Valentin Prokopov (russian: Валенти́н Ива́нович Проко́пов, June 10, 1929 – before 2016) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

player who competed for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

and in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

. He became notorious for striking Hungarian player

Ervin Zádor Ervin Zádor (June 7, 1934 – April 28, 2012) was a Hungarian water polo player and member of the Hungarian national team. Career At age 21, Ervin Zádor represented Hungary at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. He played four match ...

in the

Blood in the Water match The "Blood in the Water" match ( hu, melbourne-i vérfürdő lit. ''Blood bath of Melbourne''; russian: Кровь в бассейне, Krov' v basseyne, Blood in the swimming pool) was a water polo match between Hungary men's national water pol ...

. In 1952 he was part of the Soviet team which finished seventh in the Olympic water polo tournament. He played all nine matches and scored at least two goals (not all scorers are known). Four years later he won the bronze medal with the Soviet team in the 1956 tournament. He played six matches without scoring a goal.

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* 1929 births Year of death missing Russian male water polo players Soviet male water polo players Olympic water polo players of the Soviet Union Water polo players at the 1952 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in water polo Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics {{Russia-waterpolo-bio-stub

See also

References

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