Nikolay Karpol

Nikolay Karpol
Nikolay Karpol at the Kremlin in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Nikolay Vasilyevich Karpol
Nickname	The Howling Bear
Born	(1938-05-01) 1 May 1938 (age 85) Bereznica, Polesie Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic
Coaching information
Previous teams coached Years Teams 1969–present VC Uralochka-NTMK Yekaterinburg

Nikolay Vasiliyevich Karpol (Russian: Николай Васильевич Карполь; 1 May 1938, Bereznitsa village, former Polesie Voivodeship, Republic of Poland) is a Russian women's volleyball coach and a longstanding coach of the Soviet Olympic Team, the Commonwealth of Independent States team of 1992 (following the collapse of the USSR) and later the Russian Federation’s Olympic Team. Known as The Howling Bear,^[1] Karpol was a regular at the Olympic Games, with his teams usually earning a last call on the Olympic podium, winning gold medals in 1980 and 1988 and taking the silver medals in 1992, 2000 and 2004 for a total of five Olympic medals. In 2020, he set a new world record by coaching Uralochka for 51 years.^[2]

Coaching and Administrative Awards

Summer Olympic Games

• 1980 Moscow - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1988 Seoul - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1992 Barcelona - Silver medal (with EUN)
• 2000 Sydney - Silver medal (with RUS)
• 2004 Athens - Silver medal (with RUS)

FIVB World Championships

• 1990 – Gold medal (with URS)
• 1994 - (with RUS)
• 1998 - (with RUS)
• 2002 – (with RUS)

European Championships

• 1977 - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1979 - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1981 - Silver medal (with URS)
• 1983 - Silver medal (with URS)
• 1985 - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1987 - Silver medal (with URS)
• 1989 - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1991 - Gold medal (with URS)
• 1993 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 1995 - Bronze medal (with RUS)
• 1997 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 1999 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 2001 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 2005 - Bronze medal (with RUS)
• 2007 - Bronze medal (with RUS)

World Grand Champions Cup

• 1993 – Third Place (with RUS)
• 1997 – Champion (with RUS)
• 2001 – Runner-Up (with RUS)

Grand-prix

• 1993 - Bronze medal (with RUS)
• 1996 - Bronze medal (with RUS)
• 1997 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 1998 - Silver medal (with RUS)
• 1999 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 2000 - Silver medal (with RUS)
• 2002 - Gold medal (with RUS)
• 2001 - Bronze medal (with RUS)
• 2003 - Silver medal (with RUS)

CEV Champions League

• 1981 - Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1982 - Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1983 - Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1987 - Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1988 - Runner-Up (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1989 - Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1990 - Champion (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1991 - Runner-Up (with Uralochka Sverdlovsk)
• 1992 - Third Place (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 1993 - Third Place (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 1994 - Champion (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 1995 - Champion (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 1996 - Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 1997 - Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 2000 - Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 2001 - Third Place (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)
• 2003 - Runner-Up (with Uralochka Yekaterinburg)

For lifetime dedication and great career, he was inducted in 2009 to the Volleyball Hall of Fame.^[3]

Croatian journalist and publicist Tomislav Birtic published a book Karpol: Lunatics - That's What I Need.^[4]

Honours and awards

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class
• Honoured Worker of Physical Culture, Russia
• Order of Friendship
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• Order of Friendship of Peoples
• Honorary Citizen of the Sverdlovsk Oblast

References

External links

• FIVB Profile