The famous Soviet figure skater paired with Oleg Protopopov, together with him she did not return from the tour of the Leningrad Ballet on Ice in Switzerland in 1979. Since then, the biography of Lyudmila Belousova has been associated with this country, whose citizenship they received only sixteen years later.

In September last year, it became known that the figure skater died at the age of eighty-two. Details about the cause of death of Lyudmila Belousova were not reported, and it was quite problematic to find out about them - it was difficult to contact the figure skater's husband Oleg Protopopov, because mobile phone he didn't have, but e-mail he did not answer.

Later it became known that two years before her death, Lyudmila Evgenievna was diagnosed with cancer, for which she was treated in Switzerland, most likely, she died from this disease.

The whole biography of Lyudmila Belousova was connected with figure skating, but she began to skate, however, by modern standards, late - at the age of sixteen. At first she was engaged in a children's group, when she moved to the older one, she already skated with Kirill Gulyaev, and after he left the sport, she performed as a single skater.

Soon the figure skater met Oleg Protopopov, who became a part of not only sports, but also the personal life of Lyudmila Belousova. When they took their first steps in skating together, Lyudmila was a student at the Institute of Railway Engineers, and Protopopov served in the Baltic Fleet. To be with Oleg, Lyudmila transferred to the Leningrad Institute, and they began to train and perform together.

Oleg Protopopov became the husband of Lyudmila Belousova in 1957, and since then they have never parted.

A year after the wedding, the couple entered the international level, and four years later they became silver champions at the World Championships.

It should be noted that Belousova and Protopopov staged most of their programs on their own, which did not prevent them from taking high places in competitions of various levels - this unique pair has six gold medals in the USSR championships, four in European and world championships, gold Olympic awards for performances in Innsbruck and Grenoble.

The triumph of the couple lasted until the early seventies, and when younger athletes began to push them, they decided to leave the big sport and began performing in the Leningrad Ballet.

As part of a ballet group in 1979, they came on tour to Switzerland and asked for political asylum there. Eminent skaters accumulated a lot of grievances - almost the entire amount was taken from them from the fees for performances, leaving only an insignificant part to the titled Belousova and Protopopov, by any means they made it clear that no one needs them in the USSR.

Lyudmila Evgenievna and Oleg Alekseevich increasingly had thoughts about their uselessness at home, and they considered that their talent would be appreciated abroad. The punishment for leaving the USSR for Belousova was the deprivation of her title of "Honored Master of Sports", in addition, the names of Belousova and Protopopov were deleted from the annals of figure skating.

They received Swiss citizenship, continued to perform, participate in ice shows, and came to their homeland only almost twenty years after their departure.

Since 2003, Belousova and Protopopov periodically visited Russia, came to the Olympic Games in Sochi.

They lived all their lives together - due to the fact that the skater was afraid of losing her sports uniform, the children of Lyudmila Belousova were not born. Recent times Belousova and Protopopov lived in Switzerland, where Lyudmila Evgenievna was undergoing treatment, and when she died, the husband of Lyudmila Belousova decided to keep the urn with her ashes at home. Before the diamond wedding, the skater did not live only a few months.

Lyudmila Belousova, Oleg Protopopov: We were hidden in Swiss hotels

The locker room was visited by the 1964 and 1968 Olympic champions in pair skating Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov. We met in Lausanne at the European Figure Skating Championships, which ended last weekend. famous athletes came here from the village of Grindelwald, where they have been living for more than twenty years. They rent an apartment in a small chalet with felt cherries in the garden. Here they train. But not only for themselves: Belousova and Protopopov, despite their advanced age, still participate in ice shows.

They emigrated to Switzerland in 1979, not wanting to put up with the lack of demand for their talent in their homeland. Their names have been omitted from reference literature. And with them, in fact, pair skating began. They raised the bar high, which has not been surpassed even today. No, not by the elements by the beauty of skating, the purity of the lines, the love dialogue between a man and a woman on the ice.

Lyudmila, a Muscovite, an instructor of young figure skaters in the Dzerzhinsky Park in Maryina Roshcha, and Oleg, a Baltic Fleet sailor from Leningrad, met in 1954 at a third-class figure skating seminar in Moscow. And soon they became a couple. And they got married three years later.

FOX COLLAR

Ludmila Belousova: I had a boy in Moscow. But when I moved to Leningrad and we started skating, I got to know Oleg more and, of course, began to compare. And I realized that my life is unthinkable without figure skating, so we became closer and closer to each other. Oleg was free. He was still in the Navy, and we had the opportunity to train only when he was released from the ship. In 1956 he was demobilized.

Oleg looked after me touchingly. Even once the collar was torn off. We were walking, I was wearing a coat with a fox collar. Let's go to the children's hill for a ride, I went down, and Oleg got scared, grabbed me by the collar. And the fox remained in his hands.

When we got married, Oleg, who had recently returned from the service, had nothing but a pea jacket and a peakless cap. Fortunately, his mother, when he left for the Navy, kept his room 9.8 square meters in a communal apartment. We settled there.

Oleg Protopopov: Our neighbors were a policeman with his wife Dora and two children: Sasha and Vera. Here the guys are walking in the yard, and their mother shouts to them: “Sashka, Verka, go, fart (change clothes. Note. auth.), to whom I say, fart. The four of them brushed their teeth with one brush. So we lived for quite a long time, and only after we won the Olympic Games in 1964, we were given a one-room apartment.

L.B.: In the early years of our life together When we were overcome by chronic lack of money, I, a student at the Institute of Railway Transport, often dragged my husband to my student canteen. We took the menu and, closing the names of the dishes, chose the cheapest ones. But what was good: there were always bread and mustard on the table, with which one could get enough.

"WORD RADIO"

We were reproached for being too theatrical, continues Belousova and Protopopov. In 1972, the decision was made not to send us to the Olympic Games in Sapporo. Sixteen years later, Ulanov admitted in Interlocutor that two years before that Olympics, he and Rodnina had planned Olympic gold medals. And so in 1970 at the Union Championship, when we beat them in the compulsory program, and Rodnina and Ulanov were in eighth place, everyone was alarmed. And the next day, our opponents became the first, and we were the fourth. But before that we had a gap of 13 points! We just had to ride on the belly. And even if we were given average scores, we still had to win. They simply gave the green light to athletic style, creating a monopoly in pair skating. Although the struggle of two styles, directions would give, we are convinced, something more, outstanding.

In 1973 we moved to the Leningrad Ballet on Ice. In the Central Committee we were told that we were artists, but in ballet we were athletes. For seven months we went back and forth, to the secretary for culture, Kruglova, and then to Furtseva, and she called Kruglova to accept us ...

We worked in the ballet incognito for six years. Our names were not on the posters or in the programs, except perhaps in the inserts for them. But they were literally enough for two cities. And we often toured: in Karaganda, Zaporozhye, Chelyabinsk. But our fans always knew that we would perform, and by word of mouth, as we called it, the radio passed it on to each other.

We said: "Let's do classical ballet on ice." “What,” they asked, “is Protopopov going to make us work ten times harder?” Reasonably. Protopopov would squeeze out what he needs! In general, it was useless. But still, we tried to teach the classics to half the troupe, we assured: “Guys, who wants to study, we will help. But not to drink, not to smoke. If we see someone with a cigarette, we'll kick them out." In short, there were twenty people, they came and studied. And, apparently, we began to exert some influence on them, because one day the rehearsals were canceled. And why? Because, they say, the artists get tired in the morning, and they don’t ride well in the evening. But we were older. But what about ballet training: class four hours? This is our profession. Not! And they canceled.

In one of the documents sent to the department of culture of the regional party committee, it was said that we are standing across the road of the Leningrad ballet, harming it. The fact is that our repertoire did not fit into the repertoire of the ballet. We had our own costumes, productions, choreography. We were completely independent, and this, of course, infringed on those who wanted to control us. We performed "The Dying Swan" by Saint-Saens, "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven, and these numbers were declared sports. Those performances were way ahead of their time. Baiul danced The Dying Swan, and we did it twenty years before her. Mishkutenok with Dmitriev performed "Dreams of Love". Many went through our repertoire, including, God rest his soul, Grinkov, he and Gordeeva once also took Dreams ....

LIGHT OR SUN?

A year before the escape of Belousova and Protopopov, their apartment in Leningrad was robbed, all the medals were stolen. They received a phone call in Moscow, having found them from the journalist Arkady Galinsky. The head of the Leningrad Criminal Investigation Department called. Approximately such a dialogue turned out: “I am in your apartment. What did you have there? “What, there’s nothing? ask the skaters. Are you probably calling the red phone? Tell me, is there a record on the shelf to the right?” "Yes, it's worth it." “That’s good, there is music, the skates are with us, which means everything will be fine ...”

They left the country without any valuables. In an interview, Chaikovskaya compared them to a light bulb on a bare wire, which they mistook for the sun. It's about their apartment. When they opened it, apart from a light bulb dangling on a cord, they found nothing: they gave all the furnishings to Lyudmila's relatives, and gave away the rest.

Have you prepared escape routes?

L.B.: Absolutely not. We were invited by a Swiss impresario, at first we performed in Germany, and the last tour was in Switzerland. And already here we decided: "That's enough!" We were immediately granted political asylum, more precisely two weeks after we were released. In the early days, we were hidden from the KGB officers in hotels. We don't even know which hotels we stayed in. We were transported from city to city at the expense of the state. Then, when we were "discovered", they signed a residence permit.

Why did you choose Grindelwald?

O.P.: We had to train, but there was nowhere to ride. Our friends started calling all the skating rinks, asking where in Switzerland there is ice in September. It turned out that only in Grindelwald there is from June to Easter, and in other places the ice is poured only in October. The place where a piece of ice was found became our home. We settled in a hotel room, which was kept by our acquaintances skaters. And very quickly they left under a contract for the American show Ice Coppace.

LOYALTY TO THE SEARCH

How did you react to the fact that your names were immediately crossed out from all kinds of reference books, they are still missing there?

O.P.: Normally, we have become enemies of the people. Seven years ago, when the centenary of national figure skating was celebrated in St. Petersburg, we were supposedly invited there by sending a booklet saying that the history of pair skating began with Zhuk, and Rodnina was mentioned right after him. True, the only thing that was there was our photograph, old, old, scratched all over, they could not even retouch it. And just our last names, typed in small print. But we are not offended. There was nothing to betray the motherland.

The journalist Bashkatov from Kyiv, who claimed to be the chronicler of our sport, wrote the book "Loyalty to the search." And he described us in such a way that one could only guess that it was us: “After Stanislav and Nina Zhuk ended their careers, another couple took their place, which occupied high places in Olympic Games oh and world championships, but in general they chose a convenient moment and thievishly ran away from Soviet Union, not wanting to work as coaches. And disappeared into the world of private property. And enough about them!” And such a phrase was: “Everyone is tired of these elegiac pas. They became crowded next to the low-flying flight. That is, it was an allusion to Massenet's Meditations program. In addition, the author practiced graphomania or something, constantly using phrases like: plastic figure skating, plastic inspiration, and so on. In a book of two hundred pages, he used the word “plastic” a hundred and four times, so I composed a four-verse in response, which I would put in an epigraph:

When you read Loyalty to the Search,

An intrusive question:

Isn't this essay

Solid plastic diarrhea?

Could you leave earlier?

O.P.: In 1973, Dick Button invited us to the Professional World Cup. For the victory, we were given four million Japanese yen, which was equal to fifteen thousand American dollars. But for five thousand we bought elastic for the ballet, because the dancers in the corps de ballet skated with holes in their pants between their legs. We brought fifty meters of black elastic and fifty pink. I think that they then skated in these pants for a long time, reshaping them. But in order to give them this fabric, we had to overcome a lot of obstacles, go to the regional committee and ask them to accept and give this souvenir to the ballet. We were told: "We do not accept gifts from individuals, we are a state organization." BUT smart people They told us: “Why did you need this? They would have taken fifteen thousand and dumped them right away.” But then we had no thoughts of leaving.

Tours were offered to us many times. Maurice Chulp, the owner of the Holiday Ice revue, was offering $5,000 a week, the kind of figure no other skater ever made. He came to the Ministry of Culture, the sports committee and convinced officials that in a month of performances we would earn and bring twenty thousand to the USSR. Then he was perplexed: “What are you, idiots, to refuse such money?” But they didn't let us go. I remember that at the competitions in Colorado, he invited us to his hotel room, where the table was full of dishes, there were black and red caviar, cognac and so on. Chulp thought he would "split" us. We talked for probably three hours. I couldn't explain to him in any way: "You know, we are Soviet people and we have no right to solve private problems, we can solve them only as a team."

And this was our sincere position. We were great patriots.

How did your patriotic ideas dispel?

O.P.: You see, when you constantly drip on the brain, you accumulate certain information and come to the inevitable conclusions. We were called to demonstration performances abroad. We call the regional committee in order to obtain permission to leave. We are told: “Call, please, in three days. Comrade Zhuravleva has not arrived yet.” Lie! Then again: “Oh, you know, she came out. And Comrade Skvortsov left for Moscow.” I recorded these answers on tape. And, in the end, a whole film was accumulated. After listening to it, we realized that they were playing with us and that, it turns out, no one can solve this issue. And wording like “the regional committee is not against your going abroad, but only with the team” did not suit us. After analyzing all this, we came to the conclusion that it is impossible for us to resist the authorities, they will still strangle us. And then we were already aged: I turned 47, and Lyudmila 44. By theatrical standards, a long time ago, at 38, we could have been sent to ballet retirement, having gathered an artistic council from all these mediocrity - skaters from the "street", who are nothing not made for figure skating, but included in the manual.

But if we had party cards, they wouldn’t talk to us like that anymore, so we submitted an application to the party. The secretary of our party organization was Alexander Yakovlev, the namesake and namesake of the ideologist of perestroika times. Two years have passed with no response. We ask: "Sasha, how are you?" He hesitates: “No one gave you a recommendation.” How so?! We were given recommendations by Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina, Pyotr Timofeevich Tolstikhin (now the director of the sports and concert complex in St. Petersburg) and one cellist from the ballet. But Yakovlev insisted: “I can’t do anything. Go to the district committee."

They came to the district committee to see a certain Barinova. We say so-and-so, we wait two years. She said: “Yes, but we have people no less worthy than you. First of all, we accept the working class.” And then we were convinced that everything was over, and in any way we had to leave the country. We would never have been let out. And we wanted to ride.

Don't you want to visit Russia, see what is going on here?

O.P.: Watch no, because we are aware of all Russian events, we “catch” ORT via satellite communications and every day we watch the news, in particular, the Vremya program. But if we are offered to speak, we will gladly come. We can still surprise everyone with our numbers, although I next year turn 70.

Who should invite you?

O.P.: Perhaps the leaders National Federation figure skating.

Or maybe not only them? You are a global personality. The first persons of the state should be proud of such a heritage. The ex-president of Russia invited Solzhenitsyn, Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich to their homeland.

LB: Rostropovich is another level. I think the current President can invite Oleg as a double. Many note that twenty years ago Oleg was the spitting image of Putin. He still looks a lot like him.

OUR REFERENCE

Ludmila Belousova. She was born on November 22, 1935 in Ulyanovsk. She played for the Lokomotiv sports society (Leningrad).

Oleg Protopopov. Born July 16, 1932 in Leningrad. He played for the Lokomotiv sports society (Leningrad).

Belousova and Protopopov have been skating together since 1954. Olympic champions in 1964, 1968, world and European champions in 1965 1968. Awarded two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor. In 1979 they emigrated to Switzerland. They live in Grindelwald. Since 1995 they have Swiss citizenship.

And by examples it shows what role a fragile woman can play in the life of a strong man, and what she gets instead, coming to the conclusion that what happened is, first of all, a human tragedy, a gap in life.

It is far from always that the death of a person makes one think, build a belated retrospective in his thoughts, recall some events and rethink them anew. But now it doesn’t go out of my head: Lyudmila Belousova is gone. Mila... That's what those who skated nearby always called her, that's how she introduced herself to me when we met her in 1995 at the European Figure Skating Championships in Dortmund. Then it did not even seem unnatural: Belousova was not even sixty, she looked a good two decades younger and left the impression of an unusually modest, very friendly and at the same time slightly shy woman-child. Perhaps this impression was formed because only Oleg spoke in that interview. Oleg Alekseevich Protopopov.

Unlike his wife, he not only did not feel discomfort with an emphatically respectful treatment to himself, but he himself constantly made it clear that he did not consider himself and never considered himself an ordinary skater.

I just know my worth, - he remarked sharply, talking about how he negotiated a fee with representatives of one of the famous American shows, flatly refusing the initially proposed conditions and immediately receiving a much better offer.

Then, to be honest, I was jarred by his phrase: "I know that the Russians would agree to ride for five hundred dollars, but, alas, we are not Russians."

I don't think it was outrageous. Rather, on the contrary: a completely habitual demeanor. Even when Mila and Oleg skated in Russia and were part of the national team for many years, one of the famous skaters of that time noticed that Protopopov always needed an entourage. He always had it: someone wore a camera, someone solved everyday issues, and someone simply admired the idol, since the idol encouraged this in every possible way.

Then it seemed to me that the character of Protopopova left too much imprint forced emigration in 1979, because of which Lyudmila and Oleg found themselves together for many years against the rest of the world. But as our acquaintance continued, I began to understand: Protopopov was always like that. Irreconcilable, uncompromising, one hundred percent confident in his own rightness and his own superiority, no matter what he does. And Mila - she just served him. Devotedly, every minute, all-consuming. Such unions, as they say, are formed in heaven. And even with the death of one of the spouses can not be destroyed.

That very first conversation we had for a long time sat in my memory. Protopopov categorically told me about his plans to prepare for the Olympic Games in Nagano and speak at them. For an hour and a half that we talked, or rather dived with Oleg (everything he talked about sounded too absurd), Mila did not utter a word. She simply nodded in time with some words and phrases of her husband.

Many years later, I realized that I had made a huge mistake then: I didn’t understand that the door had opened for me, allowing me to look into someone else’s and rather secluded life, to understand who they are - these legendary skaters. This did not involve any assessments, or discussions, or attempts to fit what was heard to certain stereotypes. It took time to pass before the understanding came: Mila and Oleg were just different. Not like everyone else. Although, perhaps, a different wording would be more correct here: they have never been like everyone else.

And the two have always been one. Perhaps that is why, even now, when Mila is gone, it is still impossible to talk about her in isolation from the only person who has been there for more than sixty years and, in fact, was in control of her whole life.

Protopopov (and therefore Belousova too) was characterized by an extremely selfish attitude towards his own sports career. At one time, it was a big revelation for me that the skaters worked for a long time with one of the most prominent coaches of that period, Igor Borisovich Moskvin. Mila and Oleg never mentioned this, and Moskvin himself was never inclined to advertise his own participation in their fate. Aleksey Mishin once very accurately noted this on this score, saying that Moskvin’s work was very incorrectly assessed, first of all, by Oleg himself, who sincerely believed that he was training himself, and allowed himself statements that were quite offensive to Igor Borisovich.

Moskvin himself assessed his work somewhat differently.

I can’t boast of having made this pair, he once told me. - Mila and Oleg made themselves. At a certain stage, I just developed their skating in the right direction.

Perhaps this was the main thing: Belousova and Protopopov, with their unique lyrical and airy style of skating, fit perfectly into the picture, which at that stage turned out to be the most in demand. The world was not yet ready either for the grotesque that Alexei Mishin and Tamara Moskvina were ready to offer, or for the extreme complexity that Stanislav Zhuk, who had not yet become great, with Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov, pondered for days on end. The world just wanted love and beauty. Both Belousov and Protopopov made their calling card.

Surprisingly, the quiet and wordless Mila has always been the core of the couple in training. It was she who extinguished all Oleg's flashes in endless disputes on ice, and at home she simply turned into a silent fairy - the keeper of the hearth and family.

Mila always supported me too, ”Moskvin recalled. - She was an ideal figure skater: light, beautiful, she did not need to be convinced of something, forced to try some things. She just listened to the task and silently went to do it. Oleg, on the contrary, constantly needed to prove something.

Leaving Russia for Switzerland in 1979, Belousova and Protopopov cut their way back to the only country where thousands of people, despite the disgrace of the skaters, still admired them. In Switzerland, 43-year-old (at the time of departure) Lyudmila and 47-year-old Oleg could only continue to skate. They simply would not have earned anything else for a future life.

While Mila and Oleg rode with me, we were quite friendly, - said Moskvin. - We went on vacation together, lived together at the training camp in a hotel in Voskresensk, where Mila in her room constantly cooked pancakes for everyone on an electric stove, which she constantly carried with her. We often went skiing, that is, the relationship was much closer than official.

Then, when they had already left the sport, I heard that they had a conflict with the leadership of the ice ballet, where they then skated. But I never thought that the outcome could be just like that.

In Leningrad, they lived not far from Tamara and me, and, to be honest, I was touched when I received a thick envelope with photographs in the mail. A letter was also enclosed there: "Dear Igor and Tamara! Do not remember dashingly. We hope - see you soon."

There were collected all the photographs where the Protopopovs and I were captured together or in the same company. That is, they did not want their departure to create at least some difficulties for those people who knew them and with whom they were on one or another life stage were close.

Many years later, I asked Moskvin how he felt about the fact that former students, who are already over 70, continue to go on the ice in front of the public.

If a person really loves it, why not? the coach replied calmly. - Take me. If I now suddenly decided to remember my youth and started sailing again on a yacht, who could blame me for this? As for the Protopopovs, I have a certain respect for the fact that people are so dedicated to figure skating. In a way, they remind me of the mathematician who proved the Poincaré conjecture but turned down a big prize. I did not go to receive it only for the reason that I regretted wasting time on the trip, being distracted from my work. Oleg is a normal person in this respect. He always gladly accepted everything that was due to him. But he loved figure skating like no other. They had a great glide with Mila, although that's not even the point. And the fact that this slide was meaningful. filled. Including technically. That's great rarity.

I myself saw Belousova and Protopopov on ice only once - at the 1996 European Championships in Sofia. During the previous year, the skaters performed a couple of times in charity shows, and the organizers of the competition invited the Protopopovs to Sofia not only as guests of honor, but also so that the legendary skaters would take part in the opening ceremony of the competition. Oleg and Mila trained at night: daytime ice was given to the participants, and rehearsals of the opening began late in the evening.

And it was at night that the stands were actively filled with spectators.

My first impression of the skating of Belousova and Protopopov was strong. The two-time Olympic champions did not do jumps, lifts, or throws, and, probably, they could not. But some special magic of the absolute unity of movements, gestures, feelings blew from the ice. The skates glided over the ice without a single rustle. At the same time, the feeling that this skating was not intended for spectators did not leave me: it was too intimate. Apparently, the tribunes felt the same, numb in some kind of mute admiration.

Belousova and Protopopov came to Sofia free of charge. Their performance at the opening ceremony was given by the organizers for one and a half minutes and a little less than half of the ice rink (participants of the festive extras stood on the rest of the ice area).

Since then, I've regretted seeing this more than once. Protopopov went out onto the ice in a straw-colored wig (his artificial hair looked red under the spotlights), his face was covered with a thick layer of make-up with a blush painted on it, and his eyes and lips were lined. His partner was in a short red dress (“We still fit into the costumes we skated in 1968”) with a red bow in her hair.

The contrast with night training was striking: there, on the ice, there were Masters for whom skating was as natural as breathing. Here are two middle-aged people, desperately but in vain trying to hide their age. These attempts - ridiculous, and most importantly, absolutely unnecessary - completely obscured the pair's skating and made us remember the statement of the outstanding Russian choreographer Igor Moiseev: "You can dance at thirty and at sixty. But at sixty you don't have to look at it."

Remembering all this now, I again come to the same conclusion: when dealing with unique personalities, it is hardly worth approaching them with generally accepted standards. I was desperately sorry for Mila when, in 1997, having got the opportunity to talk with the legendary figure skater in private during the World Championships in Lausanne (Oleg was invited to comment on the performances of sports couples that day), she talked about her life in Grindelwald.

- Do you have any favorite women's affairs, I asked her then. She shrugged her thin shoulders.

Except the kitchen. I cook a lot, everything is eaten, usually on the same day. I used to sew, now there is no need for it. We have a small vegetable garden - three beds. At one time they grew cucumbers, now greens. Just like that, for fun. There are also three cherries - my sister brought from Moscow. But the berries are constantly pecked by birds. A stray cat lived for 12 years. When we left on tour, she even cried. And she died two years ago. We buried her right at home, under the Christmas tree.

- What major purchase have you made for yourself in recent years?

None. I do not need anything.

What was the last gift you gave your husband?

We don't give each other gifts. It is enough that each other has ourselves. I never even wanted to have children in my life. If we had them, would we be able to ride for so long?

In the same way, I felt sorry for Oleg, who, in the same place, in Lausanne, told how in 1982, when the skaters finished skating in the famous American show Ice Capades, instead of buying their own housing, by mutual decision, they decided to make a film. About myself.

All the money (according to Protopopov, about a million francs) was spent on the purchase of professional equipment, renting an ice rink, filming. Lighting installations were ordered in Germany. The film (16 hours of pure skating without a single take) was filmed by a 17-year-old skater whose parents moved to Switzerland from Czechoslovakia in 1968. Ludmila sewed costumes for each of the demonstration numbers herself. On the same typewriter brought from St. Petersburg.

I tried to mount the film myself, I made a cassette with a duration of 1 hour and 20 minutes, - said Protopopov. - Everyone who has seen agrees that the work in the highest degree professional, and the film itself is unique. We have tried to contact companies that make cassettes or television material of this kind, but everyone wants to get the film for free. If there are wealthy people who can really appreciate what we have, maybe I will agree to sell the film. So far there are no such proposals.

There, in Switzerland, Protopopov began to write a book. When he said that he himself, it happens, reads what is written for hours and cannot tear himself away, I suddenly realized that he would never give this book to any editor in the world: for him it (as well as the film) is a well-behaved and suffered child . And they don’t send their own children to the mess. Or maybe the whole point is that he did not seek to flaunt his life with Mila. He once said that he would never want to see someone auction this life.

When I returned from that championship, I wrote:

"... You can condemn legendary athletes for selfishness, which still happens to show through in their actions and statements. Or you can just envy a couple who have carried fantastic devotion to each other and their favorite sport throughout their lives. What difference does it make what we think about them we? They have earned the right to have their own opinion about the world of figure skating, in which, undoubtedly, they will forever remain as its biggest legend ... "

In fact, Belousova and Protopopov in their long sports career, in which, in relation to figure skating, the prefix "after" did not appear at all were not unhappy. Discussing a life in which the fates of the spouses were soldered so tightly that they couldn’t be broken, Oleg Alekseevich once said that until now, no matter what was discussed, he sets himself (and therefore before Mila) only the maximum goals, since the maximum goal disciplines, helps to keep the psyche fresh. He was going to live a very long time, subordinated to this idea the whole household way of life, carefully studied any information about healthy eating about cleansing all vital organs. Trainings, all kinds of recovery activities and even vacations were organically included in the same system, for each of which the couple prepared very carefully.

Unfortunately, Protopopov never managed to force life to play according to its own laws: in 2009 he had a stroke. Then the legendary figure skater managed not only to fully recover, but began to treat himself with redoubled exactingness. But a few years later, Lyudmila was diagnosed with cancer ...

And now she is gone forever, leaving those who knew and loved her with bright memories, and Oleg with a terrible test: to continue living alone. May God give him the strength to...

The lyrical style of the phenomenal couple Lyudmila Belousova - Oleg Protopopov still remains the standard for skating two people in love with each other and with ice. "Dreams of Love" to the music of Franz Liszt in 1964 in Innsbruck were gold - the first gold medals in the history of Soviet figure skating! At the 1968 Grenoble Games, the couple again became the first, between the Games four times becoming world and European champions.

These two did not know what it was like to be like others. But they knew, felt, believed that their work was unique. And they wanted to go their own way. After leaving the sport in 1972, they worked in the Leningrad ballet on ice, and in 1979 they asked for political asylum in Switzerland. They wanted freedom, above all creative. The loss of titles, the crossed out names from our sports directories - all this did not interfere with their love. So it didn't hurt to ride. The reprinted reference books did not affect the meaning of life.

“Do you think we were not patriots? - Oleg Alekseevich said in an interview with MK. - Yes, they were ready to give everything for the sake of the Motherland. Otherwise, why would they skate when I had bleeding at the Olympic Games in Grenoble - there were kidney stones and terrible colic, but the operation cannot be done: with a cut abdominal muscle, I would have to forget about supports. Left in Switzerland, they immediately said local authorities that the reasons for our escape are purely creative. Something about us didn’t suit Russia all the time: sometimes we were too athletic, sometimes too theatrical, then vice versa. Then they stopped letting us into competitions, inviting us to demonstration performances... We didn't let ourselves be controlled. Perhaps that was the whole point of our conflicts.”

It's hard to believe, but Belousova - Protopopov skated until recently. It seemed to someone, with all due respect to the skaters, even superfluous. Everything, they say, has its time. But not skating for them, not going out on the ice was like not breathing. It means not to live. “Our strength is only in the fact that we go out on the ice every day. If we lose him, we lose everything…”

In 1999, for the first time after the escape, they flew to Moscow and St. Petersburg. They were then invited by Vyacheslav Fetisov to the finals of the Grand Prix in figure skating in St. Petersburg. And Oleg Alekseevich, accepting the invitation, was not slow to clarify: “Why is this all of a sudden and in the capacity of whom? Are not the wedding generals? They did not want to see themselves in this role.

When they realized that they were really expected, they said that they would be happy to skate for at least an hour on the Yubileiny ice, which was unforgettable for them. After all, it was the first palace in St. Petersburg, built under Khrushchev. Once upon a personal meeting with Khrushchev, legendary athletes said that Leningrad could not remain without an ice palace. He supported their idea, supported by the fans, who sent letters to the skaters in rubles for the construction of the rink.

... Thin, fragile Lyudmila, next to her partner and husband at the airport, seemed somehow unreal. How could nature hide such a power of character in such a light, to the point of transparency, shell? “In figure skating there should be a mystery, like in a woman,” Oleg Protopopov will say. There was a secret in Belousova. It does not need to be solved, you can only admire and remember.

"MK" met famous skaters then in Sheremetyevo. They will then fly to Moscow several times. And even were at the Olympic Games in Sochi. But that first meeting after such a long break remained in my memory as a vivid memory.

"Sentinels of love" - ​​this was the name of the report "MK" from Sheremetyevo.

Today Oleg Protopopov was left alone. Wife, partner, comrade-in-arms, friend, his great secret is gone, leaving the post. And - remained. As a symbol of boundless love, fidelity and faith...

"MK" repeats the interview given by the skaters in the very first minutes after their return. None of the answers need to be corrected. Oleg answered questions, but Lyudmila was always there and agreed with a nod, without losing a slight smile for a second.

... "Honey! Oleg!" - several true friends of the great Belousova and Protopopov rushed between the legendary figure skaters who had just arrived, trying to push back the photojournalists and TV cameras near the VIP stairs of arrival at Sheremetyevo. Twenty-four years is so much ... "A lot," Ludmila nodded, exuding such charm with a smile that she just wanted to freeze next to her and not move.

For twenty-four years Russia has not seen its first Olympic champions in figure skating. Over the years - how many there were, champions! .. But Belousova-Protopopov - unique. Proud, but not arrogant. Swiss by passport, but Russians. At Sheremetyevo they were happy. And - movedly said "thank you" to everyone who met. “Thank you for coming,” those present answered somewhat dumbfounded by such “non-star” behavior ...

- Lyudmila, Oleg! Skates with you?

Of course, we want to train in St. Petersburg, at Yubileiny. Remember, as they say, youth, although we are not old ...

- Allow me to give you the number "MK": yesterday we already announced your arrival ...

Thank you very much: we just read Moskovsky Komsomolets on the plane. Didn't expect it to be so touching!

- You look amazing...

We are trying. You have to keep yourself in shape! Lyudmila weighs 42 kilograms, I weigh 64. On vacation, we can add a couple of kilograms ... But this is our fighting, competitive weight. Yes, we even lost a little weight compared to the past: in any case, the suits in which we performed at the Olympics in Grenoble back in the 68th year are a little too big today.

- Do you know that many in Russia still just dream of seeing you again on the ice?

Apparently, because they know that we do not part with ice. Of course, we do not do triple jumps - one or two turns. But all the obligatory elements of pair skating - lifts, spins, spirals... - it's all there. And sure - it will be a very long time. Just the vestibular apparatus needs to be strengthened. You stand on a wooden spinning disk and different sides spinning - the more the better. Making 23 full turns with closed eyes is not a problem for us. And then it's not a problem to withstand three or four and a half minutes on the ice.

- Now, when you have already set foot on Moscow soil, are your emotions overwhelmed? ..

We are like in a dream: just now Mila was filling out a questionnaire, an entry declaration on the plane ... And she wrote that it was not the State Committee for Sports that invited us, but the State Concert. I wrote from old memory. And that was exactly 24 years ago, when we left the Soviet Union - and just along the line of the State Concert. I told her: “Listen, it was like yesterday! So we left yesterday, and today we arrived ... ”Some kind of fantasy!

- Are you ready for the shocks that await you, starting even with the fact that you simply don’t recognize Moscow?

I don't know - I don't think we've gone anywhere. Here are just new and young faces around us we see - you can’t imagine how nice it is!

- Honestly: was it not scary to accept the invitation?

And what to fear? ..

“We have cut off the past once and for all. We are very determined people... In addition, every day we watch ORT, NTV and the Russian channel in our house. That is, you are aware of all the events of your life today. It is enough to look at this for five minutes, so that there is no desire to come here. If we ever come, then only as artists to perform in front of fellow countrymen, ”you said this in a summer interview with MK. Why did you now accept the invitation?

We decided that we had no right to refuse. We were invited by the Chairman of the State Committee for Sports Vyacheslav Fetisov - and this was the first time in 48 years of our sports life. We were not given such an honor even after the Olympic Games, when we won. Then we were met, of course, in a different way, but we will not remember the old ... Naturally, we knew that a lot had changed. But there are no fears, since we flew to new country and new Russia.

- But also in new Russia enough mess - maybe it was better to keep some illusions?

I also have a complete mess on my desk, but I navigate it very well and find all the things I need. So if something is not right in our homeland, then there are people who, with intelligence and good brains, are well versed in this.

- You have never dropped out of figure skating, you yourself continue to skate and comment ...

Yes, we are sometimes asked: do you keep track of new names? We do not track them - we have been covering the largest competitions on Radio Liberty for seven years now. Sometimes you have to work at night too. So we don't track, but are constantly in a good state of affairs. We can also predict the future: the future belongs to those who know how and want to work. In any case, Russia does not need to sleep: they do not sleep in the East ...

- Do you criticize judges?

Refereeing has always been different. No computer system can replace the human eye, and most importantly, a professional look at oneself. If I look at the computer, I will definitely be mistaken. After all, a computer, among other things, is an artificial creation, the very same person. And then he begins to believe in him - although he himself made the program. But I can make the program so that it will make the choice as I want! So the element of subjectivity is still inevitable in figure skating. And this is also the essence of competition. Another thing is that you want the competition to be still fair. But not like this: some administrator from the ISU comes out - and suddenly he gives another couple a medal! I would never go to such an award in my life: I am either a champion or semi-champion, excuse me! ..

- Are you upset watching today's figure skating?

You know, in figure skating there should be a secret, like in a woman. When there is this riddle, then it is interesting. No, nothing upsets us - we are no longer at the age when we are worried about this. Especially since we are minding our own business and trying to ride the way we want. And one-day ones - they will ride and leave, and no one will ever see them again.

- If you are offered to advise one of the athletes in Moscow or St. Petersburg, will you accept the offer?

There have been no requests for consultation in 24 years. Yes, to be honest, if people like Stasik Zhuk were not very much in demand... What can we talk about?! Zhuk earned 138 medals for his country - and he was not allowed to the CSKA skating rink! But, despite the fact that we don’t train today, our former students train, and they have world champions: Valya Nikolaev had Oksana Baiul, the Velikovs had Shishkova-Naumov, Petrova-Tikhonov ... And then: we tried several once to train, but we realized that, giving something to others, we cannot train normally ourselves. A real coach cannot work at half strength. And for yourself and for others, the energy may simply not be enough. We are still striving to skate, which means we cannot take too much away from ourselves. But to give advice to children who ride nearby, of course, for free - we can. Children cannot be denied.

Now you will see Moscow and the luxurious houses with which it has grown. Do you think that you want to return, buy an apartment? ..

Our main home is ice. Where there is ice, there is our apartment. And thoughts ... We are still very grateful to our country: on the one hand, it raised us, but it could also grind us to powder. Switzerland is the country that provided support in Hard time, saved our lives, we now have a different citizenship. But as we were Russians, we remained ...

In 1994 we received Swiss citizenship. But we are not the heroes of this country. Switzerland has its own legends. If we won something by playing under their flag, then it would be a different matter. We were there on tour from that same State Concert. They stayed - and immediately signed a contract with the American ballet on ice. A month and a half after the escape, we were already touring with might and main. We had no money, no corner ... When we announced that we would not return to Russia, policemen were immediately invited to us, who took away Soviet passports. We never saw them again, then we were taken to one hotel, then to another ... Until now, we do not know the place where they hid us (since the Soviet special services were looking for us), - only after it was announced about giving us political asylum, you could start thinking about your corner.

But all this was already secondary. The main thing is that we were on the ice, we could train ... That's why I say: our apartment is where the ice we skate on is!

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