Nikolay Vasiliyevich Karpol (; born 1 May 1938) is a 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 Summ ...

coach and a longstanding coach of the Soviet national team (then the Commonwealth of Independent States team of 1992 following the collapse of the USSR) and later the

Russia women's national volleyball team The Russia women's national volleyball team is governed by the Russian Volleyball Federation and participated in international volleyball competitions. They played from 1949 to 1991 as the Soviet Union and as the CIS in 1992. In response to the ...

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

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

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

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and taking the silver medals in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, for a total of five

Olympic medals 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 ou ...

. In 2020, he set a new world record by coaching Uralochka for 51 years. Karpol coached the Soviet women to the gold medal at the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, Unit ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and the Russian women to the gold medal at the

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relatio ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. In 2009, Karpol was inducted into the

International 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 ...

Coaching and Administrative Awards

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

* 1980 Moscow – Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

URS Urs (from ''‘Urs'') or Urus (literal meaning wedding), is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, usually held at the saint's dargah (shrine or tomb). In most Sufi orders such as Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadiriyya, etc. ...

) * 1988 Seoul – Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1992 Barcelona – Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with Olympic flag

EUN) * 2000 Sydney – Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with

RUS Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

) *

2004 Athens The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

–

Silver medal (with

)

FIVB World Championships

* 1990 –

Gold medal (with

) * 1994 – Bronze medal 2006 OG

(with

) * 1998 – Bronze medal 2006 OG

(with

) * 2002 – Bronze medal 2006 OG

(with

)

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

* 1977 -

Gold medal (with

) * 1979 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1981 - Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with

) * 1983 - Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with

) * 1985 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1987 - Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with

) * 1989 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1991 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1993 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1995 - Bronze medal 2006 OG

Bronze medal (with

) * 1997 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1999 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 2001 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 2005 - Bronze medal 2006 OG

Bronze medal (with

) * 2007 - Bronze medal 2006 OG

Bronze medal (with

)

World Grand Champions Cup

* 1993 –

Third Place (with

) * 1997 – Simple gold cup

Champion (with

) * 2001 – Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with

)

Grand-prix

* 1993 -

Bronze medal (with

) * 1996 - Bronze medal 2006 OG

Bronze medal (with

) * 1997 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 1998 - Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with

) * 1999 - Gold medal 2006 OG

Gold medal (with

) * 2000 - Silver medal (with

) * 2002 - Gold medal (with

) * 2001 - Bronze medal 2006 OG

Bronze medal (with

) * 2003 - Silver medal 2006 OG

Silver medal (with

)

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tota ...

* 1981 -

Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1982 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1983 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1987 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1988 - Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1989 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1990 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1991 - Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk) * 1992 - Simple bronze cup

Third Place (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 1993 - Simple bronze cup

Third Place (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 1994 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 1995 - Simple gold cup

Champion (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 1996 - Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 1997 - Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 2000 - Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 2001 - Simple bronze cup

Third Place (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) * 2003 - Simple silver cup

Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg) Croatian journalist and publicist Tomislav Birtic published a book "Karpol: Lunatics - That's What I Need".

Honours and awards

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 3rd class * Honoured Worker of Physical Culture,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') 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 and efforts have been aimed at ...

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...

* Honorary Citizen of the

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...

References

External links

*
FIVB profile

Volleybox.net profile
1938 births Living people People from Pruzhany district Russian volleyball coaches Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Soviet volleyball coaches International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductees Olympic volleyball coaches Long stubs with short prose {{Russia-sport-bio-stub