Ludmila Belousova

It is impossible to tell about the famous figure skater Lyudmila Belousova apart from the other half - her husband and partner on the ice Oleg Protopopov. The legends of Soviet figure skating became the first athletes who brought the country Olympic gold in pair skating. Four years after the triumphant 1964 Olympics, the "artists on the ice" - as the skaters were called for their amazing artistry and synchronicity - won the second gold.

They were praised, loved and idolized. Therefore, for millions of Soviet fans of the couple, the escape of the favorites from the country and the request for political asylum in one of the capitalist countries came as a shock, dividing the citizens into two camps. The only thing that united the split society was the assessment of the achievements of Belousova and Protopopov: their performances and performances were called the pinnacle of skill.

The future figure skating legend was born in 1935 in Ulyanovsk. There is very little information about the family of Lyudmila Belousova. The Belousovs moved to the capital when their daughter was a child.

The fragile girl's love for sports was born in childhood. At first, Lyuda became interested in gymnastics, then tennis, which was briefly replaced by speed skating.

In Moscow, a 16-year-old girl watched the Austrian comedy-musical film Spring on Ice and suddenly realized that figure skating is her dream, and the film is a clue of fate.

In the early 1950s, the first artificial skating rink in the country of the Soviets appeared in the capital. 16-year-old Lyudmila Belousova enrolled in the children's group, and after 3 years she moved to the senior one, training on a volunteer basis newcomers in the park. Dzerzhinsky.

At the same time, Belousova performed for the first time on ice in pair skating: Kirill Gulyaev became the figure skater's partner. Soon he left the sport, but this circumstance did not stop Lyudmila: the girl continued to skate in singles.

For the current masters of ice dancing, it is considered the norm for the first time to go to the rink at the age of 5-6 years. Russian star Yulia Lipnitskaya won Olympic gold at the age of 15, and Lyudmila Belousova and her permanent partner Oleg Protopopov at this age only took their first steps as figure skaters.

The couple met in 1954 at a seminar in the capital. Protopopov is an employee of the Baltic Fleet, a resident of Leningrad who survived the blockade. Belousova is a student at a Moscow university, where she studied to be a railway engineer. After talking, the young people found out that they share a common hobby - figure skating. We went to the rink and realized that they were a couple.

Lyudmila Belousova transferred to a specialized university in the city on the Neva and in December 1954, under the guidance of coach Igor Moskvin, the athletes put the first number. The couple had to develop their skills in a short time: they learned in a year what colleagues learned in 3-4.

The technique was lame: at the first international tournaments in 1958 Belousova and Protopopov repeatedly fell, made annoying mistakes. But the athletes studied rapidly and after 2 years went to the Olympics: they performed on the ice of the Californian Squaw Valley and brought home 9th place.

The age of the skaters was inexorably approaching 30. Colleagues and mentors believed that Lyudmila Belousova and her partner had reached the ceiling of possibilities and would no longer surprise the fans. But the couple had other plans.

In 1962, the skaters won their first triumph: they were in the lead in the union championship and became silver medalists of two foreign championships - Europe and the world.

Two years later, Soviet athletes unexpectedly bypassed the strongest opponents from Germany, Marika Kilius and Hans Boimler, in the compulsory program. In the same triumphant 1964, Lyudmila Belousova and her partner became Olympic champions in the Austrian Innsbruck.

The programs of Belousova and Protopopov in the second half of the 1960s were called standard by sports observers and connoisseurs of figure skating. In the numbers, many of which the couple staged on their own, the skaters achieved incredible synchronization and amazing fluidity of movement. Their performances were mesmerizing, seemed like magic.

In 1968, at the third Olympics in Grenoble, Lyudmila Belousova with her constant partner led in two programs and brought the second gold from France. This was followed by victory at the World Championship, where the judges did not hesitate to give the Soviet athletes the highest scores.

The decline of his sports career began in 1969: young Soviet skaters pushed the masters off the podium. At the World Championships, Lyudmila Belousova and her partner won bronze, and in 1970 twice Olympic champions did not enter the national team, taking 4th place in two types of programs.

In the early 1970s, the couple left amateur sports, but did not leave the rink: the couple worked in ice ballet, put on programs and shows, and prepared a shift.

In the fall of 1979, the tutors, together with the ballet ward, went on tour to Switzerland. After the speech, unexpectedly for everyone, the spouses asked for political asylum and became defectors, as they were called in their homeland. They explained the act by the impossibility of developing in the Union. Both could not imagine life without sports, and at home they blocked the way to return to the big ice.

In the USSR, they were struck out from everywhere: they were branded in the newspapers, calling them traitors, their titles were taken away and names were deleted from all reference books. Colleagues who met with Belousova and Protopopov at tournaments in Europe were forbidden to talk to "traitors to the motherland."

In Switzerland, 43-year-old Belousova and 47-year-old Protopopov continued to go to the rink, participated in ice shows, and taught young people. The defectors settled in Grindelwald, but they were given citizenship only 15 years later, in the mid-1990s.

Lyudmila Belousova and her husband came to Russia 20 years later, in the winter of 2003. But the couple did not want to return to their homeland. In 2014, the legends of Soviet figure skating arrived in Sochi and became guests of honor of the Olympics.

Friends of the couple assured that the couple complemented each other both in life and on the ice. They married in 1957 and lived as one for 60 years. Temperamental and "explosive" Protopopov and quiet Mila, masterly "extinguishing" the angry outbursts of her husband.

Lyudmila Belousova admitted to reporters that she had never exchanged gifts with her husband, because each of them is a gift for the other half.

The athletes never had children: it was a mutual decision. A long sports biography - skaters went on the ice until 2015 - demanded the abandonment of everything that interfered with the profession.

The last time Lyudmila Evgenievna came out with her husband on the ice at 79 years old: the couple performed in America at the "Evening with Champions".

Lyudmila Belousova was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. For a year and a half, the woman struggled with the disease, but in September 2017, the disease won: the figure skating legend died at 82 in Grindelwald.

Belousova's body was cremated. Oleg Alekseevich, not wanting to part with his half, keeps an urn with her ashes in the house.

Winter Olympic Games: gold (1964, 1968) World Championships: gold (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968) silver (1962, 1963, 1964), bronze (1969) European Championships: gold (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968), silver (1962, 1963, 1964, 1969); USSR Championships: gold (1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968) silver (1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1969) bronze (1953, 1954, 1955)

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Let's check, How Rich is Ludmila Belousova in 2020 ?

Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2021

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Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2020

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Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2019

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Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2018

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Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2017

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Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2016

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Ludmila Belousova Net Worth 2015

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It is an overall forecast for the net worth of Ludmila Belousova. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does Ludmila Belousova makes a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from Ludmila Belousova's projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.