Olympic legends of figure skating and founders of the figure skating tradition  :

Ludmila Belousova (1935-2017)
&
Oleg Protopopov (1932-2023)

During their 61 years together on the ice—an unbroken world record—this golden couple were the first to transmute the legendary heritage of Russian Classical Ballet onto the ice ; this was their sputnik from which all figure skating after them had followed. They blurred the distinction between art and sport. Their dazzling bouquet of gold medals from the Olympics and World Championships comes not from a display of technical fireworks—although they pioneered manoeuvres that were revolutionary for their time—but from an artistic supremacy of emotion, spirit, and choreographic perfection which defied all conventional protocols of competition.
Collaborating with this legendary couple has been an unspeakable honour in my life.
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