[ARETE] Sport and Society - The Protopopovs 11-11-23

[richard crepeau]

SPORT AND SOCIETY FOR ARETE

November 11, 2023



Just about a week ago, the Russian Skating Federation announced the death of Oleg Protopopov. He and his wife, Ludmila Belusova, who died in 2017, were the first of the many great Russian pairs figure skaters who came out of the Soviet Union to initiate the international Soviet dominance in pairs figure skating. The Protopopovs elevated pairs skating to new levels of artistry, consistently performing as near to perfection as humanly possible.

They first appeared internationally at the 1960 Olympic games where they finished ninth in the competition. In 1964 at Innsbruck, they became the first Soviet pairs skaters to win Olympic Gold. They repeated as gold medalist in 1968 in Grenoble. This was the beginning of a forty-year Olympic Gold Medal streak for Soviet/Russian pairs.

>From 1965 through 1968, the Protopopovs won the World Championships and that started a fourteen-year streak for the Soviets. Those same years, they were European Champions, and that started a fifteen-year streak for the USSR.

The numbers tell the story of the Soviet/Russian dominance, but perhaps more important is the standard of perfection set by the Protopopovs and their wonderful artistry that drove their winning performances. They did their own choreography that emphasized their movements on the ice as one. It was an artistic interpretation of the music with every move tied to the music, producing a grace and beauty that is breathtaking.

I have reminded myself of this style and perfection by watching multiple YouTube videos of their performances going back to the Sixties and up into the Eighties. I cannot produce words that can adequately describe their skating grace and beauty. I can only urge you to go to YouTube and let these performances wash over you.

The Protopopovs created the side-by-side jumps that are now common fare, but their signature skating element was the Death Spiral. In this element, Ludmilla’s right hand is firmly grasped by Oleg in his right hand while she rotates counterclockwise in a large circle and lowers her body to the ice. Two circular rotations on the ice with her hair at times touching the ice, is then followed by an ascent as she is pulled back up to an upright position. Although this move had been done in the 1920s the Protopopovs resurrected it, and then created three variations on it. The Death Spiral and its variations have become a pairs performance standard.

In 1971, the great Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya wrote of the Protopopovs: “Their sports performances rise to the level of real art … like fragments of classical ballet … This is not just a set of mandatory movements for competitions. This is a beautiful ballet adagio on skates”

After their 1968 triumph at the Olympics, Russian skating authorities pushed them to retire to serve as trainers of the younger generation of skaters. By that time, pairs figure skating was becoming much more of an athletic than an artistic endeavor. The emphasis on speed and strength replaced the focus on grace and beauty. The Protopopovs were not inclined to change their style. The forced retirement from competition ultimately led to their defection from the Soviet Union in 1979, a defection driven by their desire to skate professionally and, as Oleg once said, not driven by politics.

They continued to skate and perform in ice shows around the world, and their popularity remained high. In the mid-1980s, when they were in their fifties, the Protopopovs once again returned to competition in the World Professional Championships achieving near perfect scores and more gold medals.

As to figure skating in general, and pairs in particular, it has become more athletic, and, perhaps, a bit less artistic. In pairs, the throws and more spectacular lifts are well beyond anything seen in the Sixties or, for that matter, even later.

Clearly, the pairs skating of Irina Rodnina and her two partners during the decade following the Protopopovs was considerably faster and required more strength and agility. Indeed, the Protopopovs added more lifts and moves to their performance, but never at the expense of grace and beauty. In a sense, this was progress, building on the standards set by the Protopopovs without whom Soviet and Russian skating would not have taken a prominent place in Russian and World sport when it did.

Grace and beauty in sport is at the heart of their legacy.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport be a bad loser.



Copyright 2023 by Richard C. Crepeau







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