Oleg Protopopov, Who Skated With His Wife to Olympic Gold, Dies at 91

NY Times | November 8, 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.

Oleg Protopopov and his wife, Ludmila Belousova, performing a so-called death spiral routine in 1968. At the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, that year, they become one of the oldest pairs to win the gold medal: She was 32, he was 35.

Nov. 8, 2023, 12:04 p.m. ET

Oleg Protopopov, who, with his wife, Ludmila Belousova, revolutionized pairs figure skating in the 1960s with a balletic style, and who twice won Olympic gold medals with her for the Soviet Union before defecting to the West, died on Oct.