Lausanne / Switzerland

The two-time Olympic Champion in Pair skating, Liudmila Belousova passed away on September 26, 2017 at the age of 81.

Born November 22, 1935 in the Soviet Union, Ms. Belousova started skating at the age of 16 in Moscow where she met and started skating with Oleg Protopopov. They became one of the dominant Pair Skating teams of their time. Together they won four European titles, became the first Pair Skaters from the Soviet Union to be crowned World Champions in 1965, to then accumulate a total of four World titles. They also competed at the Olympic Winter Games in 1962 where they finished eighth, to then take the title at the 1964 Innsbruck and 1968 Grenoble Games.

In December 1957 Belousova and Protopopov got married and moved to Switzerland in 1979. They enjoyed a long skating career and greatly contributed to Pair Skating by introducing several death spirals to the discipline. Ms. Belousova is survived by her husband, Oleg Protopopov.

The ISU pays tribute to Liudmila Belousova and will remember her with affection.