Word: protopopov
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...since the great Soviet pair of the '60s, Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov, has anyone in skating so melded music, blades and bodies into a unified whole. Torvill and Dean performed an extended pas de deux in which difficult athletic feats are made to appear effortless, though the beat is so slow that the skaters can never build momentum. Like the music, the movements are eerily erotic and mesmerizing, and even for favorites, the program was a gamble. In winning, Torvill and Dean elevated an entire sport. Afterward, Dean brushed aside the mutters about single-tempo selection: "Maybe...
...World Championships was the triumph of the Soviet duo. Within seconds after Vorobieva and Lisovski took the ice, their claim was clear to the legacy of Irina Rodnina and her two successive partners, Alexei Ulanov and Alexander Zaitsev, as well as that of Ljudmila and Oleg Protopopov. The liquid balletic expressiveness, the finesse and harmony that is the hallmark of Russian pairs skating has been handed down intact to the latest heirs. Vorobieva and Lisovski took a comfortable lead after the short program, two minutes of compulsory jumps and lifts. Even a near collision on their dual camel spins (twirling...
Maybe it's the foods they prefer-lamb, lightly cooked vegetables, whole wheat bread, raw sugar. Or perhaps, the air of artistic freedom they have been breathing. Whatever the causes, Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov, the Soviet figure skaters who defected last fall, are performing like teenagers, although he is 47 and she, 44. The Protopopovs left home because they were no longer able to do the routines that gained them two Olympic gold medals and transformed figure skating from muscular jumps into frozen ballet. Now they can, on a U.S. tour with the Ice Capades, which features the pair...
...Soviet canoeing star was quickly granted political asylum in West Germany, and thus became the first of the well-known Soviet sport and dance personalities who have defected to the West in the past two months, a group that includes Bolshoi Ballet Star Alexander Godunov and Skaters Oleg Protopopov and Ludmila Belousova...
...defection appeared to stem from professional rather than political motives, and mainly from a refusal to become sports apparatchiks. Though the aging couple are in superb physical condition, the Sports Committee of the Council of Ministers reportedly insisted it was time for them to retire from performing, and pressured Protopopov to become a coach of younger skaters. "Oleg is very independent," recalled a top international skating figure. "When he refused, that put him in hot water with the committee...