medal at the European Championships and bronze at the World Championships as Irina Rodnina began her reign with her first partner, Alexei Ulanov. Those were the pair's final appearances at major international competitions but they continued competing in the Soviet Union until 1972. In total, Belousova and Protopopov won two Olympic titles and medalled eight times at both the World and European Championships, including four consecutive World and European gold medals. After retiring from competition, they continued to skate together in shows for many years. In September 2015, they renewed their long-standing tradition of skating in a charitable exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts, at an event called "Evening with Champions". Belousova and Protopopov contributed to the development of pair skating, including the creation of three death spirals: the backward inside (BiDs), the forward inside (FiDs), and the forward outside (FoDs), which they respectively dubbed the "Cosmic spiral", "Life spiral", and "Love spiral". Dick Button stated: "The Protopopovs are great skaters not only because they were the finest of Olympic champions, but also because their creative impact was extraordinary." Personal life Belousova studied engineering at university. She married Protopopov in December 1957. Although she kept her maiden name after their marriage, the pair were commonly referred to as "The Protopopovs". Eager to keep skating, the couple decided not to have children. On 24 September 1979, Belousova and Protopopov defected to Switzerland while on tour and applied for political asylum. They settled in Grindelwald and received Swiss citizenship in 1995. Switzerland remained their winter home while their summer home and training center was Lake Placid, New York. On 25 February 2003, they visited Russia after a 23-year asylum, on the invitation of Viacheslav Fetisov. They had their last exhibition dance in 2016, when Belousova was 80 years old. Competitive highlights References External links Pairs on Ice profile 1935 births 2017 deaths European Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Olympic figure skaters of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in figure skating Sportspeople from Ulyanovsk Russian female pair skaters Soviet defectors Soviet emigrants to Switzerland Soviet female pair skaters World Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at