started skating relatively late, at age 15, and was coached by Nina Lepninskaya

Protopopov met Lyudmila Belousova in the spring of 1954 in Moscow. They are married in 1957.

Luydmila Belousova: personal lifeLuydmila Belousova: personal lifeLuydmila was born November 22,

1935 in  Ulyanovsk, USSRBelousova started skating relatively

late, at age 16.

She trained in Moscow where she met Oleg Protopopov in the spring of 1954.

Belousova and Protopopov married in 1957. She kept her maiden name after their marriage. This pair are commonly referred to as "The Protopopovs"

CareerCareer They trained at VSS Lokomotiv. Belousova

and Protopopov were coached initially by Igor Moskvin and then by Petr Orlov. In 1961, they decided to work with Stanislav Zhuk to raise their technical difficulty.

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. They also won silver at the European Championships, becoming the second Soviet pair to medal after Nina Zhuk / Stanislav Zhuk.

OlympicsOlympics 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.

They became Olympic champions for the second time at the 1968 Winter Olympics.

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.

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. 

The Protopopovs are great skaters not only because they were the finest of Olympic champions, but also because their creative impact was extraordinary.

In 1995, Oleg and Lyudmila received Swiss citizenship.

ResourcesResourceswww.www.wikipediawikipedia.org and .org and http://www.http://www.rodgazrodgaz.ru.ru