Nikolay Vasilyevich Karpol (russian: Николай Васильевич Карполь; 1 May 1938) is a Soviet and Russian women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

coach. Known as ''The Howling Bear'', Karpol was a regular at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, with his teams usually earning a last call on the Olympic podium, winning gold medals in 1980 and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and taking the silver medals in 1992,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

and 2004 for a total of five

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...

s. In 2020, he set a new world record by coaching Uralochka for 51 years.

Honours

Olympic Games (as coach): * 1980, 1988 – gold, * 1992, 2000, 2004 – silver. World Championships: * 1990 – gold, * 1994, 1998, 2002 – bronze. Championships of Europe: * 1977 (coach), 1979, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001 – gold For lifetime dedication and great career, he was inducted in 2009 to the

Volleyball Hall of Fame The International Volleyball Hall of Fame (IVHF) was founded to honor extraordinary players, coaches, officials, and leaders who have made significant contributions to the game of volleyball. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts ...

. Croatian journalist and publicist Tomislav Birtic published a book Karpol: Lunatics - That's What I Need.

Honours and awards

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

(1980) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

(1989) *

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (russian: Орден «За заслуги перед Отечеством», ''Orden "Za zaslugi pered Otechestvom"'') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by P ...

, 3rd class (1998) * Honorary Citizen of the Sverdlovsk Oblast (1999) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds ...

(2005) *

Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (russian: Герой Труда Российской Федерации) is a state award of Russia. The title is awarded to citizens of Russia for special services in labour to the state and its people asso ...

(2018)

References

External links

FIVB Profile
1938 births Living people People from Polesie Voivodeship Merited Coaches of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian volleyball coaches Soviet volleyball coaches {{Russia-volleyball-bio-stub